Copyright:  Zoe McDonald

Dear Commons Community,

Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal arts school in Birmingham, Ala., has been plagued by financial instability for years, with the 2009 recession and the coronavirus pandemic exacerbating the consequences of poor investments and continuing  debts.

Closure seemed imminent earlier this year, until Alabama lawmakers appeared to offer a lifeline: a law tailored toward saving the 167-year-old school with a program that could loan millions of dollars. But in October, the state treasurer denied the school’s loan application, sending administrators scrambling once again to save the school.

For many outside the school, its fate is simply about whether a private school that has mismanaged its finances deserves any kind of taxpayer support, especially in a state that has chronically underfunded its public education system. But for alumni and the school’s supporters, it is also a question of whether a classical liberal arts education is still valued at a moment when colleges and universities are facing intense scrutiny over their curricula, admissions and cultures.

Caught in the middle are hundreds of students and professors, drawn to the school’s promise and now forced to reckon with its mistakes.  As reported by The New York Times.

“There was a while where I didn’t even want to do my homework or my work or go to class because what’s the purpose now?” said Jadynn Hunter, 21, who is one semester away from graduating with a media studies degree. She, like many on campus, had been rattled by fears of the school’s possible closure a year ago, before the Legislature acted.

Should Birmingham-Southern close, it would be the end of one of the most prominent liberal arts colleges in a state that has very few. Its allies also argue that the city of Birmingham would be deprived of a respected institution that has funneled millions of dollars into the local economy and kept the state’s youth from leaving for opportunities elsewhere.

Enrollment at the school, which has a $21,500 annual tuition, has faltered to about 731 students this fall.  

Some professors, who have warily watched the conservative overhaul of public colleges like New College of Florida, also said that working at a private institution gave them more freedom to challenge their students on sensitive subjects.

“We are a liberal arts college — that doesn’t get translated very well in the state of Alabama,” said Jim Neel, who graduated from the college in 1971 and now teaches sculpture there. “Liberal arts education is the foundation of all higher education. It’s not something new, and it has nothing to do with party politics, but it seems to read that way.”

Though top Republicans balked at handing the school a grant, the Legislature ultimately negotiated a loan program tailored to Birmingham-Southern’s circumstances.

“People really try to beat down this school and we keep rising above,” said Anna Withers Wellingham, a 22-year-old senior and the student body president.

“This is a school that teaches you a lot more than a liberal arts education,” she added, “and it’s worth fighting for.”

Indeed! Good luck to Birmingham-Southern!

Tony

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