Oklahoma Wesleyan University is a private Wesleyan university in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In 2018, the school had 1006 undergraduate students, with approximately 600 of those on its main campus in Bartlesville.
History
Oklahoma Wesleyan University was founded by The Wesleyan Church to provide higher education within a Christian environment for Wesleyan youth. Central Pilgrim College its predecessor, was founded on the campus in Bartlesville, Oklahoma from a series of mergers of several schools: the Colorado Bible College, the Pilgrim Bible College, and the Holiness Evangelistic Institute. Central Pilgrim College was renamed Bartlesville Wesleyan College in 1968, following a merger of the Pilgrim Holiness Church and the Wesleyan Methodist Church to become the Weslayan Church. In August 2001, Bartlesville Wesleyan College became Oklahoma Wesleyan University. In 1972, OKWU merged with a Kansas school, Miltonvale Wesleyan College. OKWU then became a four-year college having about 1300 students.
A longtime member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, in 2015 the university withdrew from the organization. OKWU's president cited CCCU's "reluctance to make a swift decision" in response to the decisions of two member schools which changed their hiring policies to include same-sex couples, as an unwillingness to defend the biblical definition of marriage.
2016 Title IX lawsuit
On August 15, 2016 OKWU joined a court challenge to a 2011 mandate from the U. S. Department of EducationOffice for Civil Rights requiring colleges and universities adjudicate what they called "a unconstitutional process and standard." Former president Piper stated, in part, that they "refuse to accept any government intrusion that would require OKWU to teach the antithesis of our Christian beliefs concerning sexual behavior" and that OKWU's students "should have the legal right to avail themselves of local law enforcement without their petition being compromised by the intrusion of an OCR-mandated committee of amateurs that contravenes the due process and confidentiality of the legal process." The suit was sponsored by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
1959 – Colorado Springs Bible College, Pilgrim Bible College and Holiness Evangelistic Institute merge to become Central Pilgrim College in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
1968 – The Pilgrim Holiness Church and Wesleyan Methodist Church merge to become the Wesleyan Church. Central Pilgrim College becomes Bartlesville Wesleyan College.
1972 – Miltonvale Wesleyan College and Bartlesville Wesleyan College merge and retain the Bartlesville Wesleyan College name.
2001 – Bartlesville Wesleyan College becomes Oklahoma Wesleyan University.
