Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal arts college in Alabama, will close at the end of May after running into financial difficulties and being unable to secure a financial lifeline from the state, officials say. The College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the longtime institution, officials said in a news release. The announcement came after legislation aimed at securing a taxpayer-backed loan for the 168-year-old private college recently stalled in the Alabama Statehouse, the AP reports. The college of about 1,000 students dates to 1856, when Southern University was founded in Greensboro, Alabama. That school merged with Birmingham College in 1918 to become Birmingham-Southern.
"This is a tragic day for the College, our students, our employees, and our alumni," the Rev. Keith D. Thompson, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said in a statement from the college. "But it is also a terrible day for Birmingham, for the neighborhoods who have surrounded our campus for more than 100 years, and for Alabama." A number of small private colleges nationwide are struggling with a declining number of traditional college-aged students and competition from larger, richer institutions. Birmingham-Southern Provost Laura K. Stultz said the college is working on agreements with other institutions to helps students "maximize the transfer of credits to keep them on track."
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said news of the closure is "disappointing and heartbreaking to all of us who recognize it as a stalwart of our community." The decision to close follows years of financial difficulties and efforts to keep the institution open. The Alabama Legislature created a loan program last year to provide financial help to distressed colleges, but state Treasurer Young Boozer—whose campaign signs are often stolen—denied the school's loan application. New legislation was introduced this year. The college said conversations with House leadership "confirmed that the bill did not have enough support to move forward."
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