Founded in 1851 as a nonsectarian college, it has retained a covenant with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since its inception.

The city of Columbia strongly supported female education, in part because the University of Missouri did not yet admit women.

During the Civil War, Christian College President Joseph K. Rogers vowed to keep the school open.

The majority of the city of Columbia was pro-Union, but the surrounding agricultural areas of Boone County and the rest of central Missouri were decidedly pro-slavery.

President Rogers insisted the college remain neutral and did not allow newspapers on the grounds, but privately he read them.

After the war, Christian College saw its largest enrollment to date, with 182 students taught by nine faculty members.

Between 1970 and 1971, more than 70 courses as daring as cycling and flying were added to the curriculum; all graduation requirements except freshman English and a GPA of 2.5 were dropped; more foreign students were admitted; and a host of lifestyle choices such as off-campus living for juniors, a relaxed dress code, and smoking were allowed.

President W. Merle Hill said in 1971 that the time had come to openly allow discussions of poverty, the Vietnam War, racism, sex, drugs and abortion.

This was the start of the Extended Studies Division first headed up by Dr. William Brown, who would later go on to serve as Executive Vice President of the college.

Two years later, the college launched the Evening Campus, geared to adult learners and non-traditional students.

[9] Today, the college has 33 extended campuses around the country serving more than 25,000 military and civilian students each year, including one in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Columbia College Cougars women's volleyball program captured two consecutive National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championships in 1998 and 1999 with perfect 45–0 and 44–0 records, respectively.

And in honor of what would have been alumna Jane Froman's 100th birthday, a centennial celebration was held at Columbia College November 9–11, 2007.

[29] Freshmen applicants need a high school GPA of 2.5 or 3.0 and a ACT of 21, or SAT score of 1060, or ranking in the top 50% of their graduating class.

If freshman don’t meet the ACT or SAT requirements they need a successful completion of the following:[19] At the day campus the acceptance rate for transfer students is minimally difficult.

The college is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the American Midwest Conference (AMC) since the 1986–87 academic year.

Columbia College re-instated women's basketball as a varsity sport in 2000, and the team played its first game on November 6, 2001 vs. Wesleyan University.

Columbia spent eight consecutive weeks ranked #1 in the nation and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NAIA tournament as the overall #1 seed.

The 2012–13 NABC National Coach of the Year, Burchard has compiled a 632–226 (.737) record at Columbia giving him the most in wins in program history.

The Cougars have advanced to the NAIA Men's National Basketball Championship 17 times in his tenure, including 16 of the past 19 seasons.

[citation needed] Head coach Wendy Spratt has achieved 500 victories with a win over Northwestern Oklahoma State University in April 2007.

[citation needed] The AMC named pitcher Valerie Teter the league's most valuable player and freshman of the year in 2008.

AMC's Pitcher of the Year award went to Katie McMahon for the second straight season in 2008 following a 16–4 record with a 1.61 ERA, and 138 strikeouts in 135 innings.

After the 1999 season, both Kreklows left the Cougars, but did not go far—just two miles down the city's College Avenue, where Wayne took the head coaching job with the Missouri Tigers and Susan became Director of Volleyball for Mizzou.

In 1999, the Cougars finished the season with a 19–5 overall record, enjoying their second consecutive undefeated run through the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.