EDUCATION
Birmingham-Southern to lay off 213 employees without severance pay: ‘No funds are available’

Updated: Apr. 09, 2024, 11:01 a.m. | Published: Apr. 09, 2024, 10:39 a.m.


The bell tower on Birmingham-Southern College's campus. (Photo by Greg Garrison/AL.com)ggarrison@al.com

By Hannah Denham | hdenham@al.com

More than 200 people are expected to lose their jobs without severance pay when Birmingham-Southern College closes in two months.

Many of the small private college’s employees are still searching for new jobs, said Virginia Gilbert Loftin, Birmingham-Southern’s vice president for advancement and communications. ... She said 203 people will be laid off in two initial phases during the last week of May. Another group of 10 employees will be laid off in mid-June, followed by a smaller group that will stay on to help facilitate the closure. ... “No funds are available for severance for any employees,” Gilbert Loftin said in a statement to AL.com.

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Birmingham-Southern also has transfer agreements with other institutions, which include some of the benefits of the teach-out agreements. But students still face other complications, such as finding housing and financial aid to complete their education.

The fate of the institution’s 192-acre campus in the otherwise residential Bush Hills community of west Birmingham is still unclear. Officials from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Miles College previously told AL.com that they don’t have plans to take over the campus. Until there’s a buyer, security officers will monitor the property.

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