Shorter proceeds with break from Ga. convention after court ruling
ROME, Ga. (BP)--Shorter College wasted no time after an April 23 court ruling in breaking its ties with the Georgia Baptist Convention.
The ruling, in DeKalb County Superior Court, had affirmed that the convention has the right to elect Shorter's trustees and, in seemingly contradictory fashion, that the college could proceed with transferring its assets, estimated at nearly $50 million, to a newly Shorter College Foundation. The foundation will elect its own trustees, thus ending the college's official ties to the Georgia convention.
The superior court judge, Daniel M. Coursey Jr., had stated in an earlier hearing that the likely next stop in the dispute is the Georgia Supreme Court.
The college, founded in 1873 and affiliated with the Georgia convention since 1959, has 2,100 students at its Rome, Ga., campus.
Shorter's president, Ed Schrader, reiterated to the Rome News-Tribune his contention that the college's break with the Georgia convention was necessary for maintaining the college's accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. A March 2002 Southern Association of Colleges and Schools report had asserted that "undue pressure is being placed on the Board of Trustees by an outside agency, namely the Georgia Baptist Convention" and recommended a change in the trustee election process.
Shorter's accreditation was renewed late last year. Schrader told the Rome News-Tribune April 23 that "we were reaccredited based on the reorganization of [the] college." He told the newspaper the following day, "This puts us in complete compliance with SACS."
The Georgia convention, in an April 24 statement after Shorter's break from the convention, stated, "The decision by Shorter to dissolve the college within mere hours of the court's ruling -- while the case is still pending -- is truly alarming and risky for Shorter.
"It's hard to believe that a relationship that began with the founding of the school and that has blossomed over the last 45 years could be wiped out in a matter of hours," the GBC said. The "rash actions taken by a small group at Shorter most certainly place the college, its students and its financial viability at risk.
"The case continues and we believe other actions taken by Shorter will also be declared void," the convention said.
Schrader told the Rome News-Tribune, meanwhile, "Our college has had a longstanding relationship with the GBC, and we are proud of the heritage of that relationship. It is our hope that we will maintain the relationship, even in light of the court's ruling, and work together to find common ground and move forward in a spirit of cooperation."
The Georgia convention, in a news release last December, had recounted that in 1959 -- "at the college's request" -- the convention "assumed ownership of the school to help it avoid financial ruin. Since taking ownership, the GBC has invested nearly $26 million in Shorter, and the school has thrived, having recently been ranked by US News & World Report as one of the South's top 20 comprehensive liberal arts colleges."
Still in court is the issue of $9 million in funding from Georgia Baptists frozen by action of the convention. A college lawsuit to obtain the $9 million prompted a countersuit by the convention that was been joined by several Shorter trustees. The Georgia convention, in its news release last December, said the countersuit sought to prevent "a scheme and conspiracy by Shorter's president and members of its board of trustees to illegally convert, take over and steal Shorter from the GBC."
