The college competes in NCAA Division III and the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA).

On March 23, 1835, Methodist settlers in Spring Arbor Township obtained a charter for a new seminary from the Michigan Territorial Legislature.

Sixty acres (243,000 m2) of land were donated by Jesse Crowell to the renamed Wesleyan Seminary, and construction began in 1841.

In 1844, classes began in the newly constructed Central Building, rebuilt as the present Robinson Hall in 1907.

It features six miles of trails, 400 plant species, almost 170 bird species, 25 acres of oak-hickory and flood-plain forest, a tall-grass prairie and spring in the Adele D. Whitehouse Wildflower Garden, an arboretum of Michigan trees and shrubs, 34 acres of farmland and research projects, and an interpretative building.

[12] One of the notable features of the observatory is the 8.25" Alvan Clark Telescope, which dates back to the late 19th century.

Although this claim remains unverified, Clark's health was declining in the early 1880s and the extent of his work in the years leading up to his death in 1887 is not well-documented.

The ethnic composition of the student body was as follows:[3] Prior to the 2010s the enrollment was heavily white and non-low income.