Does the Tennessee Baptist Convention own Belmont University?
No. The Convention does not now, nor has it ever owned Belmont’s campus. Over the past two decades, the TBC has taken numerous actions which disclaim any right of ownership or control over Belmont University and the funds that the TBC has contributed to it. For example, in an effort to extricate itself from liability arising out of a personal injury lawsuit filed against Belmont in the late 1980s, the TBC’s chief executive officer submitted a sworn affidavit to a court in Nashville that states unequivocally that the TBC has no ownership interest in Belmont whatsoever and that the only thing the TBC ever expected in return for its gifts was Belmont’s agreement to submit to the Tennessee Baptist Convention an annual report including financial information. These statements are directly at odds with the position that the Convention now urges the court to take: namely that every dollar it ever contributed to Belmont was subject to repayment if the Convention should ever lose control of Belm
