Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary renames its undergraduate college
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth announced Wednesday that it is renaming its undergraduate college, four years after it was renamed to honor the seminary’s second president.
The undergraduate college, which was founded in 2005 as The College at Southwestern, is now Texas Baptist College.
In 2017, the college was renamed L.R. Scarborough College under the leadership of former President Paige Patterson, who experienced public turmoil in 2018 over his handling of sexual abuse claims and previous comments he made about abuse.
President Adam W. Greenway said the name change is not a direct attempt to move away from Patterson’s legacy and that no concerns over Scarborough’s past initiated the name change.
“L.R. Scarborough, among other things, was a preeminent Texas Baptist,” he said, “One who was committed to reaching this state with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to perpetuating the best of our Baptist identity and distinctives. We believe, in many ways, the broader name Texas Baptist College enables us to continue to emphasize the legacy of L.R. Scarborough.”
Greenway said the move is intended to better promote the college and clearly encapsulate what makes the institution unique.
“It helps clarify in a more tangible way what the college is about,” he said.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary had about 2,400 full-time students in the fall of 2020. The undergraduate college enrolled 548 students during the 2019-2020 academic year.
The college also announced a new vision statement and three core principles: “Christ-centered,“ “Scripture-driven,” and “student-focused.” These changes coincide with the start of Benjamin M. Skaug’s tenure as dean earlier this year.
“Texas Baptist College exists to glorify God by providing trustworthy Christian higher education for more faithful Kingdom service,” Skaug said in a statement.
This story was originally published June 9, 2021 at 4:10 PM.
