Montgomery Bell Academy - Bell Yearbook (Nashville, TN)

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Gradually the University of Nashville ceased opera- tions. Its campus and buildings were given to Peabody College. Peabody tried in vain to take over the remain- ing assets” of the University of Nashville, including MBA. The old trustees of the University were in control of the Academy, and now the two schools gradua y In the ’ years that followed, MBA encountered diffi- culties. In 191 1, however, matters began to improve when Judge Robert Ewing, a trustee, secured the services of Isaac Ball to head the Academy. For thirty years Mr. Ball was headmaster at MBA. Under his leadership, the school flourished. He saw the need for a new location and new buildings. For two years, just before World War I, MBA was located in an old brick building on Seventh Avenue North i ar the State Capitol. Finally, the former home of Garland Tinsley, a 32-acre tract on Harding Road, was purchased by the Board of Trustees. The house was remodeled and the school opened here in the Fall of 1915. The next ten years, Mr. Ball reported, “saw as happy and contented group of boys as ever I have known.” The green acres of the new campus were welcome indeed. Totomoi

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Montgomery Bell Academy 1881. In its early years MBA included grammar, high school, and collegiate departments, the last offering freshman and sophomore courses. An 1870 history states that the rooms “are furnished in a manner not surpassed. All the floors are covered with heavy cocoa matting; the furni- ture is of oiled walnut; and blackboard and map accom- modations are of the most ample kind.” It was during this period that the academic depart- ment of the University of Nashville ceased to function, and at the urging of President J. B. Lindsley, the Acad- emy was expanded into the “collegiate department” of the University in about 1869. The next year Gen. Bush- rod Johnson, of the pre-war Western Military Institute, reappeared upon the scene, asociated with Gen. G. E. Kirby-Smith. These men took over operation of the University. Upon receipt of monies from the Peabody Fund in 1875, the University of Nashville became the Peabody Normal School. A ne v board of trustees took over the Normal School, while the old board of the University of Nashville retained control of Montgomery Bell Academy. For a time the Normal School projected making a “model school ’ of MBA, but the trustees held out against the plan. Since the Normal School wanted to occupy all of the University’s buildings, MBA agreed to leave the campus, and in 1881 moved to a six acre tract just east of the old site. When the school moved, it retained the income from the Bell trust fund. II

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In 1925 a disastrous fire destroyed the main building and there was very little insurance to cover the loss. The fire occurred at noon on a Saturday when the “Cooties” were football. It was an almost in- surmountable task to finance and rebuild the school, but the trustees accepted the challenge. While the school was being rebuilt, students were taught in the field house, and meals were served on the athletic field. Mr. Ball retired in the fall of 1942. J. M. Farrell and Howard Allen briefly filled the post of headmaster, fol- fessor of mathematics at MBA. During his administra- tion the .school continued to progress, and the great tra- ditions of the Honor System and Totomoi were added. CONSTITUTION OF THE HONOR SYSTEM ARTICLE 1. Name: The name of the governing body shall be the Honor Council of M.B.A. ARTICLE 2. Purpose and Scope: In 1945 the Honor System was adopted by the M.B.A. student body for the purpose of promoting a strong sense of honor among the students and discouraging lying, cheating, and stealing. Cheating shall be construed to mean the giving or receiving aid on tests, examinations, or other pledged work. The teacher shall definitely state to a class what outside work is to come under the pledge. The Honor System definitely does not cover matters of ordinary discipline such as break- ing school rules and regulations. ARTICLE 3. Membership: The Honor Council shall be composed of twelve members as follows: four from the senior class; three from the junior class; two from the sophomore class; two from the freshman class; and one from the junior school. Members of the Council arc to be elected at the end of the first month of the school year by the respec- tive classes. They will serve for the rest of the school year and the first month of the following year. In case members of the Council for the preceding year do not return to school, the headmaster will appoint students to fill vacancies for the first month. The senior class will elect a president, vice-president and secretary. The president must be selected from the four senior members. The headmaster of the high school shall meet with the Council as an advisory member but shall have no vote. ARTICLE 4. Duties of the Honor Council: It shall be the duty of the Honor Council to receive reports of violation of the Honor Code, to try offender s, and to recommend to the faculty suitable punishment. It shall promote and encourage activities which would aid the cause of honor. It shall meet upon the call of the president. ARTICLE 5. Quorum: Nine members shall constitute a quorum. A vote of three-fourths of the members present shall be necessary for a decision. ARTICLE 6. Pledge: Students must sign all pledged work as follows: “I have neither given nor received aid on this work.” ARTICLE 7. Procedure in Reporting Offenses: A student seeing another student lying, cheating or stealing must notify an Honor Council member as soon as possible. The Honor Council will then decide whether the offender should be warned or brought up before the Council for further action. The identity of a student reporting an offense will not be revealed, without his consent, to either the student body or the accused offender. When this restriction, however, impedes the progress of a case or endangers the rights of an accused student, the members of the Honor Council may ovenide the restriction in that specific case by voting unanimously to do so. The Council may question an accused student and if it finds him guilty, will recommend punishment which may be any one of the following: a reprimand, a letter home to the parents, a public announce- ment to the student body of the guilt of the accused, suspension, expulsion, or any other punishment deemed suitable by the Honor Council. Ordinarily a student will not be suspended or expelled on his first offense but continued violation of the Honor Code will mean dismissal from school. ARTICLE Amendment: This constitution may be amended by a three-fourths vote of the student body.