What Closing of Birmingham-Southern College Means to Residents in Surrounding Communities

By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times If anyone knows the importance of Birmingham-Southern College (BSC), it would be Joanice Thompson, President of Bush Hills Connections, a nonprofit organization to pool resources and forge partnerships to benefit their neighborhood. One of the neighborhood’s biggest achievements, the Bush Hills Community Garden and Urban Farm, came about with the help of BSC students, she said. Since 2018, property in Bush Hills has been designated an urban farm, and now produces 50,000 pounds of various fruits and vegetables. “The students have been helping us with the complex, and community garden and urban farm that we have,” the community leader said. “They wrote the first plan for the marketplace” on the grounds. & Birmingham-Southern College will close on May 31, after a nearly 170-year history as one of the city’s most respected institutions. (File) BSC, a private liberal arts school in the Bush Hills community on the west side of Birmingham, announced Tuesday it will close May 31 after a nearly 170-year history. “This is a tragic day for the college, our students, our employees, and our alumni, and an outcome so many have worked tirelessly to prevent,” Rev. Keith Thompson, chairman of the...