Texas judge to consider university’s split from United Methodist Church

The Texas Supreme Court is scheduled Wednesday to hear a case to determine if Southern Methodist University can separate itself from the United Methodist Church. Lawyers for SMU and the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church were set to argue the case before the state’s highest court after a five-year legal battle. The church in 2019 sued Dallas-based SMU after the 12,000-student private university changed its articles of incorporation to say that the board of trustees held authority over the school, instead of the UMC.

Why did the school change its articles? University leadership planned to distance itself from the denomination ahead of the UMC’s 2019 decision to uphold traditional definitions of marriage. The decision barred people who identified as LGBTQ from serving as members of the clergy, and prohibited pastors from performing same-sex marriages in the church. In a February 2019 letter, then-SMU President R. Gerald Turner said the school was dedicated to inclusivity and would continue to adhere to its non-discrimination statement. That statement includes sexual orientation and so-called gender identity among the criteria it pledges not to discriminate against. Though the UMC in May last year removed church code claiming homosexuality does not conflict with Christianity and repealed prohibitions on same-sex clergy and same-sex marriage ceremonies, SMU has not changed its plan to split from the denomination.

What are the side’s arguments? The UMC says it founded SMU in 1911 and argued that articles of incorporation permanently grant the church the ability to block amendments to the documents. The church’s South Central Jurisdiction says it owns SMU and two other schools. Meanwhile, university leaders say their actions are in compliance with Texas law.

What have lower courts said? A district court judge in 2021 dismissed the UMC conference’s claims before three judges with the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals ruled in 2023 that the conference is the controlling parental entity of SMU. While the conference applauded the ruling, the state’s supreme court in October agreed to hear the case.

Dig deeper: Listen to Elizabeth Russell’s report in The World and Everything in It about the regionalization of the United Methodist Church.