Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has accredited UT since 1897. The association was first proposed by a group of Vanderbilt professors in spring 1895, but UT did not join because legislators were authorized by the Tennessee General Assembly to appoint State Scholarship Students, and UT feared that publicly advocating higher admission standards might place the university in a position the legislature would not uphold. The university was elected to membership at the group’s third annual meeting.