Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal arts school in Birmingham, Alabama, is scheduled to close at the end of May after failing to secure a multimillion-dollar loan from the university, marking a bitter end to the school's nearly 170-year history. become. state.
The school's board of trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to close the school, and hundreds of students and staff at the university were formally notified shortly after.
“Today is a tragic day for our university, our students, our employees, and our alumni,” board chairman Rev. Keith D. Thompson said in a news release. “But this is a terrible day for Birmingham, for the neighbors who have surrounded our campus for more than 100 years, and for the state of Alabama.”
Schools have been mired in debt for years. The 2009 recession and subsequent coronavirus pandemic compounded the damage caused by high campus investments and declining endowments. But after the Alabama Legislature last year approved a new loan program that could loan Birmingham Southern up to $30 million, many staff and students were hopeful its future would be saved.
Daniel Coleman, the school's president, announced his ambitious plan to use the loan as a bridge to keep the school open while the school seeks to replenish its endowment with gifts from private donors. He was proposing a plan. But state Treasurer Young Boozer III rejected the loan twice last year, citing concerns about the school's ability to repay its debt.
“If you lend it, it becomes yours. It's a falling knife,” Boozer told a House committee this month.
The school and its allies in Congress are pushing for changes to the loan program this year in new legislation that would shift loan approval responsibility from the state Treasurer to the Alabama Higher Education Commission and further tighten loan terms. stipulated.
Coleman told lawmakers this month that school closures would result in “substantial revenue losses to the state, both directly and indirectly.” “And I think it's going to be devastating for the immediate area on the west side of Birmingham.”
The new bill passed the state Senate earlier this month, but “subsequent discussions with House leadership confirmed that the bill lacked sufficient support to move forward,” the school said in a news release. Stated.
The board called a vote on the closure Tuesday while schools were on spring break. (The school said the timing of the meeting was “not ideal,” but that it was best to convene the board to consider its options.)
The question of whether Alabama should provide loans to private colleges has forced lawmakers, university officials and students to consider whether a classical liberal arts education is still valued in the state. .
The school's allies had warned of the consequences of closing an institution that has helped drive investment in Birmingham and leaving its nearly 200-acre campus vacant. Critics say it is not worth diverting any public aid, even in the form of loans, to schools with a long history of financial mismanagement.
But caught in the middle were students and staff who still believed in the university's educational approach and small class sizes.
The school announced it has launched an initiative to help students transfer to other universities within Alabama and out of state. Some fourth-year students who are scheduled to graduate in late summer may be able to complete their final requirements online or at other schools.
“We put our students first and are committed to finding the best place for them to continue their journey to graduation,” said Dr. Laura K. Stolz, provost and College of Science faculty member. Stated.
