| abstract | - Oxford College of Emory University, also called Oxford College and originally founded as Emory College, is an American two-year residential college specializing in the foundations of liberal arts education. It is the birthplace and one of nine academic divisions of Emory University. The college is located on Emory University's original campus in Oxford, Georgia, 38 miles east of Emory's Atlanta campus. Students at Oxford automatically continue their studies in Atlanta after successfully completing Oxford's curriculum. Emory College was originally built one mile north of Covington, Georgia by the Georgia Methodist Conference, after a failed attempt to establish a church-sponsored manual labor school a few miles away. The school opened in 1838, named after John Emory, an influential Methodist bishop who had died before the school's opening, and Oxford University, the alma mater of the founders of the Methodist movement. The college's facilities were used by both Confederate and Union generals as military headquarters and infirmaries throughout various stages of the American Civil War, and many of the buildings were permanently damaged. After the turn of the 20th century, Emory College received a generous monetary and land grant from Asa Griggs Candler, president of The Coca-Cola Company, and moved its operations to Druid Hills, closer to Atlanta. During those years, Oxford spent time as a college preparatory school, junior college, four-year college, and finally the two-year Emory liberal arts program known today as Oxford College. The college and surrounding structures related to the founding of Emory College is part of the Oxford Historic District. Oxford College has a total enrollment of around 900 freshman and sophomore students from a wide variety of religious, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds, including over 38 states and 20 foreign countries. Campus organizations include various community service groups, interest clubs, and "social clubs", the school's replacement for traditional fraternities and sororities. Oxford participates in NJCAA Division III sports, with the men's and women's tennis teams winning national championships multiple times.
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