Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama to close at the end of May

Birmingham Southern University announced Tuesday that it will cease operations by the end of May after failing to obtain a loan from the state.

The university’s board of trustees voted on Tuesday. close school This comes after a bill aimed at amending the state’s loan program for higher education institutions lacks support in the Alabama House of Representatives.

“Today is a tragic day for our university, our students, our employees, and our alumni,” Board President Rev. Keith D. Thompson said in a statement. “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.”

Daniel B. Coleman, the school’s president, said the university considered all options for obtaining financing through the Higher Education Distressed Institutions Revolving Loan Fund, which was established after the law was signed last June. The school applied for a loan but was denied by State Treasurer Young Boozer III in October 2023.

Despite the school claiming it met all legal qualifications, the loan was refused.

To get the loan approved, state Sen. Jabo Wagoner (R) and state Sen. Roger Smitherman (D) submitted a bill Last month, it amended the law governing the loan program. If the bill passes, the Alabama Higher Education Commission would administer the loan program instead of the treasurer.

The state Senate approved it, but the school said it lacked support in the state House. According to a report, Boozer was opposed to the new bill. AL.com.

“I want to warn this committee, the public, and especially the taxpayers: If you loan, you own,” Boozer said at a state House committee hearing earlier this month, according to the newspaper.

Birmingham Southern College, a private liberal arts institution, was founded in 1918 by the merger of two Methodist universities. In Tuesday’s announcement, the school said it has plans in place for students who will be forced to transfer to other schools and is supporting employees who will be laid off by May 31.