Raleigh, USA - The last five colleges and universities with ties to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina are preparing to split with the group.
Some schools fear conservative Southern Baptist views could limit academic freedom. The North Carolina convention voted last year to ban gay-friendly churches from their organization.
"The denominations continue to set boundaries that are ever-changing, and it makes it difficult for universities to negotiate," said Bill Leonard, Divinity School dean at Wake Forest University, which broke from the state Baptist convention years ago.
Advocates of separation also said the schools are increasingly attracting students with no Baptist ties. College administrators also want the freedom to pick trustees from other denominations and states.
About a dozen Baptist-affiliated college and universities nationwide cited similar reasons when they split with their own state Baptist groups over the past two decades.
The five North Carolina schools moving toward a break are 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.
A plan unanimously approved this month by the executive committee of the state convention allows the universities and colleges to start choosing their own trustees in 2009. The convention would end its monetary contributions by 2013.
The plan must also be approved by the convention board of directors and by the entire state convention at two consecutive annual meetings.
A split would cost each school about $1.2 million a year in donations from the state convention. School presidents have asked that some of that money be used as scholarships for Baptist students.