Welcome to 2013!

Dear Supporters of Academic Freedom and Ethical Administration,

Sorry for the monthlong silence.  As you might imagine, I've been pretty busy.  We continue to feel that the problems at OBU are at a low ebb at the moment.  Though behind the scenes, we continue to make and nurture contacts with more and more people in Christian higher education and elsewhere who share the same values and harbor some of the same concerns we do.  I'll continue to report on these as time permits.

During the next week, I'll be moving into a new apartment and beginning a new semester as a graduate student, teaching assistant, and adjunct instructor.  So it may be another week or 10 days before I get back to regular posting.  But last year, we saw a drop in Web traffic during OBU's J-Term.

By the start of OBU's spring semester, we'll be back online with a number of new posts that I and others have been working on.  With any luck, OBU's academic program will continue moving forward without undue influence from fundamentalist elements within the administration and the BGCO.

But the point is this: We're still here.  We always will be.  We will celebrate when things go well at OBU.  I was there for Homecoming in November.  There is much to celebrate!  But when problems arise, we will fight back with unending determination.  And problems will arise.  That much I can guarantee.  Some people won't accept anything they can't totally control.  They think they're doing God's work.  One day, God will tell them it's time to fire another moderate.  Or block a department from setting its own curriculum and direction.  Or launch another unprecedented and unethical intervention in an administrative or governance decision.

We are not out of the woods yet.  For the moment, the worst of the violations seem to be behind us.  And we feel it's counter-productive to agitate when things are going well.  But we all know things stil have to get worse before they will get better at Baptist universities.  Some people just can't help themselves.

Best wishes in the new year,
-Jacob Lupfer