Someone recently told me that Birmingham-Southern College’s (BSC) attempted sale is “a fix.” Unsure at first, I can’t help shaking the unsettling feeling that perhaps it is.
Resisting the conspiratorial urge, let’s look simply at the facts we know:
BSC tried to sell to local institutions, quickly generating interest from Alabama A&M and Miles College.
A&M negotiated in bad-faith; Miles didn’t have enough cash to play ball. A local HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) buyer, promising at first, faded from the picture.
Potential local buyers dried up. BSC commissioned a NYC-based brokerage firm to “go wide” with the proposed sale, seeking national buyers – seeking anyone willing to purchase the property.
Who, if anyone, has the NYC brokerage firm brought to the table to talk turkey with BSC? Nothing confirmed. Nothing public.
Who, if anyone, would want to buy The Hilltop sitting in the bad part of town?
What kind of institution, barring a local HBCU, with the financial firepower capable of such a purchase, has the desire to create a satellite campus in Birmingham?
Most affluent, white sensibilities recoil at the thought of sending their children to school in such an unsavory place. BSC long faced, fought, and, ultimately, was defeated due to this stigma.
“Don’t turn right” was how the saying went. When leaving campus, IF you had to leave The Hilltop’s gated citadel, you turned left, gunned it for the interstate, and made your way over the mountain to Vestavia Hills or Mountain Brook.
They told you not to turn right and into the belly of the beast.
It is looking more and more unlikely that The Hilltop will remain a site of education and learning. It is beginning to look unlikely that The Hilltop will become a site for anything at all.
From the outside, the BSC sale appears a half-hearted attempt striving to seem like a sale.
Who is running the show on the sale effort? When will they give up if they aren’t successful and declare bankruptcy?
What other option does BSC have?
If BSC does eventually declare bankruptcy and give up trying to sell the campus, ServisFirst, BSC’s primary creditor, will likely sell BSC to real estate developers.
The developers will then convert the campus to residential property.
The educational echo of The Hilltop slowly fades as the campus collects dust in its own grave and the perpetrators of this great crime escape justice.
Conner (CR) Hayes is a small business owner based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a 2017 alum of Birmingham-Southern College and a screenwriter, novelist, and poet. CR Hayes is published in various mediums, including academic articles, journalism, prose, and poetry.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819news.com.
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