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Message to the Campus Community
Message to the Campus Community
For Immediate Release
Oct. 18, 2023
Campus Community,
This afternoon, Birmingham-Southern College filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court to compel Alabama State Treasurer Young J. Boozer III to execute the Distressed Institutions of Higher Learning Revolving Loan Fund Act.
Treasurer Boozer has denied BSC's application for funding through the Distressed Institutions of Higher Learning Revolving Loan Fund. This stunning news came this morning after more than a year of discussions with him beginning in August 2022, in which at no time did he say or signal that BSC would not receive the bridge funding we have worked so hard to secure.
This afternoon, Birmingham-Southern College filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court to compel Alabama State Treasurer Young J. Boozer III to execute the Distressed Institutions of Higher Learning Revolving Loan Fund Act.
Treasurer Boozer has denied BSC's application for funding through the Distressed Institutions of Higher Learning Revolving Loan Fund. This stunning news came this morning after more than a year of discussions with him beginning in August 2022, in which at no time did he say or signal that BSC would not receive the bridge funding we have worked so hard to secure.
The College’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously on April 5 to keep the College open based on good-faith assurances that should enabling legislation establishing the loan fund pass, BSC was positioned to borrow up to $30 million in bridge funding.
That legislation did pass; in fact, it passed unanimously by the Alabama Senate and by a two-thirds majority in the Alabama House and was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey on June 16, 2023.
Since then and through yesterday, we have continued the discussions with the Treasurer. We meet every one of the qualifications for this funding. We have presented him with financial restructuring plans that have us back on our feet by Academic Year 2026-2027. We have answered every question and provided detailed information with full transparency.
And now we have been blindsided. So have our many allies in Montgomery, and now you have, too.
Even so, I want you to know that we are committed to the fight for BSC’s future – and for the future of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
Meet me at 3 p.m. today in the Bruno Great Hall. Come ready to do what is needed to move this forward – specifically, calling and emailing the people who can make it happen. To those who can’t attend, we will send a second email after that meeting with the call to action.
Messages from students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and friends of the College played a powerful role in getting more than 100 elected officials on board for BSC.
Now, there is just one elected official who holds the key to BSC’s future by honoring the will of the Alabama Legislature.
Let’s let him hear from us – loud and clear.
Daniel B. Coleman
16th President