(RNS) — Leaders of the General Theological Seminary in New York City hope they have a plan in place to save the troubled school and its historic buildings.
The seminary announced Thursday (Sept. 26) that it had signed an agreement for Vanderbilt University to lease the Close, the seminary’s historic campus in Manhattan. Under the terms of the lease, Vanderbilt will pay for needed improvements to the campus while allowing GTS to retain offices and space for its hybrid in-person and online master of divinity program.
The deal will allow GTS to stay on the campus for “decades to come,” the school said in a press release.
“GTS is now set to serve the Church for another century in New York,” said Ian S. Markham, GTS’ president.
Last fall, the school admitted it had a cash flow crisis. “In fiscal year 2023, GTS’ operating expenses were $7.8 million, against an annual income of $4.3 million,” the school said in announcing an earlier plan to address the school’s financial woes by leasing the campus.
“The Seminary also has no funding source for any emergency capital expenditure, or deferred maintenance, which is estimated to be in excess of $32 million,” according to a November 2023 statement.
Details for the 2024 fiscal year are not yet available, said a GTS spokesperson.
Interior of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd on the campus of the General Theological Seminary in New York City. (Photo courtesy of GTS)
A previously proposed deal to lease the campus to the School of Sacred Music, which had ties to a conservative Catholic donor, fell through after neighbors in the city’s Chelsea neighborhood and the Episcopal bishops of New York objected.
In Thursday’s statement, GTS mentioned that the school had negotiated with several groups, including the School of Sacred Music. “After reviewing these offers, the GTS Board voted unanimously to accept the offer from Vanderbilt. It wishes the SSM the very best with its future endeavors,” the seminary said in its announcement.
Vanderbilt’s bid to lease the campus and run programs there must be approved by New York state officials.
“Vanderbilt is in the early stages of these processes and is in discussions with government and community leaders about how the university can contribute to and deepen its relationship with the Chelsea community, New York City and the wider region,” the university said in announcing the agreement.
The approval process could take as long as six months, with the lease expected to take effect in 2025, according to GTS.
Vanderbilt, based in Nashville, Tennessee, claims about 7,800 alumni in New York and 740 current students from the area, and has had an administrative office in New York since last year. The lease, if approved, will allow the school to expand its presence in the city.
General Theological Seminary in New York City, circa 1900-1915. (Photo courtesy of Library of Congress/Creative Commons)
The deal could provide a path forward for GTS, at age 208 one of the Episcopal Church’s oldest and once its most prominent school for training clergy.
Like many mainline Protestant seminaries, GTS has seen falling enrollment in recent years. Two decades ago, full-time and part-time students numbered 215, filling a full-time equivalent of 109 seats. By last year, that had dropped to 38 students, with an FTE of 22 students.
In the current school year, GTS is reporting a student body of 44, including 18 new students in the hybrid MDiv program, constituting the largest incoming class since 2010. That program includes online classes and weeklong intensive sessions at the Chelsea campus.
General Theological Seminary hybrid MDiv students in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd in January 2023, in New York City. (Photo courtesy GTS)
In 2022, GTS became affiliated with Virginia Theological Seminary, with the two schools sharing a president, other senior leaders and some board members.
“The future needs to be one where there is more cooperation rather than competition — where the priority is the gospel and where we work on strengthening the Episcopal Church for the future,” Markham said at the time the affiliation agreement was signed. “This affiliation allows for more innovation and more opportunities.”
In a statement Thursday, six Episcopal bishops in New York applauded the deal with Vanderbilt, which will also preserve the Chapel of the Good Shepherd on the GTS campus.
“Vanderbilt is an established and respected institution,” the bishops said in their statement. “We know that negotiations over property are difficult. We’re grateful for Dean Ian Markham’s leadership in making this new arrangement.”
