MURFREESBORO, N.C. (ABP) — A newspaper reported March 10 that a possible merger of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and Chowan University in North Carolina is off the table.
The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald said the executive committee of Chowan's board of trustees voted Tuesday to discontinue discussions of a possible merger.
Associated Baptist Press reported March 1 that merger with a university was one option under consideration by BTSR trustees to secure the seminary's future. Chowan's president said obstacles from the university's perspective included $7 million in debt owed by the seminary and the difficulty of merging cultures of an old, rural university and a young seminary located in a metropolitan area.
BTSR President Ron Crawford said in a blog after the story that talk of a merger with a particular university was premature and that Chowan's president overstated the seminary's financial woes.