Southern Fall/Winter 2022

Letter from the PRESIDENT
I had planned to write to you today about the ginkgo trees on
campus and to describe the Japanese shrine that, for the past 1,300
years, has been torn down and rebuilt every 20 years to the precise
same specifications.
But first, we have some rebuilding of our own to do, and we need
your help to do it.
As you have no doubt read in our email messages, or perhaps seen
in the news, Birmingham-Southern College is facing perhaps the
most difficult set of financial challenges ever in our long and storied
history. I want to share with you our plan to meet these challenges
and place the College once again on a sound financial footing.
Over the past two years, we have quietly worked to secure $45.5
million in documented pledges toward the $200 million endowment
we need to ensure BSC’s financial resilience. That puts us on track to
meet our goal by May 2026.
An endowment of that size should generate $10 million each
year — enough to fund 20 percent of BSC’s annual operating budget.
Colleges comparable to ours have found this level of revenue from
endowment income makes it possible for them to operate without
dipping into the corpus of the fund.
To give us time to meet the endowment goal and to give us
breathing room in which to operate, the College is seeking a one-time
contribution of $30 million from the State of Alabama, as well as
$5 million from the City of Birmingham and $2.5 million from the
Jefferson County Commission.
We believe the economic impact BSC generates year after year and
the immeasurable contributions our alumni and students make to
Birmingham and the entire State of Alabama more than justify such
an investment from the public sector.
State funding for BSC is clearly permissible under state law and
there is considerable precedent in favor of a state contribution for the
public good. In fact, state government provides funding to private
institutions in Alabama every year.
How did we get here?
Our financial challenges are easily traceable to an ambitious
building program during a previous administration. In the mid-
2000s, BSC drew heavily on its endowment and took on considerable
debt to fund new facilities. Then the financial crisis of 2008-2009
made things much worse.
Subsequent BSC presidents did a remarkable job of funding
year-to-year operations despite significant challenges. Without a
healthy endowment, however, the economic model under which BSC
operates is simply not sustainable for the long term.
Because we have already raised roughly 20 percent ($45.5 million)
of our endowment goal without a public appeal to our alumni and
supporters, we are confident we can reach 100 percent of our goal by
May 2026.
Our request for $30 million from the State has been well received
by the Jefferson County delegation and legislators from around
the state. Now we need to persuade Gov. Kay Ivey and members of
the Alabama House of Representatives and the Alabama Senate to
support our cause.
How you can help
As a reader of ’Southern magazine, you know that Birmingham-
Southern College is a special place that plays a critical role in the
economic, civic, and cultural health of our state. Yet not everyone in a
position to support our plan is as familiar with it as you are.
We are meeting with key decision-makers in Montgomery to
share with them the many reasons funding for BSC will return rich
dividends. We need your help to make our elected officials aware of
just how important BSC has been to you and to Alabama.
To get started, scan the QR Code on the back cover of this issue
or point your web browser to: bsc.edu/bscforward.html. The BSC
Forward web page will tell you everything you need to know to
identify and contact your representatives in Montgomery, as well
as Gov. Ivey. Please do so today. If you live out of state, write to the
Governor anyway, and encourage your Alabama friends and family
to do the same. If you need more information, reach out to us at
advancement@bsc.edu or (205) 226-4909.
With your help, I believe we can persuade these decision-makers
that support for BSC at this critical juncture simply makes sense
for Alabama.
Please join in this effort. We need every voice to be heard. Thank
you for all that you do and have done for Birmingham-Southern.
Forward, Ever!
Daniel B. Coleman
President
"The annual life cycle of the ginkgo tree is one of the many subtle but unique experiences shared by the
Birmingham-Southern community. It is an experience that bring alumni back like a 'madeleine de Proust' to those
feelings of being a student once again. It connects us all to the time of year, academic and otherwise; it connects us
to each other in the BSC community."
Scan the QR code to read President Coleman's essay on the Year of the Ginkgo.