Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 22,000 undergraduate students and a total of more than 28,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of Alabama's largest universities and one of the state's two public flagship universities. Auburn was chartered on February 1, 1856, as East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts school affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.