NASHVILLE (ABP) — Tennessee Baptist Convention leaders caught officials of an affiliated college by surprise Sept. 29 by filing a lawsuit against the institution.
The TBC Executive Board filed the suit in Davidson County Chancery Court against Belmont University. A specially appointed committee of the convention and Belmont officials had been in negotiations to resolve a dispute over control of the Nashville school's board of trustees.
Messengers to the convention's annual meeting have elected new Belmont trustees since 1951. That year, the convention took control of a struggling junior college called Belmont-Ward School for Women and expanded it into a Baptist coeducational institution.
Executive Board officials filed the lawsuit late on a Friday afternoon. According to a Belmont spokesman, school officials learned of it the following Monday, Oct. 2. Shortly thereafter, the school responded with a press release.
“We were astonished to learn that…the Executive Board of the TBC filed a meritless complaint in Chancery Court against Belmont University. Based on our on-going dialogue, we believed that a faithful and familial resolution could be made to meet mutual goals,” said Marty Dickens, Belmont's trustee chairman, in the statement.
Dickens went on to note that the convention committee and Belmont leaders held recent talks that “had given us hope that progress had been made. We were, therefore, truly surprised that this negotiation has been concluded in this manner.”
Greg Pillon, Belmont's director of communications, said Oct. 4 that school officials would not comment on the lawsuit beyond Dickens's statement and supporting information posted on the school's website.
The convention is suing to regain the approximately $58 million in funds it has donated to Belmont since buying the school. The complaint asks for enforcement of a 1951 document — whose existence was discovered on the eve of the convention's annual meeting last year — that appears to require Belmont to reimburse the convention for contributed funds should the school “pass from Baptist control.”
“This action allows the parties to pursue the next option of mediation in hopes of reaching an amicable resolution of the issues,” said Clay Austin, chairman of the special convention committee named to negotiate with Belmont over the dispute. “If mediation is unable to result in a mutually acceptable resolution of the issues, then and only then would the litigation process be continued.”
Austin, pastor of First Baptist Church in Blountville, Tenn., and the head of both the convention's Belmont committee and its Executive Board, also said “the committee will never cease its willingness and desire to resolve the issues through private negotiations with representatives of Belmont.”
The conflict between Belmont and the convention goes back to 2004, when TBC officials asked all ministry partners to craft proposals for covenant documents to describe their relationship with the convention.
Belmont trustees proposed that they begin electing their own successors, that the school be allowed to draw up to 40 percent of its trustees from Christians of non-Baptist traditions, and that all TBC-contributed funds would go exclusively to fund scholarships for students from Tennessee Baptist churches.
While the TBC Executive Board's education committee approved the covenant, a divided board rejected it. Officials from the convention and the university jointly crafted a new agreement agreeable to both groups.
However, messengers to the TBC annual meeting Nov. 16 tabled a resolution to endorse the agreement. The action came after convention officials learned of the existence of the 1951 document that appears to reflect an agreement between Belmont and TBC officials.
Just a few days before the meeting, Belmont filed an amended charter document with state officials. It indicated the trustees' intent to become a self-perpetuating board.
Belmont officials said they discovered the 1951 document in a safe at the school after convention attorneys alerted them to its possible existence. They contend that it “is a historical artifact the intent of which, to the extent it can be discerned, has been made invalid by subsequent actions of the TBC.”
Belmont, in materials posted on its website, notes a 1974 decision — agreed to by the convention — that allowed the school's trustees to amend their charter in the future without prior approval from the convention. The document also notes 1997 and 2000 convention decisions that clarify that Belmont and other affiliated agencies are neither owned nor operated by the TBC.
In May, at a rare special called meeting of the convention, messengers voted 923-791 to reject a $5 million offer from Belmont to settle the convention's concerns. They then voted to declare the school's entire trustee board vacant and established Austin's committee to negotiate with Belmont officials.
The convention provides about 3 percent of Belmont's $94 million annual budget. According to school officials, 26 percent of the 4,300 current students who have listed a religious affiliation — the school's total enrollment is around 4,500 — are Baptists.
But James Porch, TBC's executive director, said the convention helped build the school from a failing junior college to one of the most prominent in the South.
“Now Belmont has chosen to write Tennessee Baptists out of their story and continue alone,” he said, adding: “I trust that our Baptist people, regardless of the situation, will continue to intercede in prayer for Belmont University.”
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— This article included information from the Baptist & Reflector, the newspaper of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
Read more:
Tennessee Baptist Convention complaint against Belmont (requires Adobe Reader)
Belmont statement in response and background material
Tenn. Baptists reject Belmont offer, will likely sue to retain control (5/9)
Tennessee Baptists to challenge Belmont, may 'vacate' board (4/3)
Tennessee convention literally, figuratively stormy as action on Belmont postponed (11/17/2005)
Belmont University plans to end formal ties with Tennessee Baptists (11/9/2005)
Tennessee leaders reject Belmont plan to add non-Baptists to trustee board (9/16/2005)