The Spring 2013 chapel lineup is about what you would expect: a conservative Republican politician, the president of the SBC, a former large church pastor and current denominational agency head's wife, a ministry professor, etc. We're even going to hear from D. James Kennedy's replacement at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL to ensure that we get the requisite dose of Calvinism.
But the Founder's Day Chapel was rightly given to Tom Terry, a longtime OBU administrator and archivist. Last year's Founder's Day preacher was the Rev. Dr. John Bisagno, a distinguished alum to be sure, but someone who looked the other way as fundamentalists took over the SBC. The year before that, Provost Stan Norman preached the Founder's Day sermon, a rather unfortunate irony. Bob Agee, President Whitlock, and John Parrish spoke in 2010, 2009, and 2008, respectively.
The invitation to Terry came from David Whitlock directly, and kudos to the president for inviting someone to speak who would not be inclined to support the fundamentalists' vision for a new OBU. The press release indicated that Terry named a number of key OBU figures over the years who were not there at the beginning, but who were, in a sense, founders in their own right. Seeing a few names of people who are decidedly not fundamentalists and who oppose (or would have opposed) the fundamentalist encroachment we've seen in recent years, I decided to listen to the address.
Interestingly, Terry noted that before the BGCO accepted Shawnee's offer to donate land and funds for a building, the convention accepted an offer from Oklahoma City. But the offer came with a condition from the chief benefactor, a Mr. Putnam, that he be allowed to appoint half the trustees. Of course, the convention declined.
Along with legendary coach Bob Bass, Terry lifted up former athletic director and women's basketball coach David Sallee ('73) as having been instrumental in making OBU compliant with Title IX and expanding opportunities for women's athletics. As many of you know, Sallee is now president of William Jewell College in Liberty, MO and was a strong advocate for academic freedom and respectability when the fundamentalist Missouri Baptist Convention tried to take over William Jewell. Terry also told the stories of legendary professors and administrators, including Juanita Milsap, Donald G. Osborn, William E. Neptune, and Mary Kay (Higgenbotham) Parrish. These dedicated educators helped build OBU into an academically rigorous institution with a reputation for excellence -- a reputation somewhat imperiled by sliding rankings, administrative blunders, and widespread public concern about encroaching fundamentalism in several departments.
I'm not trying to say that Terry gave a rousing defense of the moderate Baptists' accomplishments in Christian higher education or that he slammed the fundamentalists. It wasn't that kind of speech. But it does serve to remind us that anyone who tries to imagine OBU as a fundamentalist school DOES NOT have history on his side. The people who made OBU great are people who were committed to academic rigor, academic freedom, and the integration of learning with a searching, honest faith that sincere Baptists, both fundamentalist and moderate, have held though the years. There is no way anyone can support faculty purges, fundamentalist-inspired curricular interventions, or the watering down of key subject areas and still claim to be in accordance with the ideals of OBU's founding.
Also, I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth. Maybe not all of the people mentioned want to go on the record against the problems Save OBU has highlighted. I was just pleasantly surprised that Terry's address mentioned so many moderates! It is refreshing to hear some of the true great "founders" praised on Founders' Day.
And it was a wonderful, appropriate way to honor Tom Terry, who in addition to a long administrative career served as interim president in 1982. We probably won't see OBU historians like Slayden Yarbrough or Jerry Faught in the Raley Chapel pulpit any time soon (and that's a shame). Tom Terry is and OBU historian of the highest order, and I certainly am thankful for his message.
Fundamentalists did not make OBU great. They are a threat to OBU's greatness. Let's not forget that.
P.S. A few years ago, I recalled that J. Edgar Hoover once spoke at OBU. Curious, I emailed Terry and asked him about the event. He sent me a large packet of information pertaining to every aspect of Hoover coming to OBU, from President Raley's invitation to local press accounts of the address. (Maybe I'll write about it sometime, just for fun.) I don't know Tom Terry personally and I'm sure he has no clue who I am. But I certainly appreciate him and his service to OBU over many decades.
Showing posts with label David Sallee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Sallee. Show all posts
Friday, February 8, 2013
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Sunday School: William Jewell College
Merry Christmas, friends! Thank you for taking a moment to visit the Save OBU blog and read our first "Sunday School" feature. Every Sunday, we tell the story of how a Baptist university attained independence from its fundamentalist state convention. Today's inaugural Sunday School post tells the story of William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri.
The Story
Founded in 1849, William Jewell College is one of the oldest colleges west of the Mississippi. Jewell was subsidized by and affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention until 2003. Fundamentalist elements within the Missouri Baptist Convention sought to exercise greater control over the convention's institutions. Five of the convention's institutions took actions to make their boards self-perpetuating rather than convention controlled in order to escape fundamentalist domination. The convention challenged these actions in court. Fortunately, however, William Jewell College had always been governed a self-perpetuating board of trustees.
Jewell's president, David Sallee (OBU '73), stood up to the fundamentalists. Sallee offered a passionate defense of academic freedom as integral to the project of Christian liberal arts education in his essay, "Academic Freedom at Baptist Colleges and Universities," commissioned by Texas Baptists Committed, an organization of Mainstream Texas Baptists.
When the MBC demanded access to private, personal information about Jewell trustees' and professors' church membership and other affiliations, the college refused. The convention's executive committee then voted 44-4 to end its relationship with Jewell. Sallee rightly observed, "The whole thing is about control. And we're not going to allow the convention to dicate what we do." Academe, a publication of the American Association of University Professors, lauded OBU alum David Sallee for his courage in standing strong for academic freedom in the face of fundamentalist threats in this 2003 profile:
The Aftermath
As is always the case after Baptist colleges and state conventions part ways, both entities are far better off than they were during their strained, mutually draining union. William Jewell College has expanded its mission and profile while remaining true to the highest ideals of Christian liberal arts education. Its admission rate is down to 50%, indicative of not only a vastly larger applicant pool, but also the luxury of being more selective in admissions. By every conceivable measure -- objective or otherwise -- Jewell is significantly better off without the fundamentalist Missouri Baptist Convention attempting to meddle in its affairs.
For the MBC's part, its is able to spend its limited Cooperative Program dollars more efficiently. It can now invest more heavily in campus ministries on other Missouri campuses where over 400,000 students are enrolled. It is also free to advance its fundamentalist agenda within its churches and institutions without having to expend energy and resources fighting a losing ideological battle with William Jewell College, with which its goals are no longer compatible and have not been for many years.
Each entity is significantly better of without the other.
Lessons Learned
The biggest problem for OBU is that the BGCO elects OBU's trustees. Our board of trustees is not self perpetuating, like William Jewell College's. As we will see again and again, Baptist schools with independent, self-perpetuating boards of trustees have a much easier time breaking the oppressive chains that bind them to their fundamentalist state conventions.
What this story does give us, however, is a true hero: Dr. David Sallee. Sallee is a 1973 OBU graduate and a former point guard for the Bison men's basketball team. As a student at OBU, he saw firsthand what happens when a true champion of Baptist higher education leaves an institution. (Grady Cothen left OBU in 1970.) He also saw the difference between presidents who must, of necessity, pander to the state convention and presidents who don't. Robert Lynn, who served as interm president before William G. Tanner was elected president, had absolutely no inclination to do the BGCO's bidding at OBU and stood up to the BGCO and fundamentalist pastors during his brief tenure.
Aside from his courageous leadership and unshakable support of academic freedom, Dr. Sallee also provides an excellent example of how a Baptist university can survive and even flourish without state convention funding. Sallee oversaw the split with the Missouri Baptist Convention, which cost the school nearly $1 million per year. Subsequently, when the 2008 financial crisis resulted in Jewell's endowment losing a third of its value, Sallee oversaw budget cuts that allowed the institution to continue its vital mission.
In the story of William Jewell College, we see something hopeful: the president who initiated the split not only survived it, but led the university to a brighter future without the fundamentalist convention. At this point, this is exactly the kind of hope I have for OBU President David Whitlock. His job does not have to be a casualty of OBU's split from the BGCO. In fact, if he follows David Sallee's example, Dr. Whitlock can lead OBU into a bright future and cement his place as one of the university's greatest leaders. Or, he can be just one more in a line of BGCO puppet presidents who help devolve OBU into a fundamentalist Bible academy. It's his choice, really.
Save OBU stands ready to support him and any trustees, faculty, and administrators who are willing to stand against this bad institutional relationship. We believe OBU administrators would rather build up a great institution than tear one down. We believe they would rather stand up for academic freedom than undermine it. If they are ever inclined to take a stand for the kind of Christian liberal arts education that made OBU great, we are ready to recruit, rally, and mobilize all the support they will ever need and more!
Merry Christmas to all! Maybe not too many Christmases down the road we'll have the gift we all so desperately seek: a university free from fundamentalist control.
The Story
Founded in 1849, William Jewell College is one of the oldest colleges west of the Mississippi. Jewell was subsidized by and affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention until 2003. Fundamentalist elements within the Missouri Baptist Convention sought to exercise greater control over the convention's institutions. Five of the convention's institutions took actions to make their boards self-perpetuating rather than convention controlled in order to escape fundamentalist domination. The convention challenged these actions in court. Fortunately, however, William Jewell College had always been governed a self-perpetuating board of trustees.
Jewell's president, David Sallee (OBU '73), stood up to the fundamentalists. Sallee offered a passionate defense of academic freedom as integral to the project of Christian liberal arts education in his essay, "Academic Freedom at Baptist Colleges and Universities," commissioned by Texas Baptists Committed, an organization of Mainstream Texas Baptists.
When the MBC demanded access to private, personal information about Jewell trustees' and professors' church membership and other affiliations, the college refused. The convention's executive committee then voted 44-4 to end its relationship with Jewell. Sallee rightly observed, "The whole thing is about control. And we're not going to allow the convention to dicate what we do." Academe, a publication of the American Association of University Professors, lauded OBU alum David Sallee for his courage in standing strong for academic freedom in the face of fundamentalist threats in this 2003 profile:
The case of William Jewell College illustrates the intimate connection between governance and academic freedom. In order to control what might or might not be thought and said on the William Jewell campus, the leadership of the Missouri Baptist Convention launched an attack on the college's independent system of governance. By seizing control of the board of trustees, the convention would have gained the ultimate say over administrative and faculty appointments, over what was taught and by whom, and over the whole tenor of student and community life on campus. But the college stood its ground, refusing to yield to these extortive demands. It cost the college considerable money, but, as Sallee told the Sun-News of the Northland, "In our minds the freedom and standing for the principles that we have stood for in this confrontation are well worth the money."At the time, the MBC was giving Jewell almost $1 million a year, about 3% of the school's operating budget.
The Aftermath
As is always the case after Baptist colleges and state conventions part ways, both entities are far better off than they were during their strained, mutually draining union. William Jewell College has expanded its mission and profile while remaining true to the highest ideals of Christian liberal arts education. Its admission rate is down to 50%, indicative of not only a vastly larger applicant pool, but also the luxury of being more selective in admissions. By every conceivable measure -- objective or otherwise -- Jewell is significantly better off without the fundamentalist Missouri Baptist Convention attempting to meddle in its affairs.
For the MBC's part, its is able to spend its limited Cooperative Program dollars more efficiently. It can now invest more heavily in campus ministries on other Missouri campuses where over 400,000 students are enrolled. It is also free to advance its fundamentalist agenda within its churches and institutions without having to expend energy and resources fighting a losing ideological battle with William Jewell College, with which its goals are no longer compatible and have not been for many years.
Each entity is significantly better of without the other.
Lessons Learned
The biggest problem for OBU is that the BGCO elects OBU's trustees. Our board of trustees is not self perpetuating, like William Jewell College's. As we will see again and again, Baptist schools with independent, self-perpetuating boards of trustees have a much easier time breaking the oppressive chains that bind them to their fundamentalist state conventions.
What this story does give us, however, is a true hero: Dr. David Sallee. Sallee is a 1973 OBU graduate and a former point guard for the Bison men's basketball team. As a student at OBU, he saw firsthand what happens when a true champion of Baptist higher education leaves an institution. (Grady Cothen left OBU in 1970.) He also saw the difference between presidents who must, of necessity, pander to the state convention and presidents who don't. Robert Lynn, who served as interm president before William G. Tanner was elected president, had absolutely no inclination to do the BGCO's bidding at OBU and stood up to the BGCO and fundamentalist pastors during his brief tenure.
Aside from his courageous leadership and unshakable support of academic freedom, Dr. Sallee also provides an excellent example of how a Baptist university can survive and even flourish without state convention funding. Sallee oversaw the split with the Missouri Baptist Convention, which cost the school nearly $1 million per year. Subsequently, when the 2008 financial crisis resulted in Jewell's endowment losing a third of its value, Sallee oversaw budget cuts that allowed the institution to continue its vital mission.
In the story of William Jewell College, we see something hopeful: the president who initiated the split not only survived it, but led the university to a brighter future without the fundamentalist convention. At this point, this is exactly the kind of hope I have for OBU President David Whitlock. His job does not have to be a casualty of OBU's split from the BGCO. In fact, if he follows David Sallee's example, Dr. Whitlock can lead OBU into a bright future and cement his place as one of the university's greatest leaders. Or, he can be just one more in a line of BGCO puppet presidents who help devolve OBU into a fundamentalist Bible academy. It's his choice, really.
Save OBU stands ready to support him and any trustees, faculty, and administrators who are willing to stand against this bad institutional relationship. We believe OBU administrators would rather build up a great institution than tear one down. We believe they would rather stand up for academic freedom than undermine it. If they are ever inclined to take a stand for the kind of Christian liberal arts education that made OBU great, we are ready to recruit, rally, and mobilize all the support they will ever need and more!
Merry Christmas to all! Maybe not too many Christmases down the road we'll have the gift we all so desperately seek: a university free from fundamentalist control.
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