Robertson Hall, home to the School of Law and Robertson School of Government
Plans for the university, originally named Christian Broadcasting Network University, began in 1977 by CBN founder and longtime ChancellorPat Robertson; Robertson remained Chancellor until his death in 2023. In 1990, the name was changed to Regent University.[5] The university's name is designed to reference a regent, a person who exercises power in a monarchical country during the absence or incapacity of the sovereign; according to the school's catalog, "a regent is one who represents Christ, our Sovereign, in whatever sphere of life he or she may be called to serve Him."[6] The university's current motto is "Christian Leadership to Change the World."[7]
The first class, consisting of seventy-seven students, began in fall of 1978 when the school leased classroom space in Chesapeake, Virginia.[6] In 1980, the first graduating class held its commencement; the school of education opened that Fall. That year, the university took residence for the first time on its current campus in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The school proceeded to open its schools of business, divinity, government, and law by the mid-1980s. In 1984, Regent University received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1997, online classes began.[8]
In 1995, the university opened a secondary campus in Alexandria, Virginia but sold it soon after. In 2000, Regent began an undergraduate degree-completion curriculum under the auspices of a new program, the Center for Professional Studies. This would later become the school of undergraduate studies, before finally being renamed as the college of arts and sciences in 2012.[8]
Campus
Architecture and setting
The campus of Regent University comprises 70 acres (280,000 m2) of historicistneo-Georgian architecture, and is situated in the coastal city of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The university was named in 2015 among the thirty most beautiful college campuses in the South.[9]
Academic and communal facilities
The University Library Building houses the university's libraries while Robertson Hall is home to the Schools of Government, Law, and Undergraduate Studies. The Communication & Performing Arts Center, home for the School of Communication & the Arts, is a 135,000-square-foot (12,500 m2) building with two theatres, a production studio, sound stage, screening theatres, and a backlot. The Student Center is a 31,000-square-foot (2,900 m2) facility includes a bookstore, student organization offices, dining hall, computer lab, and student lounge. The Administration Building, along with administrative offices, includes the School of Education. The Classroom Building accommodates the schools of Business & Leadership and Psychology & Counseling.[10] The adjoined Chapel and Divinity Building are the most recent additions to the campus, completed in 2013.[8]
The Founders Inn and Spa
Completed in 1990, The Founders Inn and Spa hotel was originally part of the Christian Broadcasting Network before Regent University assumed ownership. It was sold to the Hilton Hotel company in 2018. The hotel features neo-Georgian architecture in keeping with the rest of the university campus.[11] The name of the hotel refers to the Founding Fathers.[12]
Reputation
Online programs rankings
Regent University was ranked in 2015 by U.S. News & World Report as the 11th best online undergraduate program in the nation,[13] and as the second best by OEDb in 2009.[8] Regent is ranked 21st, 46th, and 78th, respectively, for its online graduate education programs, online graduate business programs, and online MBA.[13] Regent's online MBA faculty was ranked first nationally in 2013 by U.S. News & World Report.[14]
ABA national competition wins and moot court program
Moot court teams from the Regent University School of Law have placed as quarter-finalists or better in over 100 moot court competitions, winning more than 40 national and regional events.[15] In 2006 and 2007, Regent Law won several national ABA moot court and negotiation competitions succeeding against teams from Harvard and Yale.[16][17][18][19] Regent's moot court program was ranked sixth in the nation in 2015.[20]
Ideology
In 1995, theologian Harvey Cox wrote that Regent has been called "the Harvard of the Christian Right" but noted that "Regent, it appears, is not so much a boot camp for rightist cadres as a microcosm of the theological and intellectual turbulence within what is often mistakenly seen as a monolithic 'religious right' in America".[6]
With the goal of expanding its mission beyond a solely conservative base and to "posture itself as a broadly evangelical institution", the Regent School of Divinity convened a scholarly colloquium with the more liberal National Council of Churches and the Virginia Council of Churches, associations of mainline Protestant churches in 2008. The conference discussed their common approaches to evangelizing.[21]
Freedom of expression controversy
In September 2007, Adam Key, a second-year law student at Regent, posted a lifted still from a video to the social networking website Facebook showing the school's chancellor, Pat Robertson, scratching his forehead with his middle finger.[22] The still gave the appearance that Robertson was making an obscene gesture. Key also criticized Robertson for urging the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. School officials asked Key to remove the still, publicly apologize and withhold public comment, or alternatively, defend the posting. Key removed the photograph, but refused to apologize. He was subsequently suspended and removed.[23][24][25] In November 2007, Key filed a lawsuit against Regent. Robertson said that freedom of speech does not encompass the use of these kinds of images. The university stated that Key violated the school's standards of conduct.[26][27] However, Key's attorney countered with examples of racist images posted on Facebook by other Regent students about which the school took no action.[28]
The school later claimed its actions were unrelated to the photograph and that Key was a "security risk"; his attorney countered with an internal memo sent the day before the suspension indicating that Robertson was concerned with Key's "complaints".[29] In June 2009, the lawsuit was dismissed.
Bush administration hires
According to Regent University, more than 150 of its graduates were hired by the federal government during the George W. Bush presidency[16] including dozens in Bush's administration.[30] As it was previously rare for alumni to go into government, Boston Globe journalist Charlie Savage suggested that the appointment of Office of Personnel Management director Kay Coles James, the former dean of Regent's government school, caused this sharp increase in Regent alumni employed in the government.[16] An article about a Regent graduate who interviewed for a government position and Regent's low school rankings were cited as an example of the Bush administration hiring applicants with strong conservative credentials but weaker academic qualifications and less civil rights law experience than past candidates in the Civil Rights Division.[16] In addition to Savage, several other commentators made similar assertions.[17][31][32][33]
However, Savage noted that the school had improved since its days of "dismal numbers" and that the school has had wins in national moot-court and negotiation competitions.[16][34] Though a prominent critic of the school, Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State advised against "underestimat[ing] the quality of a lot of the people that are there."[16]
Relationship with President Donald Trump
In October 2016, Regent University was the site of an October 2016 rally for presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.[35] A handful of Regent alumni said that Trump's values, however, were "wrong for the university."[36] Regent University alumnus Jay Sekulow was a defense lawyer for President Trump.[37]
Regent competes in nine intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, track & field and volleyball.[47]
^Vogel, Chris (April 22, 2009). "Racism Goes Unchecked at Regent University". Houston Press. Retrieved April 16, 2009. Some of the pictures Kallinen found include a doctored photo from the civil rights era of an African American holding a sign saying, "Can a Nigga Get Some Koolaid", and another manipulated photo of an African-American basketball player trying to steal a watermelon from a white player.[dead link]
