The Texas Supreme Court is hearing a case over church control of Southern Methodist University (SMU) regarding a dispute with the institution on social issues such as strengthened restrictive policies toward LGBTQ people, ordinations, and marriages.

Critics say the dispute tests the United Methodist Church's autonomy, The New York Times reported.

SMU changed its governing language in 2019 to declare itself independent from the denomination's control about nine months after the United Methodist Church voted to strengthen bans on gay weddings and pastors in gay relationships, The Dallas Morning News reported on Jan 15.

Later, in 2019, the South Central Jurisdictional Conference of the denomination sued the university, saying it violated bylaws that required the regional group's approval before declaring independence.

Key questions before the court included whether the conference had the authority to sue the school in the way it did and whether church autonomy prevented the courts from ruling in SMU's favor.

- 'Partners in ministry'

"Our hope is that we can be partners in ministry, just as we have since SMU was founded by our foremothers and forefathers in faith in 1911," Bishop Delores Williamston of the Louisiana conference said in a Jan. 16 statement.

SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South—now part of the United Methodist Church--in partnership with Dallas civic leaders, according to Wikipedia.

However, it is non-sectarian in its teaching and enrolls students of all religious affiliations

The controversy revolves around who controls the university-its Board of Trustees or the church-after the university tried to distance itself in 2019, Inside Higher Education reported on Jan 15, 2025.

It came at a time when the church strengthened restrictive policies toward LGBTQ ordinations and marriages, aggravating ideological differences within the denomination.

SMU president R. Gerald Turner said at the time that the church decision would have no bearing on the university as "a separate corporate entity governed by the SMU Board of Trustees," and the university would continue to follow its nondiscrimination statement, which includes "sexual orientation and gender identity and expression."

The United Methodist Church has since pedaled back on its stance on LGBTQ issues.

However, that didn't end the power struggle over the private Dallas University, which has more than 12,000 students and a $2.2 billion endowment.