Birmingham-Southern College President Daniel Coleman said he wants Gov. Kay Ivey to review State Treasurer Young Boozer’s denial of a $30 million loan to the private liberal arts college.

“We think it’s important the executive branch reviews the decision that he made,” Coleman said.

Coleman and Boozer engaged in a heated public written exchange after Boozer denied the loan. Coleman criticized the decision and Boozer fired back.

“There’s no personal animosity,” Coleman said on Tuesday. “I just disagree with him completely.”

Coleman and Boozer seem unlikely to work out the disagreement between the two of them. “We’re not personal friends, but we weren’t personal friends before,” Coleman said. “We don’t have a relationship professionally.”

On Tuesday, Coleman was at the Birmingham City Council meeting, where the council approved $5 million in loans for the college.

Next, he plans to ask for a similar package of support from the Jefferson County Commission.

He’s hoping that would guarantee the college staying open past next year, but he’s not sure how far it would carry the school into the future.

“That’s hard to measure,” he said. “I really don’t want to go into timelines versus money.”

City and county funding could prompt movement on the state loan, though, he hopes.

“I do think that getting county support puts, I’d say, a little pressure on the state to step up,” Coleman said. “That would be really helpful.”

Some critics of public money going to BSC addressed the media after Tuesday’s council meeting.

“This is outlandish,” said Ronald Jackson, a community activist for Citizens for Better Schools.

“This is not Birmingham’s problem,” said Walter Faulkner Floyd, former president of the East Thomas Neighborhood Association. “This is the problem of the Methodist church.”

Birmingham-Southern College is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and traces its history to 1858. BSC formed from a 1918 merger of Southern University, dating to 1856, and Birmingham College, dating to 1898, both founded by the Methodist Church. The headquarters building of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church is on the campus.

Floyd said he agreed with Boozer’s stance against the state selectively financing a private college.

“The city of Birmingham does not supersede the state of Alabama,” Floyd said. “They didn’t touch it, and neither should we.”

Floyd expressed concern BSC will need further bailouts in the future.

“I’d also like to know, before they spend $5 million of Birmingham taxpayers’ money, when does it stop?” Floyd said. “Before you spend any of Birmingham’s money, the public deserves to know.”

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