ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSOCIATION
The Tennessee College Association grew out of an already existing organization, the Association of Colleges of East Tennessee. This older association had itself been formed some years earlier from the nucleus provided by the East Tennessee Teachers Association in its College Section.
So beneficial had been the Association of Colleges of East Tennessee in cultivating sympathetic and helpful relations among the colleges in the eastern portion of the state, that in the fall of 1919 invitations were sent to the colleges, junior colleges, and normal schools throughout the state to meet and discuss the advisability of organizing a college association for Tennessee.
Hearty responses to this invitation resulted in a gathering of college representatives in the Hotel Patten, at Chattanooga, on Dec. 23, 1919. An organization was effected, with Dr. Charles O. Gray, President of Tusculum College, as president of the new association, and Dean Boyd A. Wise, of Lincoln Memorial University, as secretary-treasurer.
A committee on Constitution and Bylaws was appointed. This committee was instructed to include in the constitution the newly adopted name, The Tennessee College Association; the object of the Association, "The advancement of the cause of higher education by promotion of interests common to the colleges of Tennessee"; and the roll of charter members.