With Homecoming weekend in full swing, alumni are flooding in and bringing memories of years past with them. For Lee’s 2008 celebration, the class of 1958, celebrating a 50 year reunion, is receiving special honors.

Among those celebrating will be Dr. Ollie Lee, distinguished professor of sociology, who is in his 42nd year of teaching at Lee but also holds the title of Lee alumnus from the class of ‘58.

Reflecting upon the institution in 1958 compared to now, Lee noted change.

The era of the 1950s was filled with great change as Lee’s campus moved from Sevierville, Tenn., to Cleveland. During this transition, several separate schools came together to form Lee’s student body, those schools being the Junior college, Lee Academy (a high school), Lee’s Bible College, and Religion Education (a non-collegiate program that served as a continuation from the Bible College and did not require a high school diploma).

While these schools may have gone by separate names, they did not function separately.

“It was as if it [were] one school,” Lee said.

The student body as a whole was much more unified, attending chapel services, dining and even taking classes together. Much of what brought the student body together was student government.

For Lee, participating in student government was one of the vivid memories of 1958 that stuck out in his mind.

“Campaigns then took on the same kind of passion and participation that the presidential election does today,” Lee said.

Student government did everything from electing officers to running campaigns to planning chapel services for the student body. In the days of Ollie Lee, chapel met every day and the student government was responsible for hosting one of those days by coming up with a service.

“That was an ordeal,” Lee laughed, remembering the challenges and rewards of finding new and exciting ways to engage the student body in chapel.

Designing chapel services was not the only involvement student government had on Lee’s campus. During the ‘57-’58 year, students began a campaign to bring change to one of the school rules that dealt with dating.

“It was a hot issue,” Lee said.

During that time, students who were interested in dating were not allowed to do so off campus without the presence of a chaperone. Student government worked to have this rule changed, and over the course of the year, through persistence and support of the student body, the rule was amended to allow students to date off campus in pairs.

Throughout the fight for off-campus romance, the institution continued to support on-campus events for students.

“The highlight of social life in those days was formal banquets,” Lee said.

Approximately 10-12 of these banquets were held a year, hosted in the dining hall and funded by Church of God officials.

“We had formal banquets that made the Deacon Jones Dining Hall look like the Ritz Carlton,” Lee said.

While student life played a large role in impacting Ollie Lee as a student, one of the most memorable things about Lee at that time was the faculty, he said.

“I can’t believe how hard they worked,” said Lee.

While carrying the weight of 15-18 hour teaching loads, faculty were also involved in the student body through the sponsorship of campus clubs as well as chaperoning. Faculty were particularly helpful to students in times of spiritual need.

“At Convocation, [they] helped students pray through, sometimes [until] midnight,” said Lee.

Of the 12 alumni that Lee graduated with, 10 have returned to teach at Lee for varying amounts of time. Lee attributes this to the deep impact that the faculty of the time had upon the students.

“We saw here something you can’t find anywhere else: the sense of spirit, both academic and social,” Lee said.

Lee said he is blessed to look forward to the opportunity and privilege of reuniting with past teachers, colleagues and students.

“That dedication and investment—poured something into students of that era that has lasted not only 50 years, but for eternity.”