Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has begun laying off staff as part of a financial restructuring approved by trustees earlier this month.
No information was made public about how many layoffs were happening and who was affected. Baptist Press, in-house news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, reported the layoffs Thursday afternoon, Oct. 27, but said seminary officials declined to provide any details.
This portrait of Paige Patterson hangs in the Rotunda at Southwestern Seminary. It was under Patterson’s leadership that enrollment began a steep decline while spending went up.
The Fort Worth, Texas, seminary has experienced a precipitous drop in enrollment over the past two decades, while two consecutive presidents reportedly spent beyond their means. Most recently, that led to the sudden resignation of President Adam Greenway, who held the post only three years. Trustee Chairman Danny Roberts last week cited “dysfunctionality amongst senior leadership” and financial mismanagement as issues of concern that led to Greenway’s departure.
Interim President David Dockery and Special Advisor O.S. Hawkins have been working with business office staff to construct a clearer picture of the seminary’s financial situation, which Dockery told trustees was not yet a crisis situation but could become one easily.
BNG inquired about results of that financial assessment and was told no public statement was yet available.
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, BNG inquired about results of that financial assessment and was told no public statement was yet available. Campus insiders have said the current year’s deficit could be $6 million or more, but the seminary has not confirmed any number.
The school has posted for sale a 24-acre tract of land known as Carroll Park student housing. An independent assessment of that property by commercial real estate brokers on BNG’s behalf indicated the tract should sell for about $15 million. The site likely will become a massive new multihousing development.
Dockery told trustees last week that a 10% cut in budget expenditures was needed and that additional properties could be sold.
Among 200 acres of land owned by Southwestern are dozens of empty lots where single-family homes once stood. Especially on the south side of campus, which would be the back side as one approaches the main entrance, vacant lot after vacant lot occupies parts of six blocks.
When a BNG reporter visited campus in early afternoon Oct. 26, vast parking lots intended for students, faculty and staff cars appeared largely empty. There was virtually no sign of foot traffic on campus. A visit to the Carroll Park complex now for sale found large numbers of the student apartments vacant.
The current student body occupies a campus designed to accommodate vastly more people than are currently enrolled. For example, some faculty offices sit vacant, as does the 3,500-seat MacGorman Chapel intended to house weekly chapel services.
For last academic year, Southwestern reported student enrollment of 944 — less than a third of the enrollment 30 years prior. No other Southern Baptist seminary has experienced the kind of enrollment drop Southwestern has posted. Enrollment numbers for the current academic year have not been made public but are reportedly lower than last year.
Enrollment numbers for the current academic year have not been made public but are reportedly lower than last year.
The staff layoffs came less than a week after the seminary reported a “record-setting” number of 300 prospective students at a preview weekend, but that comparison was based on records kept only since 2019. Southwestern has been through three directors of admissions in the past three years.
Adam Greenway
This year’s budget is $37.37 million, which was a 5.86% increase over the prior year — adopted despite plummeting enrollment. When trustees adopted that budget in April, Greenway told them: “It is my joy to report to the board of trustees that the state of Southwestern Seminary is strong, and it is growing stronger every day by God’s grace.”
But that rosy outlook wasn’t actually true. By the beginning of the fall semester, trustee leaders and some faculty and staff were sounding the alarm that spending was far outpacing income and had been for many years.
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