SMU’s bid to split from United Methodist Church over LGBTQ+ rights heads to Texas Supreme Court

AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — 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 the Global Methodist Church.

SMU President R. Gerald Turner told The Dallas Morning News at the time the university was trying to break away before the church made any decisions about how to divide so it could “continue to educate everybody from all Methodist denominations and from other denominations, and people who don’t believe at all.” He added that he did not want the university’s Perkins School of Theology to be only associated with one sect of Methodism.

Shortly after the board’s decision, the Southern Conference of the United Methodist Church sued the SMU, arguing that the university didn’t have the authority to update the language in the articles of incorporation and that the conference had to approve the school’s departure.

The Methodist Church says it founded SMU in 1911 when it designated 133 acres of land for the university. In their original lawsuit, church officials argued that the articles of incorporation permanently grant the church various rights, including the ability to block amendments to the documents.

“Put simply, the trustees of SMU had and have no authority to amend the Articles of Incorporation without the prior approval and authorization of SCJC,” the lawsuit stated.

The church’s South Central Jurisdiction covers eight states, including Texas. According to its website, it owns SMU, Lydia Patterson Institute, a K-12 school largely serving Hispanic students in El Paso and Saint Paul School of Theology.

In 2021, a district judge ruled in favor of SMU, dismissing the church’s claims. In 2023, Texas’ Fifth Court of Appeals reversed the decision, agreeing with the conference that it was in charge of SMU and had standing to sue.

A spokesperson for SMU said the university does not comment on pending litigation. Jeffrey Parsons, a lawyer representing the conference, did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this year, the congregations that remained in the United Methodist Church after the split passed measures to remove some of its anti-LGBTQ+ policies, including the ban on LGBTQ+ clergy and a ban on pastors who perform same-sex unions.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans - and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.