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Baptist-affiliated universities leaving religious roots
Decision comes after denomination votes against 'gay' churches

The last five colleges and universities with ties to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina are preparing to split with the organization, a move that would cost each school about $1.2 million a year.

Some schools fear the conservative direction of the denomination might limit their academic freedom. The convention voted last year to ban gay-friendly churches from the organization. Supporters of the separation also said that the schools are increasingly attracting students without a background in the Baptist church.

"The denominations continue to set boundaries that are ever-changing, and it makes it difficult for universities to negotiate," said Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest University's divinity school.

The schools - Campbell University in Buies Creek, Chowan University in Murfreesboro, Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, and Wingate University in Wingate - also want the freedom to pick trustees from other denominations and other states.

Other Baptist-affiliated colleges and universities have split with Baptist state conventions over the past two decades. Wake Forest in Winston-Salem and Meredith College in Raleigh separated from the North Carolina convention years ago. So have Furman University in Greenville, S.C., and Mercer University in Macon, Ga., in those states.

A plan unanimously approved this month by the convention's executive committee allows the five North Carolina schools to start choosing their own trustees in 2009. The convention would end its monetary contributions by 2013.

It still must be approved by the convention's board of directors and the convention, which must pass it at two consecutive annual meetings.

"They're working with us in a gracious way that seems to be effective," said the Rev. Allan Blume, a pastor in Boone who's president of the convention's executive committee. "They want to have a different kind of relationship. I think it can be very successful."

Presidents of the schools have asked that a portion of the money the convention saves from the split be used to set up a scholarship fund to help Baptist students pay for tuition, Blume said. They also want to remain as members of the convention's council on higher education.