A visiting team representing the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges will recommend lifting sanctions against Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Seminary President David Dockery announced the recommendation in a letter to the seminary community April 8.
Sanctions were placed on the Southern Baptist Convention school in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2023, after an audit “revealed deep financial vulnerabilities, including large deficits that threatened the seminary’s long-term stability,” Dockery said. “Over the past 43 months, since the board of trustees initiated changes at the seminary, the administration has worked to address these challenges, making measurable progress each semester.”
David Dockery
Those financial irregularities were the result of two tumultuous prior administrations, led by Paige Patterson and then Adam Greenway. BNG has reported extensively on these challenges.
In 2023, SACS determined Southwestern was out of compliance in the areas of financial resources and financial responsibility, two key measures required for accreditation. Previous administrations had drained long-term asserts to stay afloat, and when Dockery became president he inherited a school unable to make payroll.
“Many have worked tirelessly and prayed fervently to bring institutional health and stability to Southwestern,” he said in the letter. “I am delighted to tell you that through the wise decisions of the Southwestern board, the dedicated work of many, the encouragement, support and the prayers of numerous others, Southwestern has moved to that place of institutional stability and health.”
The SACS visiting team was on campus this week and now plans to recommend to the Committee on Compliance and Reports that Southwestern’s sanctions be removed with no additional recommendations.
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