Birmingham-Southern’s supporters still fighting for funding aid

Published: Mar. 24, 2023 at 4:23 AM CDT|Updated: Jun. 16, 2023 at 2:59 PM CDT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Birmingham-Southern College’s future remains in doubt. As reported earlier this week, the city council is delaying conversations centered around a resolution of support and the Governor said on Tuesday that the state has no plans on using tax money to bail out a private college.

Still, several in the legislature support the school and that includes representative Juandalynn Givan.

While frustrated, she is not giving up hope. In her eyes the college is critical to the surrounding community and it’s closure would be a big hit to Birmingham.

“Look at what happened to Carraway Boulevard,” Givan said. “Look at what happened when we let Carraway sit there dormant for all those years. It caused further blight and further decay from within the city of Birmingham.”

It is because of that she remains optimistic that the school can acquire funding aid.

“I think something is going to happen,” she said. “I still believe something will happen. I just don’t know what. I still hope that Birmingham Southern will not close.”

However with this school year closing, she stresses that financial aid needs to be secured sooner, rather than later.

“It has to be this month. It has to be like, in the next week. It has to be,” Givan said. “It is my understanding that notices have been going out and the other issue is staff. Folks are not going to wait around next year if they don’t have a job next semester. So you are now going to begin to lose critical staff that have been there and have been loyalists to the school.”

Birmingham-Southern’s President released a statement to WBRC.

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here.