Top
BSC To Close At End Of Academic Year (Mobile users click on menu upper right for FAQs)
BSC To Close At End Of Academic Year (Mobile users click on menu upper right for FAQs)
As Chair of the Board of Trustees of Birmingham-Southern College, it is my sad duty to let you know that BSC will cease normal operations on May 31, 2024.
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the College after a 2024 bill designed to amend the 2023 legislation that established the loan program on which our future depended failed to win sufficient support in the Alabama House of Representatives. Without that funding, the College does not have the resources to continue.
This is a tragic day for the College, our students, our employees, and our alumni, and an outcome so many have worked tirelessly to prevent. We understand the devastating impact this has on each of you, and we will now direct our efforts toward ensuring the smoothest possible transition for everyone involved.
BSC leadership has already begun detailed planning for students who will be forced to transfer to other institutions as well as those who had planned to complete degree requirements this summer. Individual meetings will be scheduled when students return from spring break.
BSC will also offer as much help as possible for employees, almost all of whom will be displaced by May 31, with the rest to follow over the summer.
Between now and the end of spring term, BSC will continue normal operations, including classes, athletics, and extra-curricular activities. Forward Ever Day, the Grad Expo, Honors Day, Capping, and Commencement will happen as planned, and we are working on plans for meaningful events for alumni prior to closure.
We know everyone will have questions, and we are committed to providing the answers. More information for students, families, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the College has been posted at www.bsc.edu and will be updated as details become available.
Today is also a terrible day for Birmingham, for the neighborhoods who have surrounded our campus for more than 100 years, and for Alabama. Through this challenging year and a half, we have talked a lot about BSC’s more than $90 million annual economic impact on Alabama, with $68 million of that right here in our city. Beyond that loss – which is enormous -- the loss of a nationally ranked liberal arts college that has contributed so much to this state and to the world – and still had so much to give – is incalculable.
What Happened in Montgomery?
Over the last 18 months, BSC has exhausted every option to obtain the loan through the Distressed Institutions of Higher Learning Revolving Loan Fund, which was established by the Alabama Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey in June 2023.
The original Act put the State Treasurer in charge of the program, for which BSC met the statutory qualifications. After months of delay, the Treasurer denied the loan in October 2023.
On February 6, the College’s legislative champions – Sen. Jabo Waggoner ’60 and Sen. Rodger Smitherman – introduced a bill to amend the 2023 Act. That bill, which moved the administration of the loan program to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, added a layer of review to ensure the state’s position, set the loan terms, and specified a time frame for approval or denial, passed the Alabama Senate on March 5.
On March 20, through the efforts of Rep. David Faulkner, the House Ways & Means Education Committee approved a substitute bill that further strengthened the State’s position. Even so, conversations last week with House leadership confirmed that the bill did not have enough support to move forward.
Upon receiving that confirmation, the board meeting was scheduled for today. While holding the meeting during spring break was not ideal, doing so allowed time for trustees to review all options and for those who live outside of Alabama to arrange to be present.
The $30 million set aside in 2023 for the loan program remains unused.
What Comes Next
As Chair of the Board, as a proud alumnus, as the parent of three sons who attended BSC, and as a former member of the BSC staff, I want you to know that I share your heartbreak, anger, and frustration over the devastating loss of this 168-year-old treasure.
I want you to know that Daniel B. Coleman has been a warrior for BSC since the moment he became BSC’s 16th president in December 2018. He envisioned a path forward for the College, worked tirelessly to convince others that BSC could overcome its challenges, and invested his considerable time, remarkable talent, and personal resources in the effort to save it. No one wanted that more than he did.
The Board is also deeply grateful to the College’s senior leadership, who have displayed loyalty, resiliency, and integrity in the face of long odds. It takes uncommon strength to show up every day knowing that the deck is stacked against you, and each day you consistently put your best effort into every task that was before you.
To the faculty, staff, and students who made the decision to stay and chose to join the fight instead of taking the easy path, I am overwhelmed with pride in the way you have carried yourself throughout these difficult times. While the outcome was not what any of us desired, the way you exemplified an indomitable spirit and expressed yourself with integrity consistently demonstrated the very essence of what we were working to preserve.
It is for all of you that my heart breaks, while at the same time it is what you have personified that emboldens my hope for the future of a world with you in it. Throughout this struggle, you have fully lived into this College’s watchword.
Forward, Ever –