"Thy Daughters True": Feminism at OBU - Part 3

Feminism at OBU Series
"Thy Daughters True": Feminism at OBU - Part 1
"Thy Daughters True": Feminism at OBU - Part 2

"Thy Daughters True": Feminism at OBU - Part 3
"Thy Daughters True": Feminism at OBU - Part 4

On Monday, I wrote about a chapel message that contained two illustrations that were degrading to women. Today I will share the story of our protest and the administration's response.

FAIR held meeting as soon as possible to discuss the chapel message. We were all outraged at Dr. Gillham's statements and knew that we needed to do something about it. Only two of us had heard the message firsthand, so someone tried to get a recording of the chapel service. All chapel services are recorded and archived, but this one was not. Dr. Gillham didn't allow OBU to record his message because he copyrighted his material. We knew that the administration needed to respond to the situation and uphold all the nice things they put in the Green Book about not discriminating or harassing persons because of gender.

During the discussion, one of the group members said, "Imagine being a rape victim sitting in chapel and hearing that message." It was a chilling thought. We all knew the statistics about reported rapes versus unreported rapes, the challenges of reporting rape and assault, and how colleges sometimes poorly responded to sexual assault on campus. What about OBU? How many students knew about preventing sexual assault, fighting against rape culture, and supporting victims? What about students who were quietly coping with the aftermath of sexual assault and domestic abuse? What sort of chilling effect would Dr. Gillham's message have?

We outlined a course of action. First, the two members of FAIR who heard the message firsthand would write editorials to The Bison. I wrote about the egg illustration, while the other member of FAIR wrote about Lois and Joe. Second, we would hold an open meeting in the common area of the Geiger Center and speak to students and faculty about the incident and respond to Dr. Gillham's message. We wanted to be visible and make our voices of protest loud and clear, and we wanted to be orderly, well-spoken, and even-tempered. Picketing the chapel, waving handmade signs, and chanting slogans wouldn't do. After all, OBU had taught us to use rational discourse, not protest theatrics. Third, we would find ways to educate students and faculty about domestic abuse and sexual assault and what they could do to fight against it. For the survivors of domestic abuse or sexual assault, we wanted to let them know that they were not alone, and we wanted to encourage others to support them.

It seemed so easy. Who wouldn't be against domestic violence and sexual assault? There were quite a few feminist-minded students and professors who would be outraged, and OBU had plenty of Christians who claimed to have compassion for those who are hurting – a category that certainly included victims of abuse and sexual assault. At the same time, we knew it would be a challenge. We were confronting the fundamentalist patriarchy at OBU. Indifference and even opposition were likely.  

The following Monday, we held our open meeting in the common area. Anyone walking through the student center to get their mail or visit the cafeteria could overhear our speeches and see how many people had gathered to listen to us. I don't remember how many people attended, but I remember that there was a small crowd of students and faculty, both men and women. We pointed out the problems with the offensive illustrations and asked the university to issue a formal apology.

On Tuesday, members of FAIR met with Todd Ream, the Dean of Students. Dr. Ream was very supportive and sympathetic. He was troubled by the incident and willing to back us up with the administration.

On Wednesday, February 27, we attended chapel service and hoped that OBU would issue an apology as we had requested. Before Dr. Mark Brister introduced that week's chapel speaker – I have since forgotten who it was, but it was yet another middle-aged man – he took a moment to address the previous week's chapel message. I do not recall his exact words, but he stated that some people complained about statements made in last week's chapel and that OBU wanted to apologize if anyone was offended. At that point, Dr. Brister turned to look at the man behind him, who had sat through the entire apology with a bewildered look on his face. They exchanged glances, and Dr. Brister chuckled and shrugged his shoulders at him. The speaker chuckled too.

Not only was the "apology" dismissive and not much of an apology at all, it ended with two men looking at each other, laughing, and shrugging helplessly over a bunch of women getting hysterical over something said in chapel.

At first, I thought that it was good that we at least got a response and an apology, but then I realized that it was more of a dismissal. The administration had all but told us through PR-speak to sit down, be quiet, and let the men talk.

After chapel, everything unfolded in the pages of that week's issue of The Bison. An article about the controversy and our meeting in the GC appeared on the front page of volume 89, number 19, right next to an article with a headline that read, "Women's conference to feature several OBU alumni, faculty." An excellent quote from Dr. Todd Ream appeared next to the article about FAIR's meeting in the GC:

The members of FAIR are correct in asserting that gender discrimination and sexual abuse, at whatever level, are contradictory to the [sic] our identity as a Christian people. We must work together to affirm the created image of God present in all of humanity, male and female alike.

Unfortunately, statements from other male authority figures paled in comparison. In the article, Dr. Dick Rader stated that "he is sorry for any offense caused by students misconstruing Dr. Gillham's statements." Dr. Gillham told The Bison that he "acknowledge[s] FAIR's concern about male mistreatment of females and [he shares] that concern." He also said that the only thing we should take away from his lecture was Christ.

On the second page of that same issue, FAIR members' dual editorials about the chapel message appeared right across from an excellent editorial that outlined harassment policies in the Green Book and a strange editorial complaining about the sexism of an on-campus Valentine's date auction.

Letters to the editor from OBU's administration and Dr. Gillham appeared in next issue of the Bison, volume 85, number 20, on March 4, 2002.  The letter from OBU's administration was signed by Dr. Mark Brister, Dr. Joseph R. Weaver, and Dr. Dick Rader. It began by acknowledging that "a speaker presented illustrations which were deemed by many in our campus community to condone domestic violence, sexual abuse and victimization of women." However, the letter went on to say that Dr. Gillham told the university that "he did not mean to convey the message as perceived by a significant number of people." It also emphasized OBU's nondiscrimination policy and stated that "the impressions taken from the illustrations of Feb. 22 are not consistent with the position of the University's administration, faculty and staff." The choice of words really struck me: "deemed by many," "perceived," and "impressions." The administration stood with Dr. Gillham and seemed to suggest that we did not actually hear what we claimed to have heard. The letter also pointed out that the service was not recorded, indicating that it was our word against Dr. Gillham's.

The last section of the letter outlined the administration's course of action: they would "study gender related issues at OBU." Privately, they had told FAIR that they would form a gender studies task force as well as inform authority figures at Dr. Gillham's future speaking engagements about the controversy that erupted at OBU. They did not mention the latter in the letter and we never knew if they followed through.

Dr. Gillham's letter addressed FAIR directly and opened with "My Dear Sister in Christ," even though it was supposed to address the editor. He stated that he "share[d]" our concerns about "male mistreatment of females" and that "it was not [his] intent to address male/female relationships, social inequalities or sexual abuse" in his chapel message. He claimed that the illustrations were meant to show that "real life is hard" and that Christ "is God's Provision to express His life through each Believer," which "includes living with an abusive husband and how to overcome temptation." He acknowledged that "the two males were portrayed as abusive," but followed it up with an accusation: those who misconstrued the illustrations were "naively undermining the work of the Holy Spirit." Our takeaway was that he meant we should sit and learn in silence and submission instead of protesting. He ended the letter by saying, "I love you and pray for God's best for you."

Again, I couldn't help noticing his choice of words. The use of the phrase "overcome temptation" emphasized the way that he blamed Lois for what happened, and "living with an abusive husband" left no room for the woman to seek help or a divorce. In addition, if he did not want to address the issues of abuse, why did he bring them up in the sermon? Should we see those issues as inevitable facts of life rather than injustices we must fight?

As dismissive as these two letters were, there was still hope. Right below Dr. Gillham's letter was a lengthy and outstanding letter from OBU professor Dr. James Farthing, who was also a Deputy Sheriff for Pottawatomie County, about the legal definitions and issues related to assault, battery, rape, and domestic abuse. He completely backed up FAIR's assertions and lent his authority to our side. He pointed out that "those who deal with these issues on a regular basis understand that they are complicated well beyond the understanding of those who make jokes about them or otherwise treat them lightly." Dr. Farthing then went on to say that "[t]o even imply that God blames victims, even if they have acted foolishly, is to remove the responsibility from those who commit these crimes."

Amen. Blaming the victim is reprehensible, period.

Tomorrow, I will offer some concluding thoughts on our student group and the need for continued vigilance, especially in male-dominated institutions inclined toward sexist outlooks on religion, culture, and family life.

All Saints Day: Honoring Luminaries That Today's SBC/BGCO Would Reject

Today is one of my favorite holy days in the Christian year.  It is also, among Protestants and especially among evangelicals, one of the most neglected.  Usually, churches observe All Saints Day on the Sunday following Nov. 1.  And while the Season after Pentecost drags on through the summer and into the fall, the church year gets more exciting now, beginning last week with Reformation Sunday which I wrote about here.

I especially like to remember people who have died in the past year.  I lost a dear friend, teacher, and mentor in March.  We spent countless afternoons at a local restaurant discussing books, religion, science, politics, and education over fried catfish and sweet tea.  He was a high school physics teacher in his 35th year, just two months from retirement.  He was and is to me an ever-present reminder to do what you love and spend your days and your life engaged in things that are meaningful.

Last year, I made a YouTube video that joins images to a recording of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge singing the great hymn, "For All the Saints Who from Their Labours Rest."  You can watch it here:

I also pause today to remember OBU luminaries who are no longer with us, but whose inheritance we carry as we stand for academic freedom and for excellence in Baptist higher education.  John Wesley Raley and James Ralph Scales were presidents of OBU at a time when Southern Baptist leaders actually honored open inquiry, academic freedom, and excellence in teaching and learning even when it challenged accepted orthodoxies.  They did not see an inherent conflict between faith and knowledge that led them to limit and disdain knowledge that seems at first glance to challenge faith.  They also held many values that would put them completely at odds with today's Baptist leaders, including commitments to the liberty of the conscience and the separation of church and state.

So we may as well just say it.  We walk past a chapel named for Raley and a statue named for Scales every day.  Yet if either was interviewing for a position with the BGCO or any SBC board or agency today, they would be laughed out of the room.  In fact, they probably wouldn't even make it to the interview.  They would have been weeded out because of their beliefs, associations, and politics.

The ruling powers at OBU want you to believe that nothing has changed.  (But we know that's a lie because OBU's newest fundamentalist professor publicly acknowledged that it was those very changes that made his appointment at OBU possible.)  Baptist life has changed dramatically since heroes like Raley and Scales led our beloved OBU.  We were insulated from the disastrous changes until very recently.  We had presidents who knew how to play nice with the fundamentalists, but who still stood up for faculty and for academic freedom.  But now, playing nice isn't good enough.  The fundamentalists want results (aka, moderate professors ousted and replaced exclusively by fundamentalists).  The delicate dance that President Brister performed capably and President Agee performed masterfully is not going to be possible for President Whitlock.  He is going to have to choose.  And frankly, it looks like he's made his choice.

For now, though, it falls to us to honor the legacies of OBU's luminaries from days past.  Because let's be honest, certain people are not upholding those legacies at all.  In fact, some legacies are being deliberately misrepresented.  Today's SBC elites actively turned against thoroughly conservative leaders like Joe Ingram and Herschel Hobbs because, by golly, they just weren't conservative enough.

Don't believe there haven't been changes.  If Herschel Hobbs himself applied for a ministry professorship at OBU, Provost Norman would weed him out before he could even be interviewed.  And even if Hobbs somehow made it through and the committee wanted to hire him, Dean McClellan would veto the faculty's unanimous vote.  For his part, David Whitlock wouldn't lift a finger to stop them.  And Anthony Jordan would be smiling in the Baptist Building because OBU rejected Herschel H. Hobbs.  In practice, OBU rejects him every single day.

And these OBU leaders have the audacity to continually have a lectureship and even an entire academic division named in Hobbs's honor.  It's just wrong.

So it's our privilege and duty -- we who actually honor what their lives accomplished -- to remember these great heroes of the faith and leading lights of Baptist higher education.  I will close with a prayer not from an All Saints liturgy, but from the Christmas Eve Service of Lessons and Carols that the BBC broadcasts every year from the King's College Chapel in Cambridge, UK:

Lastly let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom we for evermore are one.  These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself hath taught us: 

Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kinddom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen!

2012 Forbes Data (Part 2): OBU's Decline in Context

Earlier this week, I reported that OBU had fallen to #390 in the Forbes college rankings.  While Forbes (methodology here) has improved on U.S. News & World Report (which dominated the college rankings game for many years), I would be the first to admit that these rankings are imperfect and it is impossible to perfectly quantify the experience/quality/outcome these magazines are trying to rank.

Still, these rankings are enough to reveal all kinds of problems with the current direction of OBU and in Baptist higher education across the board.

First, the ugly picture:

The defenders of OBU's new fundamentalist regime really can't argue with this.  The best they can do is say, "Hey, the rankings go from 1 to 650!  By only showing 100 to 400 on the y axis, Jacob is making the slope of the line look worse than it actually is."

Fair enough.  But is this really any better?

When you consider that the 400s and 500s are populated by schools like Oral Roberts and Liberty, this shouldn't make you feel any better.  This is a stunning decline.

How are other Baptist schools faring?  I wondered the same thing.  The chart below shows OBU's decline in bold along with the rankings of several other state convention-affiliated schools.  Some of these peers are relatively fundamentalist, while others are relatively moderate.  But it's clear that OBU's decline is unique, even among Baptist peers:

Samford dipped but is doing alright and Baylor is on a clear upward trajectory.  Ouachita and Union are holding their own.  Southwest Baptist University has never been ranked.  (For what it's worth, Southwest Baptist is also the school from which David Whitlock came to OBU.  Coming to OBU was a huge professional leap and the opportunity of a lifetime for Whitlock, as I'm sure he would be the first to acknowledge.)

The picture above presents a different narrative about what was going on in 2008 and 2009 than what we usually hear.  We were in an enrollment crisis!  We had to make tough financial decisions!  Maybe so.  But for all the hand wringing, it turns out that OBU was actually in much better shape at the end of the Brister presidency and during the Parrish interim than it is today.  Remember, as opposed to U.S. News, Forbes is trying to measure quality and outcomes, not just reputation.  One can only wonder how much better off we'd be if Whitlock, Norman, and McClellan had never come to Bison Hill.  Or if President Whitlock had made it clear from the beginning that he would not abide a fundamentalist takeover instead of letting it happen with his blessing.

I don't know exactly how Whitlock can undo the damage his hatchet men have already done.  But I'm afraid it will take more than a capital campaign, a football team, and a few new degree programs.  He could start by apologizing for past missteps (why is that so hard for people to do?), urging his friend the provost (who long ago lost the faculty's confidence, if he ever actually had it) to find another job, and doing more to address faculty concerns about past and present problems than having an occasional lunch with a few faculty leaders.  Some search committees have been able to bring top-rate junior professors to OBU.  But in other departments (Theology and Ministry being the most egregious but perhaps not the only example), the process is a joke and the administrators bring in whoever they want without even consulting relevant faculty colleagues.  Speaking of jokes, the bookstore restricts access to all books not produced by Tree of Life's approved list of fundamentalist publishing houses.  The list of books you can't find in OBU's bookstore is mind-boggling.

Anyway, back to the rankings.

Later in the week, I'll speak specifically to how OBU is faring with respect to other evangelical colleges, as well as institutions that were formerly affiliated with Baptist state conventions.  Also, if I have time, I might build a data set that includes the Forbes rankings of every CCCU institution.  I have a feeling that doing so might provide a compelling visualization of the fact that maintaining a Christian identity does not have to mean sacrificing quality.  It might also help reveal the fact that Christian institutions that are controlled by fundamentalists are destined for mediocrity (if not outright ruin), while those run by moderates (or at least people who are sensitive to the importance of rigor, quality, and ethical/professional standards) can continue to achieve excellence.

More on all that later in the week.  Please keep your friends, classmates, and interested colleagues informed about the work we are doing here at Save OBU.

Jacob's Interview with Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists (w/Video)

Yesterday's post discussed how the group Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists was formed largely over concern for OBU's future.  In 1997.  They didn't make much headway on OBU issues, unfortunately.  But I am pleased to say that the group, under the leadership of Executive Director Rev. Dr. Bruce Prescott, has been a powerful, prophetic witness for social justice, historic Baptist distinctives, and the separation of church and state for nearly 15 years.

Bruce has followed the Save OBU movement with some interest and provided key insights and analysis for us along the way.  I had the pleasure to meet Bruce and spend some time with him when he was in Washington for a conference in June.  He generously offered to interview me for his blog, which will hopefully get our message out to a broader Baptist audience.  The interview is broken into four parts.

Part 1: Who is Jacob Lupfer?
This is mostly biographical.  You can view it here if you're interested.

Part 2: What's Going On at OBU?
I explain why I started the Save OBU blog and offer my opinion about the effect of recent changes on the Christian witness of OBU.

What is Going On at OBU? from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

[UPDATE Monday, July 30, 2012: I said in the video that SWBTS doesn't have any women faculty.  This is not true.  They have a few professors of homemaking, submitting to your husband, and stuff like that.  Also, one of Professor Dorothy Patterson's past research assistants is now on faculty as "Assistant Professor of Theology in Women's Studies."  Sorry for the technical inaccuracy.  But really, my point doesn't really change until SWBTS and the other SBC seminaries have some female deans or professors in homiletics or branches of theology that aren't explicitly gender-focused and committed to a sexist position on women in church, family, and public life.  Who knows, maybe they have black professors of Confederate studies.]

Part 3: How Does the BGCO Influence OBU?
I discuss the repercussions of the Fundamentalist Takeover of the SBC and the BGCO on OBU.  I also describe how the percentage of OBU's budget being contributed by the BGCO has declined as the convention's influence over OBU's affairs has increased.

On OBU's Relation to BGCO from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Part 4: Were is OBU Headed?
I comment on the change in the kind of books offered by the OBU bookstore, describe the turn away from classical instruction in philosophy, and talk about parallels between OBU and Shorter University in Georgia.

Where is OBU Headed? from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Thanks for being on this journey with me.  We may fail in the end.  The people men aligned against us are very powerful.  Win or lose, though, I obviously believe it's important that we fight this battle.  Hopefully these videos will help you get to know me a little better and provide some context for our struggle.  Barely more than twenty years ago, Southern Baptists proudly ran many of the finest universities in the South.  I shudder to think about the state of Baptist higher education twenty years from now if current trends continue.  It's absolutely vital that we spread the word, raise our voices, and fight to protect the distinctively Baptist liberal arts tradition that meant so much to us.  The prospects for future generations of students to experience anything even comparable to the education we received are grim... unless something changes.

Highlights from the 2012 SBC Annual Meeting

Earlier this week, Veronica shared a few observations from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's General Assembly, held a couple weeks ago in Ft. Worth.  The CBF has emerged and grown since the Takeover as a way forward for Baptists who reject the SBC's creedalism, authoritarianism, and rejection of historic Baptist freedoms.

Unsurprisingly, a number of OBU alumni and friends have affiliated with the CBF over the years -- in Shawnee, throughout Oklahoma, and all over the nation and world.  Of course, OBU graduates are still affiliated in large numbers with SBC-related churches and institutions.  But as we'll detail soon, a surprising number of OBU religion and ministry graduates choose non-SBC seminaries and minister in non-SBC churches.  The CBF's ministry, leadership, and lay ranks are filled with OBU faculty, retirees, students, alumni, and friends.

In fact, while fundamentalists were exerting their political power in SBC life, OBU was much more closely aligned with the moderates than with the fundamentalists.  OBU President Bob Agee worked assiduously to protect OBU from the excesses of the Takeover while still maintaining good relations with the BGCO.  Agee's successor, Mark Brister, was seen as a rising star in SBC politics.  At OBU, however, Brister was much more likely to defend OBU's mission than to accede to the fundamentalists' wishes.  He was not a perfect president, of course.  But he did little more than the requisite politicking and good 'ol boy back patting.  To my knowledge, Brister is now out of the SBC elites' inner circle for good.  Clearly, he was not impressed with or swayed by their agenda.

The SBC in OBU Life
During my years at OBU, I was never aware of the SBC annual meeting being a major event in OBU life.  I never heard of any professors (clergy or lay) serving as messengers, though there may have been some.  Given the Convention's recent history of actions that were divisive (cleansing all institutions of moderates) and bizarre (boycotting the Walt Disney Co.), the feeling I got from OBU was that it kept the SBC label and all its racial, social, theological and political baggage at arm's length.  To the extent that faculty and administrators had opinions about the Convention that they shared with students, I usually got the impression that most people thought the SBC had been hijacked by amateurs and ideologues.

OBU's motto was "Unashamedly Baptist," but I quickly learned that while OBU was indeed rightly proud of its Baptist heritage, many of its leaders and professors were indeed ashamed of what the SBC had become.  This was especially obvious the day Richard Land came to speak in Raley Chapel (c. 2001), but that's another story for another day.

Sad as it is, given the post-Takeover reality of SBC life, there is precedent for OBU having a presence at the annual meeting.  I don't know whether President Agee attended regularly.  President Brister was a regular fixture.  In fact, I saw him at the only SBC I ever attended.  At the 2000 Orlando convention, I attended the OBU dinner with my parents (we lived in nearby Kissimmee).

So I am not complaining that President Whitlock attends the annual convention.  It's a requisite schmooze-fest that comes with the territory.  I just wish institutional arrangements were such that he didn't have to.  Nothing good can come from strengthening OBU's ties to the SBC, and, as we're seeing, plenty of bad can come from it.  OBU had a booth in the convention hall, as usual.  In this video, Dean Ken Gabrielse shows some class in turning down an opportunity to compare OBU to Liberty University (starts at 4:40).  (I have no such qualms.  There is no comparison, and if OBU ever becomes enough of a joke to merit comparisons to Liberty, then we will have already lost our battle.)

Highlights from the 2012 SBC
This year, OBU sent what seemed like a large contingent to New Orleans well in advance of the convention to give incoming SBC President Fred Luter an honorary doctorate even though he has absolutely no connection to Oklahoma or OBU whatsoever except for being an old buddy of Provost Stan Norman.  This move was pure pandering and, as far as I can tell, utterly without precedent in OBU history.  Attendees included Whitlock, Norman, Fine Arts Dean Ken Gabrielse, and Dean of Spiritual Life Dale Griffin.  I don't know how many of their wives were a part of the junket.  Also, I don't know if they stayed in New Orleans for the entire ten days between the Luter presentation and the SBC meeting, or whether they made two separate trips.  Either way, it seems like a huge waste of money.  Your tuition dollars at work.

Anyway, I have not paid attention to SBC politics in many years, but this year's convention seemed pretty typical.  It was mostly white, mostly old, and (like many denominations) mostly driven by clergy and denominational staff rather than laity.

The highlight was, of course, the historic election of Luter as the first black SBC president.  The main event was the unending circle of SBC elites patting themselves on the back for finally finding a black person who will go along with their social/political agenda atoning for all the racist sins in the SBC's past.  One prominent sideshow was the kerfuffle over whether or not LifeWay stores should sell a inspirational movie about race (The Blind Side).  (With Luter's support, LifeWay discontinued selling the movie.)

There was also a debate over the efficacy of the sinner's prayer, whether it is an advisable evangelism tactic, and whether it is followed with sufficient discipleship.  I don't want to open that can of worms here, though many Baptist blogs covered the debate.

Boards, agencies, and institutions gave their typical reports.  Nothing seemed especially newsworthy (though please correct me if I'm wrong).  The demographers reported continued membership decline (the SBC is below 16 million members for the first time in over a decade).  White church decline continues and nonwhite congregations appear to be something of a growth industry in the SBC.  I don't know how many legitimately mixed race congregations there are, but a few Latinos and a black person in the choir do not make your lily white church "mixed-race."  There is definitely a trend toward acknowledging the importance of "ethnic ministry," though when white people refer to everyone else as "ethnic," you wonder how much progress will ever be made.

Unfortunately, the current leadership of OBU gives every indication that it wants to get in bed with the SBC elites at every possible opportunity (metaphorically, of course).  Provost Norman is a known denominational climber and a true believer.  President Whitlock is more of a newcomer to SBC politics.  We have no indication that he is a lifelong fundamentalist sympathizer who has been in league with the Takeover faction since the beginning.  We know he attended last year's SBC to give an award -- offensively named for the late Rev. Dr. Herschel H. Hobbs -- to a Takeover leader with OBU and Oklahoma connections.  But this may have actually been his first SBC meeting as a messenger.

We can only hope and pray that now that he has had a taste of SBC politicking and sees the vast wasteland the Takeover has left in its wake at educational institutions, he'll reject the fundamentalists' agenda and devote himself ever more fully to the cherished (and threatened) ideals on which our great OBU was founded.

What Makes a Good Administrator? (Part 2)

Yesterday, we began a brief series on university administration as a window into why things have gone somewhat poorly for President Whitlock and why the BGCO is a central, if largely unseen, villan in this drama.  If students' interests are ignored, faculty's rights and norms are violated, and alumni's concerns are cast aside in order to kowtow to the BGCO, it's a recipe for -- well, for the situation we currently have.

Today, I want to follow up by revisiting the presidency of Dr. Bob Agee.  We've already talked about Baptist academic legends like James Ralph Scales and Grady Cothen.  But Bob Agee deserves credit for providing exemplary leadership at OBU during a difficult time in Baptist life.  Yesterday, we noted that a university president is like a translator, understanding the language of students, faculty, donors, alumni, and trustees.  Agee spoke all those languages masterfully.

When Agee came to Bison Hill, he immediately took it upon himself to forge relationships with as many Oklahoma Baptist congregations as he could.  He accepted invitations to preach in churches large and small.  Some pastors and congregations were afraid that OBU was too liberal.  Agee, who preached in 40-50 churches a year throughout most of his tenure, skillfully defused the paranoid and baseless fears about theological liberalism at OBU and, in the process, put forward a warm and caring persona for Oklahoma clergy and laypeople to associate with OBU.

The 43-year old president found faculty morale to be low when he arrived in 1983 (though nowhere close to how low it is today).  He forged personal relationships with faculty and made three brilliant appointments to the position of chief academic officer (Shirley Jones, Pat Taylor, and Joe Bob Weaver, respectively).  These gifted leaders each earned and sustained the faculty's trust and confidence.

Significantly, President Agee kept OBU safe from the denomination's Fundamentalist Takeover even as he maintained good relations with the increasingly fundamentalist BGCO.  Though the BGCO's subsidy (as a percentage of OBU's budget) was cut in half over Agee's tenure (a fact we will revisit later), Agee managed the university's relationship to the convention skillfully.  He befriended Rev. Joe L. Ingram, who was BGCO executive director from 1971-1986.  It was Agee who announced with pride that OBU would name the religion department in Ingram's honor.  (Sadly, fundamentalists later formally censured Ingram months before his death for "consorting with moderates.")  Agee also worked well with Ingram's successor, Rev. Dr. Bill Tanner, a former OBU president.  By the time the Rev. Dr. Anthony Jordan took over the BGCO in 1996, it seems the young gun (Jordan) had to defer to the elder statesman (Agee) somewhat.  Obviously, in time Jordan would learn to work behind the scenes to wield power in OBU governance and affairs.

President Whitlock owes his election, in large part, to two traits he possesses (along with Agee) that his predecessor (Rev. Dr. Mark Brister) lacked: a background higher education administration and a natural ease with Oklahoma's Baptist clergy and laypeople.  Yet for all his considerable talents, we must hope that Whitlock will be willing to learn from Agee's example.

• Faculty are the heart and soul of the institution.  Their judgment and autonomy in academic matters are sacrosanct.  If you lose them, you've already lost.  For better or worse, there was not quite enough faculty support to take the extreme and unprecedented measure of a no-confidence vote in President Whitlock after the botched dismissals.  But the fact that such an option was even on the table last fall shows just how bad things are.
• Students and alumni must feel valued.  They are the ones who made a hundred thousand dollar investment in OBU.  Their opinions matter, their passion is real, and the consequences of their dissatisfaction on OBU's future growth and development cannot be underestimated.
• As for the BGCO, well, for now we may be stuck in this bad institutional arrangement.  But let us not forget that without the BGCO, none of these problems would even exist.  Wise presidents know that there is ample political support on Bison Hill and among alumni and trustees.  If you stand strong for academic freedom and a rigorous liberal arts education, we've got your back.  Anthony Jordan is not your boss.  And if a few Oklahoma Baptist clergy and laypeople don't like it, you have two options.  You can, like Agee, summon all your warmth and charm and go town to town assuaging these people's concerns.  Or you can essentially blow them off.  Less than two cents on their offering plate dollar ends up at OBU anyway.  If they kick us out of the convention, all the better: all these problems disappear, you have student/faculty/alumni support, and you go down in history as a true OBU hero.  Either way, OBU presidents have all learned how to deal with the BGCO.  If you're seen as the convention's puppet, you lose.

Tomorrow, we take a look an administrative appointment that has had very negative consequences for OBU and has put the president in quite a bind as he struggles to win back lost confidence while stubbornly refusing to even acknowledge any of the problems this problematic appointment has created.

Money Monday: OBU - The Baptist Building's Newest Tenant

Well here's an interesting little gem several of you sent in.

OBU announced this morning that it will relocate its graduate school in May.  The university had leased space in a building downtown, but is now moving to the BGCO headquarters at 3800 N. May Avenue.  After a 5+ year run downtown, it looks like OBU and the convention worked out a win-win to move OBU's graduate programs to the mother ship.

Now, ordinarily, this administrative decision is not something we would have an opinion about, since it apparently has nothing to do with any of Save OBU's concerns and it may, in fact, be a great idea.  But given the recent unprecedented changes in OBU's academic affairs, this move has struck many people as disconcerting just in the few hours since the news was announced.

I don't really know the details of the BGCO's recent tenants or the amount of office space it occupies.  But it seems reasonable to assume that OBU will pay a much lower rent since a) the new location is not in downtown and b) the new landlord pays no property taxes whereas the present landlord presumably does.  So OBU's graduate programs can save on overhead and the BGCO gets a large new tenant.

Why, then, does this rub so many of us the wrong way?  Probably because we are already highly suspicious of the BGCO's interference in OBU affairs.  So much about OBU's governance and administration since even before the current president's election smacks of BGCO meddling.  It's difficult to demonstrate clear and direct orders from the convention to University administrators, but we're working on it.  And even without evidence of direct interference, we can still see that the BGCO's agenda to transform OBU is being enacted, incrementally but deliberately.

Think of all that has happened:

• President Brister's complaint that "Anthony thinks he's my boss"
• The presidential search committee's concerns about OBU sending too many of its graduates to moderate seminaries and too few to BGCO pulpits
• The president's plan to remake the School of Christian service
• The strained relations with Oklahoma City, First and Shawnee, First (two CBFO churches that the BGCO can't stand)
• The demotion of a moderate female administrator
• The creation of the provost position for a fundamentalist enforcer
• The dismissal of two religion professors in spite of tenure considerations and against Faculty Handbook policies
• The gutting of the philosophy curriculum in favor of "Christian apologetics"
• The early retirements of many moderate professors
• The installation of an avowedly fundamentalist bookstore that refuses to sell mainstream books
• The new practice of ignoring faculty search committee recommendations in hiring
• Refusing to admit mistakes in the forced dismissal debacles
• Dismissing student, faculty, and alumni protests and continuing to remake OBU in the BGCO's image

At the moment, we are only able to connect a few of these concerns directly back to the BGCO.  We continue to document conversations and events, and are working tirelessly to paint a more vivid picture of BCGO meddling.  But make no mistake: BGCO power brokers are overjoyed about every item on the above list and more.  In their minds, President Whitlock is God's man for this hour.  And Provost Norman is a godsend because they can get their dirty work done without even having to ask!  He's enough of a true believe that he does all this stuff without having to be told!

So when OBU moves a new and growing part of its operation into the BGCO's own headquarters, it is clearly symbolic of a new dynamic that they love and we are rightly suspicious about.  How wonderful it would be if the landlord-tenant dynamic was the extent of OBU's relationship to the BGCO!

Sunday School - Reassessing Institutional Parallels

As many of our readers know, we began with the intention of blogging on Sundays about other Baptist schools that parted company with their increasingly fundamentalist and anti-intellectual state conventions. So far, we've profiled William Jewell College (MO), Stetson University (FL), and Furman University (SC).

Sunday School Blogging - Not as Helpful or Relevant
Last week, we looked at the planned takeover of a struggling, unaccredited college in Montana.  It's too soon to say whether this is a good idea or not.  And while Save OBU is committed to not taking positions on every minute matter in OBU governance and administration, we are at least open to the possibility that this could be a smart, effective partnership.  Our concern, as ever, is that we need to take care to maintain the quality and integrity of OBU's liberal arts education on Bison Hill.  In recent years, that heritage has been deliberately eroded and administrators seem deaf and frankly indifferent to the concerns of students, faculty, retired faculty, alumni, and friends.  So it occurs to us that new graduate programs, athletic teams, and far-flung satellite campuses may be a distraction from the very urgent business of protecting academic freedom, a rigorous curriculum, and maintaining the best possible faculty.  To the hardworking professors and tuition-paying students who see OBU's great liberal arts tradition being threatened by fundamentalist encroachment, focusing so much attention on peripheral matters seems not only offensive, but unwise.  It's like building a new room onto the side of your house while the kitchen is on fire.

Anyway, there are many other schools whose stories we need to hear.  But at the moment, it's not really worth 1/7 of this blog's space.  The amount of research required is substantial, and I frankly don't think it's the best use of my time.  Furthermore, since we usually talk about faculty on Friday, students on Saturday, and money on Monday, it would be better if we could have a day in the midst of those regular features to talk about any pressing issues that arise.

Baptist Hospital: The Key to OBU's Path to Freedom from the BGCO?
Furthermore, OBU's legal entanglement with the BGCO is different from other Baptist schools'.  It will not be nearly as easy for us to escape the BGCO's stranglehold.  We can't just vote the fundamentalists out.  They own us.  They literally own the buildings and grounds.  They can legally do whatever they want.  Whoever controls the BGCO controls OBU -- it's as simple as that.  When Mark Brister complained, "Anthony think he's my boss," he hit on the biggest problem OBU faces.  While it is not technically true, it is practically true.  When we had BGCO leaders like Joe Ingram who believed in academic freedom, the legal arrangement was not problematic.  Revs. Ingram and Tanner and Presidents Hall and Agee wisely kept OBU off the battlefield as fundamentalists waged war on the SBC in the 1980s.  Now, the fundamentalists are having their moment, and it's reflected in every hiring decision, every forced dismissal, and every curricular intervention.

So the uniqueness of our relationship to the state convention makes comparison to other schools mostly irrelevant.  What we need, truly, are experts on institutional disaffiliation.  The best parallel I can think of is the old Baptist hospital system.  My plea is this: if you know anyone who was involved in BGCO politics when it separated from the Baptist hospital system (I think this was in the early or mid 1980s but I truly don't know), please have them contact me.  Our path to freedom will be more like the hospital's and less like Wake Forest's, Stetson's, or Mercer's.  We need to know every little detail of that separation.

Moving Forward
Moving forward, we need to distinguish between short-term and long-term aims.  Our immediate concern is to repair the utterly broken relationship between the OBU faculty (particularly senior faculty) and the administration.  We absolutely must see some evidence -- and soon -- that student protests, Faculty Council resolutions, alumni petitions, and widespread dissatisfaction have any effect whatsoever on administrators, or if they are truly just doing the fundamentalists' bidding.  Fortunately, our persistence and collective pressure finally seem to be paying off.  Now that students, faculty, retired faculty, and alumni are all well aware of each other's positions, experiences, and expectations, it seems a near certainty that OBU will have to, at a minimum, apologize to the faculty and students for its shameful treatment of two excellent professors and find the provost a position elsewhere in fundamentalist higher education for which he is better suited.  Then, the fireworks over who gets to choose his successor can begin in earnest.

This issue will have to be settled soon, because with the president scheduled to be out of the country for six weeks this spring when interviews and decisions regarding new faculty take place, faculty and students are horrified at the prospect that Dr. Norman will get to oversee that process, ignore search committee recommendations again, and bring in a handful of eager young fundamentalist professors to further erode OBU's academic rigor and quality, even over the strident objections of students and faculty.  Such a scenario is unthinkable.

Longer term, we will seek changes to the trustee selection process, on OBU's end and on the BGCO's end as well.  In order to accomplish this, we may have to start a widespread conversation in Oklahoma Baptist life about what OBU and the convention actually offer each other (hint: not much).  BGCO power brokers are happiest when OK Baptists don't think much about the fact that OBU has a strong moderating effect on students' views and that we send a relatively large number of ministry graduates to moderate seminaries and a relatively small number of them to OK Baptist pulpits.  But we'll probably have to have an extended public debate about these and related issues in the months and years to come. So be it, it's long overdue.

Student Saturday: Journalism at OBU

Our many new readers won't know that a few weeks ago, we talked about the pathetic state of journalism in the post-Takeover SBC.  Since the fundamentalists turned Baptist Press into a propaganda machine in the 1990s, the state Baptist papers have also lost editorial independence and become little more than the P.R. arm of their fundamentalist state conventions.

I planned to extend the analysis to OBU, where there have been problems with a free press in the past.  Given how rapidly the BGCO's fundamentalist agenda for OBU has accelerated in other areas recently, I expected to write a post eviscerating OBU administrators for censoring The Bison and stifling student journalism on campus.

Today, I'm happy to report that I was wrong.  Student journalism is alive and well at OBU.  There have been a couple of dramatic side stories on this subject, but in general, OBU journalism is performing a vital community service.

Some Unhappy History
Without going to some rather unfortunate details, it is widely known that Mark Brister did not endear himself to student journalism advisors during his tenure.  I suppose it's water under the bridge at this point, though the consequences of Brister's struggles in this area were quite negative.

I seem to recall that an outstanding and very well-loved English professor/journalism advisor somehow ran afoul of President Brister, though I do not know the details of that story.

Sometime in the early/mid-2000s, Brister wanted to set up a review committee, ostensibly to check the student newspaper for errors in grammar, mechanics, and fact.  Unsurprisingly, members of the publications board, a dean, a divisional head, and his own P.R. man convinced him this was a terrible idea.

But when a professional association called College Media Advisors got wind of the situation, it pressed the university for more information.  Dr. Brister chose to ignore that body, and OBU was subsequently censured.  Later, Interim President John Parrish came to understand the significance of this censure, particularly for journalism students' and graduates' professional prospects.  Thus, he successfully sought to have OBU's censure lifted, on the grounds that the administration had changed.

Recent Developments
As I said before,  I fully expected there to be some kind of active censorship regime in place.  But I have been assured that no such thing is currently happening.  So, credit where credit is due: Kudos to OBU administrators for allowing and supporting editorial autonomy on a campus whose state convention and national denomination quashed true journalism many years ago in favor of propaganda.

Rest assured, even many longtime faculty agree that The Bison has printed quite diverse articles and opinion over the past few years.  And, with all due respect to OBU journalism students through the ages, one faculty member even reports that The Bison "is about as healthy as it's ever been, and better edited than in years past."  The paper courageously covered last fall's alumni petition, which undoubtedly brought a great deal of attention to an issue the administration prefers people did not know about.  I was also quite impressed by a story in September about two longtime professors who announced their retirements.  The professors, whose anger about all the recent disastrous changes is typical, were given quite a lot of latitude to express their frustration in the article.  If you follow the student newspaper's Facebook page, you can view many recent issues online.  So don't take my word for it, see for yourself.

This is not to say The Bison couldn't do a better job covering vital campus news.  To my knowledge, there was nothing about last summer's forced faculty dismissal or about the Faculty Council's protests to the administration (or the faculty's unprecedented low morale under the current administration).  I can only speculate about the reasons for these omissions.  Anyone who has been on such an authoritarian and conformist campus for very long knows that self-constraint becomes almost second nature.  Perhaps the student editor(s) and faculty advisor assumed they should leave these issues alone.

The Customers Always Write?
One thing a casual observer will immediately notice about The Bison is how few students and faculty write letters to the editor or guest op-eds about controversial topics.  I assume this is due to the afore-mentioned restraint that typically overwhelms people on campuses like OBU.  But there have been (at least) two fairly distressing happenings related to student opinions.  Neither episode reflects negatively on the very fine work OBU student journalists and their advisor are doing.

In one case, a student submitted a satirical advertisement making fun of the fact that OBU made a self-conscious decision to fire a very fine, moderate Christian philosopher and hire a down-the-line conservative with a specialty in "Christian apologetics."  (The ad can be seen at the bottom of this post.)  Evidently, after the papers were printed and distributed around campus, they were quickly confiscated.  After a social media firestorm ensued, the papers were returned to their distribution points. To be honest, I do not know who ordered the papers to be pulled and my sources give conflicting accounts.  I also don't know if the author of the satirical ad was harassed for expressing his/her opinion.

In another episode, a student penned a thoughtful, passionate op-ed about the recent disastrous changes recently enacted at OBU and asked the student paper to investigate them more fully.  The papers were printed and distributed before Fall Free Days.  The following week, an administrator called the writer into his office and caused quite a scene.  Maybe we'll tell more of that story another time.  But any time an experienced university administrator, after having 3 or 4 days to "sleep on it," loses his composure and abandons his professionalism in trying to intimidate and silence a college student, it begs serious questions about his judgment.

Conclusion
OBU student journalists are doing an admirable job.  There is no formal censorship regime.  A commendable diversity of articles and opinion fill the pages of The Bison.

Many OBU insiders (students, faculty, etc.) agree with this assessment.  But I must call it a tentative conclusion because enough people have expressed doubt that I cannot honestly say that my account represents a unanimous consensus.  I realize that some of you will be disappointed that I have praised the administration for simply not standing in the way of students' rights (under the Green Book and the First Amendment).  If more facts emerge, I will be happy to adjust this conclusion as necessary.

Disclaimer
In preparing this commentary on student journalism, I consulted faculty as well as Bison staffers (current and former).  I did not reach out to any Bison editors or advisors, current or former.  I truly do not want to cause trouble for any of you.  I know some of our critics will be surprised to hear this, but I actually do take care to choose my words carefully.  I have tried to be especially careful here.  If I have missed the mark in any way, I invite any of you (friend or foe) to be in touch via email.  SaveOBU@gmail.com is group's email account.  My personal email account is visible at the bottom of this page, I believe.

Happy Founders' Day!

Happy Founders' Day, everyone.

Today we celebrate the visionary Oklahoma Baptists who bequeathed our beloved OBU, as well as the men and women who have sustained it over all these years.  This year, we find ourselves in the midst of an ongoing -- but unusually active -- debate about who the true bearers and keepers of that age-old vision really are.  Maybe a brief reflection on OBU's Founders' Day Chapel and what it represents can shed some light.

In OBU's chapel service this morning, students forced to gather for worship heard from a distinguished alumnus and legendary Southern Baptist pastor, the Rev. John Bisagno.  He was most famously the pastor of FBC Houston, which grew to 25,000 under his leadership.  Less known is the fact that he was the first in a string of pastors from First Southern Del City who become prominent post-Takeover SBC figures.  Rev. Bisagno was by all accounts a creative and adaptive pastor, and has remained active in retirement.  OBU is right to give such a distinguished alumnus a platform from which to speak, and to hire him for its summer Pastors School.

What's less-known and mostly forgotten about Rev. Bisagno, though, is that he ended up playing a pivotal role in cementing the Fundamentalist Takeover of the SBC.  Takeover architects Paul Pressler and Paige Patterson knew it would only take 10 years of electing fundamentalist presidents to fully remake the SBC in their image.  By 1990, the transformation was all but complete.  As messengers prepared to assemble in New Orleans, moderates and traditional Baptists needed a miracle.  Unfortunately, it was not to come.  Rev. John Bisagno, who by most accounts had remained relatively neutral in the controversy that was tearing the SBC apart, announced his support for fundamentalist pastor Rev. Morris Chapman for the SBC presidency.  Chapman was elected with 57% of the vote, and the fundamentalists' decade old dream was cemented.  The victorious fundamentalists arrived by limousine to celebrate:

Following their massive and rather final defeat of the moderates, Paige Patterson and others went to the Café Du Monde in the French Quarter to celebrate their victory. Patterson and Pressler were given framed certificates honoring their achievements. The Convention parliamentarian, supposedly neutral and from another denomination, was present for the celebration, and even called it to order! When his presence at this meeting was challenged as inappropriate, he first explained that he was “just passing by, picking up an order of doughnuts.” When the challengers pointed out that the parliamentarian had actually been seen arriving at Café Du Monde in a limousine with the Convention president, he amended his story to say that he was on “24 hour call” and therefore obliged to accompany the President wherever he went. When one messenger tried to tell the story of what he had seen at Café Du Monde to the Convention the following day, he was deterred. Twice the President refused to recognize him and twice his microphone was turned off.^[122] Such abuse of the chair was common all during the Takeover.

I wonder if John Bisagno was present for the celebration.  Within a few years, the SBC seminaries, boards, and agencies became fundamentalist and millions of faithful Baptists were left in a denomination they no longer recognized.  Of course, no one can argue that Rev. Bisagno caused the Takeover.  But when he had an opportunity to slow its progress, he cast his lot with the fundamentalists.

Somehow I doubt he told that story in his talk (well he's male so I guess we can call it a sermon) today. But to the victors go the spoils, I guess, and OBU has done a marvelous job of using the Raley Chapel pulpit to give a platform to fundamentalist leaders and sympathizers.  We are not suggesting that fundamentalists not be invited to speak, but it would be nice to get some acknowledgement that their views are hardly representative of the student body and represent only a tiny fraction of the faculty.

The fundamentalists' march continued from the national level to the state conventions.  In Oklahoma, they marginalized moderates in every possible way.  OBU, however, remained an elusive takeover target.  Even after electing Rev. Dr. Mark Brister to the OBU presidency in 1998, fundamentalists knew they had their work cut out for them.  Brister, who had been an up-and-coming leader in the SBC's conservative resurgence, turned out to be a bit harder to control than the BGCO elites had anticipated.

But make no mistake, the BGCO has been cheering loudly for the very same changes we have been protesting.  In President Whitlock, the BGCO thinks they finally have their man.  And, obviously, preliminary evidence suggests they may be right.  Dr. Whitlock knows what the BGCO expected of him, but he knew he had to do it in a "winsome" way.  So when the winsome Whitlock brought on Stan Norman to do most of his dirty work for him, it seemed like the perfect plan.

Unfortunately for them, the vast OBU community was not willing to lay down and die so easily.  Hopefully, the trustees will not lay down easily, either.  Post-Takeover, institution boards have mostly rubber-stamped what the fundamentalist administrators wanted all along.  Yet we have seen that some Baptist schools refused to let the fundamentalists destroy their institutions.  And even now, trustees at one Baptist seminary are flexing their muscle (over managerial incompetence rather than ideology, apparently).

I'm sure that many fundamentalists see a direct line from OBU's founders to the Fundamentalist Takeover to the present-day erosion of academic freedom and hostility toward faculty.  We see a different story.  OBU founders built an institution that two generations of capable and visionary leaders molded into a proud liberal arts university.  Academic freedom and open inquiry were cherished values.  Baptist distinctives like soul competency, liberty of the conscience, and priesthood of the believer ruled the day.

We did not stray from our moorings.  Rather, the ground was pulled out from under us by fundamentalists who feared anything they could not control.  They launched slanderous personal attacks against Baptist academics.  They ridiculed and questioned the deep and abiding faith of people they did not even know (as some commenters on our Facebook page have recently done to us).  And they used the politics of fear and division to make themselves powerful and wealthy.  That Takeover movement, from which OBU was largely insulated for 20 years because of capable and devoted professors, administrators, and trustees, has now arrived on Bison Hill.

If we do nothing, if we remain silent, the radical transformation of OBU will continue apace.  We may lose this battle even in spite of our protests.  But we need to raise our voices, claim our rightful places as stakeholders in OBU's future, and stand firmly for the values that are presently threatened.  Who knows which professor will be forced out next?  Who knows what book will be tossed out of the curriculum?  Who knows what student or staff member will face retaliation for protesting?

Our little movement has grown quickly, and already we are having an impact.  The principals now now that the opposition is larger, better informed, and more vocal than they had anticipated.  Ideally, we will gain enough strength that administrators will realize they are better off siding with us than siding with the fundamentalists.  But in the meantime, it seems likely to me that we have them in a difficult position, probably facing pressure from both sides.  We can't offer them the same huge salaries, generous pensions, fancy retirement dinners, and plush post-retirement positions that the BGCO elites can offer them in return for their loyalty.  But fortunately we can offer them something more meaningful: being on the right side of history, standing for truth and justice over politics and power, championing the values that made OBU great, and holding fast to the vision and mission of OBU's founding.

God bless OBU!

P.S. If there is a recording of the OBU Chorale's performance today, I'd love to hear it!

Faculty Friday: Firing Professors a Favored Tactic among SBC Fundamentalists

OBU has seen its fair share of professors harrassed, marginalized, and even nudged into early retirment for not being fundamentalists.  This certainly happened in the early days of the Brister Administration, though I do not know if it happened much in the later years of his presidency.  Many of us thought academic freedom was under attack then -- how strange it seems now to look back at the early 2000s as the "good ol' days!"

As you probably know, OBU has only recently made it a practice to dismiss professors for ideological reasons.  As a private, religious instition, there is no recourse.  That's why it is important that we change the culture of the institution -- before even more outstanding, qualified, and dedicated Christian professors have their lives and careers disrupted in the coming years.

As a tactic of institutional warfare, firing academics for being insufficiently fundamentalist has a long and ugly history in Baptist politics.  Fundamentalists have been using this unilateral power for years.  First, they employed deplorable, unchristian tactics to fire seminary presidents.  Then, once they installed fundamentalists in administrative posts, they declared open season on moderate professors.

In 1994, Professor Molly Marshall, a distinguished and well-loved professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, was forced to resign.  Even though the faculty voted 44-8 in favor of a resolution opposing the action, newly-installed President Al Mohler used the dismissal to showcase his willingness to pervert his unilateral power to show SBC leaders that he was up to the task of making Southern a fundamentalist seminary, which he accomplished in fairly short order.  Today, Marshall is president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City.  Hopefully, we will have more to say about Professor Marshall's story.  Like many fine Baptist academics that the fundamentalists love to hate, she is an OBU graduate.

In 1999, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary fired Professors Alan Brehm and Dan Kent, who objected to signing off on the Baptist Faith and Message, which emphasized female submission.  (Five years earlier, Southwestern trustees fired the long-serving and well-loved President Russell Dilday for allegedly being a moderate.)  In 2001, two more professors lost their jobs for refusing to sign the newly-updated (and more conservative) Baptist Faith and Message.

While all these stories (and more) are very well known to people who followed the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC, the stories of professors forced out of colleges like OBU, run by the state conventions, and much more numerous.  OBU avoided these embarrassing headlines because of relatively moderate administration and a university culture committed to a balanced, Christian liberal arts education.  Frankly I'm surprised the recent firings did not generate media attention.

Thankfully, OBU's descent into ideological cleansing has generated enough anger and protest from faculty, students, and alumni that the administration will think twice before firing more professors.  However, make no mistake: there are professors the BGCO would like to see fired from OBU tomorrow.  Though we are all righteously angry about the absolutely shameful treatment some of our beloved professors and colleagues received (and the fact that faculty search committee recommendations are routinely ignored, thus allowing more fundamentalists to be hired), we have sent a signal that in the future, administrators should consider siding with us rather than siding with the BGCO.  The BGCO's fundamentalist dream for OBU is simply out of line with the OBU community's vision of itself as a proud inheritor of the very best in Christian liberal arts education.  Administrators can no longer servce both interests.  They have to choose.

Later in his presidency, Mark Brister finally realized that Dr. Anthony Jordan was not his boss.  Hopefully the current president will get the message before too many more professors lose their jobs.