A multi-year fight over whether Southern Methodist University can separate itself from the United Methodist Church is heading to Texas’ highest court this month.
The Texas Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit between the 12,000-student private university in Dallas and the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church on Jan. 15.
In 2019, SMU leadership changed its articles of incorporation and declared that its board of trustees was the “ultimate authority” over the university, not the United Methodist Church. The university's articles of incorporation detail how the university is governed and by whom.
The university’s decision to update the documents and assert the board’s sole control over the school came during a tumultuous time in the Methodist church’s history. In 2019, members endorsed a ban on LGBTQ+ clergy and prohibited pastors from performing same-sex unions. It sparked a massive clash within the church, prompting thousands of conservative churches who were tired of the fight to disaffiliate and start their own more conservative church, now called ...
