The Birmingham-Southern baseball team will play in the Division III College World Series beginning May 31. Yet as the Panthers take the field at Eastlake, Ohio, they will represent a school that no longer exists as an institution.
Birmingham-Southern College — a private liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,300 students in Birmingham, Alabama — is closing May 31 because of financial difficulties. The school, founded in 1856, had fought for nearly two years to restore its endowment. But legislation for a $30 million loan did not pass in the Alabama State House. As a result, the college decided to close in March.