Birmingham-Southern College closing its doors May 31

Drew Taylor
·2 min read

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — After years of financial troubles, Birmingham-Southern College will be closing its doors in May, ending its 100-year legacy in the city.

The private school, which first started as the merger of Southern University and Birmingham College in 1918, will close May 31. The decision was made during a meeting by the BSC Board of Trustees Tuesday.

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There are approximately 700 students enrolled at BSC this semester.

“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,” BSC Board Chairman Rev. Keith Thompson said in a statement to alumni. “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.”

The announcement comes over a year after BSC officials admitted the institution was $38 million in debt. Looking to the Alabama Legislature for help, BSC did not receive any assistance.

“The state has no plans to use the taxpayers’ public funds to bail out a private college,” Gov. Kay Ivey’s spokeswoman Gina Maiola said in a statement last spring.

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Nonetheless, Thompson told both alumni and students that the school would remain open as they sought other financial means to keep it afloat. In November, the Birmingham City Council approved a $5 million loan to BSC, contingent that it received support through Alabama’s Distressed Institutions of Higher Education Revolving Loan program. However, State Treasurer Young Boozer denied a loan to the school, citing the college’s “terrible credit risk.”

BSC then sued Boozer over the decision, but lost in court.

This past legislative session, Sen. Jabo Waggoner sponsored a bill to extend a loan to BSC. However, the bill subsequently died on the floor.

Notable BSC alumni include former New York Times editor-in-chief Howell Raines, former U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Perry O. Hooper Jr.

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