Fort Worth’s Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary announced Sept. 9 that it agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by its former president, Adam Greenway.
The move comes six months after Greenway filed a civil complaint against the school, alleging that the seminary and the chair of the board of trustees defamed him after details of the seminary’s spending spurred discord among current and former school leadership.
Nearly a year after Greenway resigned from his position, trustees criticized his spending in a June 2023 statement alongside the release of the school’s financial overview. The former president was accused of spending $1.5 million on renovations to the president’s home, nearly $60,000 on Christmas decorations and over $11,000 on an espresso machine.
Greenway, who originally sought damages “in excess of $75,000,” alleged in the lawsuit that the seminary violated the terms of a February 2023 non-disparagement agreement and made him “unemployable.”
The lawsuit was set to go to trial in April 2025. However, on the eve of his deposition, Greenway “offered to drop his lawsuit with no monetary consideration in return,” according to a Sept. 9 statement from the school.
“We believe the manner of this resolution not only vindicates the seminary, it further demonstrates the allegations made in the lawsuit were without merit,” the school’s statement read.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Greenway also issued a joint statement Sept. 9 as part of the settlement agreement.
“The trustees and Dr. Greenway are looking forward to putting this matter behind us and moving on to focus our energies and efforts on following God’s plans for the next chapters of our respective lives and ministries. We pray that God will richly bless the Greenway family as well as Southwestern Seminary in the years ahead,” the Sept. 9 joint statement said.
In his own Sept. 10 statement on X, Greenway wrote that although he is “grateful” that a joint statement has been issued, he “disagree(s) strongly with the Seminary’s characterizations of the motivations behind or the meaning of the settlement.”
As part of the settlement, Greenway “waives and releases and promises never to assert any and all claims” he has or might have in the future against the seminary, its leadership and related entities associated with the school.
The seminary and Danny Roberts, the chairman of the school’s board of trustees, also “waive and release and promise never to assert any and all claims” against Greenway.
The seminary agreed to ship Greenway’s boxed personal property still at the school to him as part of a prior 2023 separation agreement following his resignation. Greenway would be responsible for paying all shipping and delivery costs.
While the lawsuit has been settled, the seminary is still looking for solutions to recover from a financial crisis that caused the institution to receive a warning from its accreditor in June 2023.
The warning followed a report from school leadership that revealed the seminary had accumulated a $140 million deficit between 2002 and 2022. The report placed blame on Greenway’s three-year tenure as president.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges placed the seminary on a two-year monitoring period and will issue a report on the school’s status each year. Accreditors released their first monitoring report June 20, where the commission kept the seminary on a warning status for issues related to financial resources and institutional financial responsibility.
Accreditors can place institutions on warning status for a maximum of two consecutive years. Failure to make “adequate progress toward compliance” at any time during the two-year period may result in the commission placing the seminary on probation for a maximum of two consecutive years, according to the commission’s sanctions policy.
The commission has the power to take away accreditation at any time, but removal from membership usually occurs after “persistent or significant noncompliance,” according to its policy.
The next update on the seminary’s accreditation status is expected in June 2025.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org or @marissaygreene. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.