A dispute between Southern Methodist University and the regional governing body of its founding organization, the United Methodist Church, is headed to the Texas Supreme Court.
The lawsuit relates to the university’s decision in 2019 to declare itself independent from the United Methodist Church South Central Jurisdictional Conference (SCJC), which oversees congregations in eight states, including Texas. Southern Methodist University (SMU) is but one of three institutions owned by this SCJC. The two others are the Lydia Patterson Institute, a school primarily for Hispanic children in El Paso, and the Saint Paul School of Theology, which has campuses in Oklahoma and Kansas.
The SMU board of trustees updated its governing documents “to make clear that SMU is solely maintained and controlled by its board as the ultimate authority for the University.”
The SCJC sued SMU, claiming that it has jurisdiction over the university and that the language of the governing documents cannot be changed without its approval. The religious organization claimed it founded the university in 1911 with a gift of 133 acres of land.
“This lawsuit has become necessary because of recent, unauthorized acts by representatives of SMU in violation of SCJC’s rights and interests,” the lawsuit read, as WFAA reported.
SMU’s stance is that the university was founded by the Methodist Church and the citizens of Dallas as a separate corporate entity governed by the SMU Board of Trustees and that the adjustment to the language of the documents did not change the day-to-day operations of the university.
A judge ruled in favor of SMU and dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, but the SCJC appealed the verdict to the Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court ruled that the SCJC had legal standing to challenge the changes made to the university’s governing documents.
The case is now scheduled to go before the Texas Supreme Court in January 2025.