In 1928 the seminary moved to Decatur, Georgia, also signifying a transition from the Old South toward the New (mercantile) South. Unfortunately the seminary brought to its handsome new campus the theological rigidity and racist assumptions of the Old South. Under the leadership of James McDowell Richards, Columbia slowly commenced its long struggle against its deeply embedded racism. By the final decade of the twentieth century, Columbia had become one of the most highly endowed seminaries in the country, had internationally recognized faculty, and had students from all over the world.
At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Columbia named its first female president and embraced a new, broad diversity in faculty and students--stripping away any vestiges of its ties to the Old South. Columbia's evolution has challenged assumptions about what it means to be Presbyterian, southern, and American, as the seminary continues its primary mission of providing a learned Presbyterian ministry.