Tennessee Baptists file lawsuit against Belmont

NASHVILLE — Tennessee Baptist Convention (TBC) leaders caught officials of an affiliated college by surprise Sept. 29 by filing a lawsuit against the institution. The TBC executive board filed the suit in Davidson County Chancery Court against Belmont University. A specially appointed committee of the convention and Belmont officials had been in negotiations to resolve a dispute over control of the Nashville school’s board of trustees. Messengers to the convention’s annual meeting have elected new Belmont trustees since 1951. That year, the convention took control of a struggling junior college called Ward-Belmont School for Women and expanded it into a Baptist coeducational institution.

The convention is suing to regain the approximately $58 million in funds it has donated to Belmont since buying the school. The complaint asks for enforcement of a 1951 document — that’s existence was discovered on the eve of the convention’s annual meeting last year — that appears to require Belmont to reimburse the convention for contributed funds should the school “pass from Baptist control.”