Birmingham-Southern College

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Birmingham-Southern College (BSC) is a private 4-year liberal arts college affiliated with the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. Its campus is in Birmingham's Bush Hills neighborhood, west of Downtown at the Arkadelphia Road exit from I-59/20. The current president is Daniel Coleman.

Birmingham-Southern is a well-rated liberal arts school, receiving accolades from numerous publications. The college has been is recognized by the John Templeton Foundation Honor Roll as one of 100 schools nationwide that emphasize character-building as an integral part of the college experience; as among the 100 "Colleges Worth Considering" compiled by Washington Post staff writer Jay Mathews; as one of "America's Best Christian Colleges" by Institutional Research and Evaluation Inc.; as one of the nation's top 30 colleges by The Washington Times; and as one of The Princeton Review's Best 357 Colleges.

Birmingham-Southern is one of only six baccalaureate-liberal arts institutions in the country so classified by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to hold both AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation—and the designation of Phi Beta Kappa. Each year, Birmingham-Southern ranks #1 in Alabama and among the nation's best in percentage of all graduates accepted to medical, dental, or health-career programs; the college also ranks high nationally in graduates accepted to law school.

History

Owenton College, opened in 1898
Munger Hall, with administrative offices and a large auditorium, was completed in 1928

In 1824, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church recommended that each conference establish a seminary of learning under its regulation and patronage. Not until 1854, after Southern Methodists had seceded from the national denomination, did the Alabama Conference undertake to carry out this recommendation of the superior body. In that year, a committee was appointed to select a site for the proposed college and to procure funds for its establishment and maintenance. Southern University was chartered in Greensboro on January 25, 1856 and its board of trustees held its first meeting, now commemorated as "Founder's Day" on March 17 of that year.

After the North Alabama Conference was split from the statewide conference in 1870, it agreed to contribute to the operations of Southern University. In November 1896, though, it was proposed that a new college for men should be established by the North Alabama Conference. A committee met at Birmingham's First Methodist Church on February 3, 1897 and approved the proposal, selecting Birmingham as the best location. Rose Owen, a steward at Elyton Methodist Church, had acquired an area west of Smithfield which he had begun subdividing as "Owenton". He donated a 15-acre parcel on the Flint Ridge in the northern part of his subdivision for the use of the college and convinced other adjoining landowners Robert Greene, Thomas Bush and Paul Earle to contribute additional acreage. Owen also served as chief fund-raiser for capital with which to erect the first building, named Rose Owen Hall in his honor. The new institution, formally called the North Alabama Conference College, but popularly known as Owenton College opened in September 1898. It was renamed Birmingham College in 1906.

On May 30, 1918 commissioners from the Alabama and North Alabama Conferences agreed to consolidate the two schools as Birmingham-Southern College. The college began operating under that name on September 11 of that year.

Birmingham-Southern has consistently sought academic distinction. In 1937, its standards were recognized by the nation’s leading academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, which granted the College a charter to establish Beta of Alabama.

In the early 1970s, during the presidency of Ralph Tanner, Birmingham-Southern studied the possibility of relocating to a large tract in northern Shelby County offered to the school by an anonymous benefactor, and invited Miles College in Fairfield to negotiate on a purchase of its Bush Hills campus. BSC accepted an offer of $14 million for the property, but Miles had difficulty raising enough funds to close on the deal. Some community leaders believed the proposal to be in the best interest of the college as well as the community, reportedly telling Tanner that a white institution wouldn't be able to serve the area as it became increasingly African-American. Others criticized the idea as "white flight", comparing it to Howard College's move to Shades Valley. In May 1975 Birmingham-Southern's board made the decision to remain on its existing campus.

In December 1976 a Birmingham-Southern student, Quenette Shehane, was kidnapped from a convenience store near campus and murdered. The sensational crime fueled racist fears about the demographics of the college's surrounding neighborhoods. Within a few years a fence was erected around the perimeter of the campus.

The long presidency of Neal Berte boosted the status of Birmingham-Southern, growing enrollment to about 1,500 by 2000 and moving the athletics program into NCAA Division I competition. He expanded the endowment from $11 million to $136 million, but by the time he retired in 2004, the college was again operating at a deficit and using funds from its endowment to maintain operations.

Under the administration of David Pollick from 2004 to 2010 the endowment declined from $114 million to a little more than $60 million. Pollick's strategy, supported by the board of trustees, was to make capital investments to boost enrollment. He led several major building projects, focusing on student amenities and enhancement of the overall visual effect of the campus.

In 2010 college officials discovered ongoing serious errors in how it calculated and awarded financial aid packages. Correcting the errors was expected to cost the school at least $5 million per year. Moody's downgraded the school's credit rating. The combined effect of those factors led Pollick to announce plans to cut the school's $49 million annual budget by as much as 20%. The college cut five majors, eliminated 29 faculty positions and laid off 51 staffers.

Birmingham-Southern College's financial stability was raised as an important matter in a warning issued by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2011. Charles Krulak, who began his term as president of the college that year, led a fund-raising campaign which garnered more than $15 million in pledges by January 2013, including an unrestricted $1 million infusion from the North Alabama Conference. In 2017 the college took in $86.2 million in revenues, exceeding its $76.5 million in expenses. In 2018 the school was back to a deficit, with $71.8 million revenues and $76.8 million in expenses. That trend continued, and by 2022 the college was operating at a significant loss, with only $42.7 million in revenues against $80.6 million in expenses.

In December 2022, the college issued an appeal for public funds, disclosing that it had been operating under "financial distress" for "over a decade" and that without help it would be forced to close in 2023. It cited the depletion of the endowment and errors in financial aid accounting, as well as challenges arising from the "Great Recession" and the COVID pandemic.

Birmingham-Southern requested a loan of $17.5 million from the state's Education Trust Fund (which had a $2.7 billion surplus), and another $12.5 million from the state's allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The college also requested loans of $5 million from the City of Birmingham and $2.5 million from Jefferson County.

To bolster the case for public assistance, the college commissioned an economic impact report from Auburn University Montgomery economist Keivan Deravi. His analysis concluded the Birmingham-Southern was responsible for an annual impact of $97.3 million for the state. The public funds would have been used to keep the school to continue operating through 2026, while it continued a campaign for $200 million in private donations. On April 6, 2023 the Board of Trustees voted to keep the college operating for the fall semester.

Governor Kay Ivey proposed changes to the bill before she signed it on June 16, creating the Alabama Distressed Institutions of Higher Education Revolving Loan Program, establishing the "Distressed Institutions of Higher Education Revolving Loan Program.". In October Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer III denied BSC's application to the program. In December the Birmingham City Council approved an emergency loan of $5 million while the college attempted amend its state loan application. Later that month, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges placed Birmingham-Southern's accreditation on "warning" status, citing its financial deficiencies.

During the 2024 Alabama legislative session, a modified bill was passed by the State Senate, but did not have enough votes to pass the House of Representatives. The college's board of trustees held an emergency meeting and voted unanimously to close the school at the end of the spring term. Numerous colleges around the region made efforts to streamline student transfers. Around 200 faculty and staff were laid off without severance.

Enrollment

  • 2000: 1,500
  • 2010: 1,542
  • 2011: 1,400
  • 2017: 1,200 students from 34 states and 8 foreign countries
  • 2021: 1,058
  • 2022–2023: 972
  • 2023 (fall term): 731 full-time students
  • 2024 (spring term): 689 full-time students

Campus

The wooded 192-acre campus is located approximately three miles west of downtown Birmingham on the Flint Ridge south of Thomas in Bush Hills. The Alabama State Legislature passed a local prohibition law forbidding alcohol sales within a two mile radius of the college on March 2, 1901. The original school building, Owen Hall, was demolished for the larger Munger Memorial Hall, which opened in 1928.

Birmingham-Southern has documented four sites on its campus with the Council of Independent Colleges "Historic Campus Architecture Project". These include the Birmingham-Southern Academic Quad, Birmingham-Southern President's House, the Simpson Building, and the Stockham Woman's Building.

The Southern Environmental Center is an environmental educational facility located on the campus of Birmingham-Southern College. Each year, hundreds of school children tour the facility's Interactive Museum and EcoScape.

The campus housed 45 buildings in all, with most of them having undergone renovations. A major building campaign undertaken during the early 2000s encompassed the Elton B. Stephens Science Center, the Larry D. Striplin Jr Physical Fitness and Recreation Center, General Charles C. Krulak Stadium, the Edwards Bell Tower, and the Birmingham-Southern College Admission Welcome Center. The school's "Fraternity Row" also saw numerous construction projects.

Academics

In its final years, Birmingham-Southern's academic faculty were organized into 18 departments:

  • Art and Art History
  • Biology
  • Business
  • Chemistry and Physics
  • Economics, Global and Comparative Studies, and Political Science
  • Education
  • English
  • History
  • Mathematics and Applied Computer Science
  • Media and Film Studies
  • Modern Foreign Languages
  • Music
  • Philosophy
  • Psychology
  • Religion
  • Sociology
  • Theatre
  • Urban Environmental Studies

The college offered 29 undergraduate majors and 24 approved minors, with an option for individualized courses of study.

Birmingham-Southern operated on the semester system, with two semesters per academic year, plus an interim "E-Term" in January. During that four-week period, students were encouraged to engaged in intensive and experiential learning by participating in internships or taking up creative projects.

National Honor Societies

Birmingham-Southern is a sheltering institution for a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and is home to 20 other honorary or professional societies in various academic areas. The college established a new chapter of the business honorary Beta Gamma Sigma in 2003, joining 375 other schools, all accredited in business through AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Birmingham-Southern is one of only six baccalaureate-liberal arts institutions in the country to hold both AACSB International accreditation and the designation of Phi Beta Kappa, and one of only six to hold Phi Beta Kappa and house a Beta Gamma Sigma chapter.

The Honor Council

The Honor Code established an Honor Council composed of 15 students as selected by the Student Government Association. This Council is in charge of hearing cases concerning the three tenets of lying, cheating, and stealing upon which the Code was built. Any honor violations governing student behavior or academic violations are brought before the Honor Council. Students must recognize the Council’s role of upholding the Honor Code as they enter the College by signing and agreeing to uphold the Code. While the role of students in maintaining the Honor Code is crucial, the ultimate responsibility for campus governance rests with the President of The College and other designated administrators as delegated by the Board of Trustees.

Athletics

BSCathletics.jpg

See main article: BSC Panthers

In the spring of 2006, the college's board of directors decided to move all athletic programs from the scholarship-driven NCAA Division I to the non-scholarship Division III. The college's application to join the Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference was approved by a vote of league presidents on June 7, 2006. A transition period of several years is expected before BSC will become a full member of the conference. On June 15, 2006, Athletic Director Joe Dean, Jr announced that, owing to the number of scholarship athletes transferring elsewhere, BSC would not field teams in baseball or men's basketball for the 2006-07 academic year, meaning that for these sports, Division I participation was over.

Construction for Birmingham-Southern's new athletic complex began in February 2007. Land was cleared for the complex across from the BSC Softball Complex. The stadium features state-of-the-art artificial turf with an eight lane regulation track surrounding the field. An athletic building was constructed and includes a press box, coach’s offices, meeting rooms, an athletic training room, official’s dressing room and locker rooms for football, lacrosse, track and field, and cross country.

Football

Birmingham-Southern first fielded a football team in 1918, coached by Baby Haynes. Charlie Brown coached the team from 1919 to 1923. Harold "Red" Drew was coach from 1924-1927. The all-time winningest coach in BSC history, Jenks Gillem led the Panthers to a 51-43-8 record in 12 seasons (1928 to 1939).

After an almost seven decade absence, the Panthers fielded their a new football team in 2007. Former Alabama Crimson Tide and Birmingham Stallions reciever Joey Jones was named the head football coach in 2006, after a successful high school coaching career. Jones built the team from scratch for the 2007 season. The Panthers went 1-7 in varsity play, and 2-0 in junior varsity games, with a team made up primarily of freshman and sophomore players. Jones left the program on February 14, 2008, accepting the first head coach position for the University of South Alabama. Assistant coach Eddie Garfinkle was tapped to lead the Panthers for the 2008 season. At the end of 2016 fall season, Coach Eddie Garfinkle was fired, and replacing him was Tony Joe White. White’s previous coaching job was at Centre College in Kentucky where he was the Offensive Coordinator. White was 3-7 in his first year as Head Coach for the Panthers.

Notable alumni

Faculty

Main article: List of Birmingham-Southern College presidents

Birmingham-Southern has a 12:1 student to faculty ratio, and of the full-time members of the faculty, more than 92 percent hold either a doctoral degree or the highest degree in their field.

Dr Charles Norman Mason, composer and Birmingham-Southern College professor of music, was awarded the prestigious Samuel Barber Rome Prize in Musical Composition during ceremonies April 14, 2006 in New York City.

References

External links

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