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.
Showing posts with label Sunday School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunday School. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Sunday School: Yellowstone Baptist College
On Sundays, we often take a look at Baptist schools that have flourished after splitting from their fundamentalist-controlled state conventions. Already, we've profiled William Jewell College (MO), Stetson University (FL), and Furman University (SC). In the weeks to come, we'll take a look at Mercer and Wake Forest.
Today we take a break from the usual Sunday routine and investigate an altogether different phenomenon. At last week's Board of Trustees meeting, OBU announced that it is probably going to take over a struggling college in Montana. Please excuse me if this is common knowledge or has been in the works for a long time. Friday was the first I had heard of it. The relevant text from OBU's press release states:
As with the football program and expanding graduate programs, Save OBU is inclined to not take positions issues that are peripheral to our primary concern of protecting academic freedom and OBU's great liberal arts tradition. We are less interested in debating the pros and cons of rescuing an unaccredited fundamentalist Bible academy than in making sure OBU never becomes one.
YBC looks to be a an unaccredited, fundamentalist Bible academy. Not only is YBC unable to attain accreditation through mainstream accrediting bodies, it is not even a full member of the Association for Biblical Higher Education, a sham organization that "accredits" fundamentalist dumps and degree mills. If you think OBU is authoritarian, check out YBC's Code of Student Conduct. Also, like so many other Baptist colleges, YBC has turned its back on Baptist distinctives like liberty of the conscience and soul competency, having embraced creedalism through enforcing a "community covenant" that all faculty and students must sign.
My belief is that there are good reasons why these kinds of places go bankrupt. All YBC has going for it is its location in a spectacularly beautiful part of the country. (The campus itself is not so spectacular, as you can see.) It would be a neat place for summer programs, though. Couple that with OBU's sense that we can capitalize on the relative sparseness of Christian colleges in the Mountain West, and apparently we now have an attractive takeover target.
Again, our only concern is with OBU's fledgling commitment to academic freedom, open inquiry, and true liberal arts education. Given the horrible problems we've had maintaining those commitments lately, a lot of these peripheral issues like football programs, graduate degrees, and extension campuses seem like distractions from a mission OBU seems to be turning its back on. Given that YBC is already pretty far along the path administrators' seem so determined to take OBU down, we can't help but fear this takeover might be used as a chance to impose YBC norms on OBU rather than the other way around. And that would be truly disastrous.
Right now, confidence in OBU administration is at a low ebb, to put it mildly. The thought that we are going to consider "administrative operation" of a financially troubled, unaccredited college seems troubling. It makes me wonder if, even after everything students, alumni, and faculty have done to register their lack of confidence in current leaders' stewardship of our beloved OBU, they still aren't listening and don't realize just how widespread the discontent has become. Sure, the students and faculty in Billings, MT might be comfortable with the "new" OBU. But there are a lot of people on Bison Hill and around the world who want to see some acknowledgement that things have gotten off track and who need some reasons to believe things will be better from now on. Thus far, things seem to be getting worse, not better. And the YBC takeover cannot and will not change that widely-held perception.
All it tells me is that if we're so flush with cash that we can afford to bail out a failing college a thousand miles away, we truly don't need the BGCO's money. And we obviously don't need the horrendous strings attached to their annual institutional welfare check. Without those strings, literally none of the problems we've raised on this blog would exist. None.
Today we take a break from the usual Sunday routine and investigate an altogether different phenomenon. At last week's Board of Trustees meeting, OBU announced that it is probably going to take over a struggling college in Montana. Please excuse me if this is common knowledge or has been in the works for a long time. Friday was the first I had heard of it. The relevant text from OBU's press release states:
Trustees also unanimously approved “exploration of the viability of Yellowstone Baptist College becoming an extension of OBU.”
In his state-of-the-university report, OBU President David W. Whitlock told board members the university has been asked to consider administrative operation of the private college in Billings, Mont. Affiliated with the Montana Baptist Convention, Yellowstone Baptist College opened in 1974. The college has had a cooperating relationship with OBU since 1993, when the Yellowstone began offering OBU’s college-level Ministry Training Institute courses on its campus.
“We have continued to partner with them and provide support in offering a regionally accredited degree program,” Whitlock said. “As they look at the need to expand their course offerings, particularly in areas like business and education, and as they look at requirements for accreditation as a self-standing institution they realize they have a long road ahead unless they merge and become a part of the Oklahoma Baptist University system.”
With the trustees’ vote to explore the relationship, OBU will hire the consulting firm of Allen, Stewart and Agee to investigate the possible merger of educational entities.
“The consulting group has agreed to assign former OBU President Bob Agee to visit YBC with OBU administrators in February and consider whether or not to move forward with this,” Whitlock said. “There are a lot of wonderful opportunities for us to expand the mission of Christian higher education in the northwest United States.”
Whitlock told the trustees that if the schools enter into the agreement, the Montana college will be governed by the OBU board.
“There are some marvelous advantages” for OBU faculty and students to utilize Yellowstone Baptist College facilities for summer programs, Whitlock said.So, it looks like A) YBC is eventually going to close unless we rescue them and B) the decision has pretty much already been made. At this point, I wouldn't look to the consulting company to dissuade OBU from this venture. Its principal, former OBU President Bob Agee, was instrumental in paving the way for David Whitlock to become president of OBU (a political thriller for another day). His fine work in and writing about Christian higher education notwithstanding, many OBU faculty suspect Dr. Agee's involvement in convincing the BGCO that Dr. Whitlock could be counted on to advance a fundamentalist agenda at OBU is evidence that Agee is more comfortable with fundamentalism than we previously supposed.
As with the football program and expanding graduate programs, Save OBU is inclined to not take positions issues that are peripheral to our primary concern of protecting academic freedom and OBU's great liberal arts tradition. We are less interested in debating the pros and cons of rescuing an unaccredited fundamentalist Bible academy than in making sure OBU never becomes one.
YBC looks to be a an unaccredited, fundamentalist Bible academy. Not only is YBC unable to attain accreditation through mainstream accrediting bodies, it is not even a full member of the Association for Biblical Higher Education, a sham organization that "accredits" fundamentalist dumps and degree mills. If you think OBU is authoritarian, check out YBC's Code of Student Conduct. Also, like so many other Baptist colleges, YBC has turned its back on Baptist distinctives like liberty of the conscience and soul competency, having embraced creedalism through enforcing a "community covenant" that all faculty and students must sign.
My belief is that there are good reasons why these kinds of places go bankrupt. All YBC has going for it is its location in a spectacularly beautiful part of the country. (The campus itself is not so spectacular, as you can see.) It would be a neat place for summer programs, though. Couple that with OBU's sense that we can capitalize on the relative sparseness of Christian colleges in the Mountain West, and apparently we now have an attractive takeover target.
Again, our only concern is with OBU's fledgling commitment to academic freedom, open inquiry, and true liberal arts education. Given the horrible problems we've had maintaining those commitments lately, a lot of these peripheral issues like football programs, graduate degrees, and extension campuses seem like distractions from a mission OBU seems to be turning its back on. Given that YBC is already pretty far along the path administrators' seem so determined to take OBU down, we can't help but fear this takeover might be used as a chance to impose YBC norms on OBU rather than the other way around. And that would be truly disastrous.
Right now, confidence in OBU administration is at a low ebb, to put it mildly. The thought that we are going to consider "administrative operation" of a financially troubled, unaccredited college seems troubling. It makes me wonder if, even after everything students, alumni, and faculty have done to register their lack of confidence in current leaders' stewardship of our beloved OBU, they still aren't listening and don't realize just how widespread the discontent has become. Sure, the students and faculty in Billings, MT might be comfortable with the "new" OBU. But there are a lot of people on Bison Hill and around the world who want to see some acknowledgement that things have gotten off track and who need some reasons to believe things will be better from now on. Thus far, things seem to be getting worse, not better. And the YBC takeover cannot and will not change that widely-held perception.
All it tells me is that if we're so flush with cash that we can afford to bail out a failing college a thousand miles away, we truly don't need the BGCO's money. And we obviously don't need the horrendous strings attached to their annual institutional welfare check. Without those strings, literally none of the problems we've raised on this blog would exist. None.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sunday School: Things Can Get Worse
A Word to New Visitors and Supporters
Welcome, friends! According to our internal analytics, there's a good chance you're new to the Save OBU website. In the past week, we have had hundreds of first-time visitors. Web traffic in Shawnee will spike dramatically as students return for the beginning of the spring semester on Monday. When we introduced Save OBU in December, students were studying for finals and most have been away from Bison Hill for the past 5 weeks. Unless the administration has blocked this website, students will have access to weeks' worth of information this blog has presented. Their legitimate questions and concerns have been rebuffed before, but a critical mass is building.
In the coming months, administrators will have to decide which vision of OBU they support and where their loyalties lie. They can cast their lots with the fundamentalists who control the BGCO (and the $2.5 million in annual funding they provide in exchange for dismissing moderate professors, gutting core curriculum areas, ignoring faculty norms, etc). Or, they can side with the students, parents, faculty, and alumni who believe in academic freedom, open inquiry, and OBU's proud liberal arts heritage. It is already becoming obvious that the two visions for OBU are not compatible. As Christ himself says, "No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24). During that time, students can begin a real conversation on campus about the nature and future of OBU. We are confident they will conclude that all the recent negative changes are an affront to, not an embodiment of, OBU's true nature.
Sunday School Feature
In previous weeks, we have devoted Sundays to telling stories of some fine Baptist schools that have ended their relationships with their state conventions (William Jewell College, Stetson University, and Furman University). Without exception, these universities have flourished since they rid themselves of fundamentalist control. Likewise, the state conventions are much better off, being relieved of a significant financial burden and able to dramatically expand other, more fruitful, ministry and mission opportunities. The splits were painful, but they became necessary as the state conventions came under fundamentalist control over the past three decades.
For most of that time, OBU has managed to walk the fine line between the needs of its academic constituency and the demands of BGCO leaders. But in recent years, the fundamentalist elites began demanding radical changes on Bison Hill. Administrators can no longer protect each side's interests. It's not the administrators' faults. Rather, they are in an impossible situation. Ultimately, they will have to make a choice. If you've been paying even scant attention to the changes on Bison Hill these past two years, you probably believe they have already made the choice to side with the fundamentalists. But one of the reasons Save OBU exists is to publicly show administrators that students, parents, alumni, and faculty are ready to raise an army to support them if they courageously stand up to the BGCO's agenda.
In the three cases linked above, presidents and trustees sided with the schools' true constituencies (students, parents, alumni, faculty) and true values (academic freedom, soul competency, liberty of the conscience). They resisted the fundamentalists' agenda for their beloved institutions. There are other Baptist schools that have done likewise and achieved greatness (e.g. Mercer, Baylor, and Wake Forest).
But we need to realistically assess where we are in this fight. In addition to dreaming about what might be possible if we end fundamentalist control, we need to prepare for the nightmare of remaining under it. Frankly, the nightmare scenario seems more likely at this point.
This link lists the 56 Southern Baptist colleges. More precisely, 51 of them are affiliated with state conventions that maintain cooperative relationships with the SBC. Five of them are undergraduate programs at SBC seminaries. Fortunately, OBU is generally believed to be one of the best Baptist schools in America (though remember that many of the best schools have already left their state conventions). But many of the schools on it shows what a nightmare scenario might look like.
We've already looked briefly at the disastrous consequences of fundamentalism at Louisiana College and Shorter University. These schools have experienced faculty departures by the dozens, horrible governance problems, and financial difficulties. Continuing accreditation looks doubtful. We probably need to look more closely at these cases, as well as other avowedly fundamentalist schools. In addition, we need to examine the cases of schools where the academic constituency declined to fight (or fought unsuccessfully) against fundamentalist takeover factions.
For years, OBU was in the fortunate position of being able to maintain the status quo even in the throes of the Fundamentalist Takeover. But that is no longer possible. If we do nothing, the fundamentalists are going to lead OBU off a cliff. We will become another nominally-accredited fundamentalist Bible academy, one of many in Baptist life. If we fight, at least OBU has a chance to survive as a leading Christian liberal arts college. As one retired professor wisely noted, "We might lose this struggle, but it's not one I would want to lose easily."
Welcome, friends! According to our internal analytics, there's a good chance you're new to the Save OBU website. In the past week, we have had hundreds of first-time visitors. Web traffic in Shawnee will spike dramatically as students return for the beginning of the spring semester on Monday. When we introduced Save OBU in December, students were studying for finals and most have been away from Bison Hill for the past 5 weeks. Unless the administration has blocked this website, students will have access to weeks' worth of information this blog has presented. Their legitimate questions and concerns have been rebuffed before, but a critical mass is building.
In the coming months, administrators will have to decide which vision of OBU they support and where their loyalties lie. They can cast their lots with the fundamentalists who control the BGCO (and the $2.5 million in annual funding they provide in exchange for dismissing moderate professors, gutting core curriculum areas, ignoring faculty norms, etc). Or, they can side with the students, parents, faculty, and alumni who believe in academic freedom, open inquiry, and OBU's proud liberal arts heritage. It is already becoming obvious that the two visions for OBU are not compatible. As Christ himself says, "No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24). During that time, students can begin a real conversation on campus about the nature and future of OBU. We are confident they will conclude that all the recent negative changes are an affront to, not an embodiment of, OBU's true nature.
Sunday School Feature
In previous weeks, we have devoted Sundays to telling stories of some fine Baptist schools that have ended their relationships with their state conventions (William Jewell College, Stetson University, and Furman University). Without exception, these universities have flourished since they rid themselves of fundamentalist control. Likewise, the state conventions are much better off, being relieved of a significant financial burden and able to dramatically expand other, more fruitful, ministry and mission opportunities. The splits were painful, but they became necessary as the state conventions came under fundamentalist control over the past three decades.
For most of that time, OBU has managed to walk the fine line between the needs of its academic constituency and the demands of BGCO leaders. But in recent years, the fundamentalist elites began demanding radical changes on Bison Hill. Administrators can no longer protect each side's interests. It's not the administrators' faults. Rather, they are in an impossible situation. Ultimately, they will have to make a choice. If you've been paying even scant attention to the changes on Bison Hill these past two years, you probably believe they have already made the choice to side with the fundamentalists. But one of the reasons Save OBU exists is to publicly show administrators that students, parents, alumni, and faculty are ready to raise an army to support them if they courageously stand up to the BGCO's agenda.
In the three cases linked above, presidents and trustees sided with the schools' true constituencies (students, parents, alumni, faculty) and true values (academic freedom, soul competency, liberty of the conscience). They resisted the fundamentalists' agenda for their beloved institutions. There are other Baptist schools that have done likewise and achieved greatness (e.g. Mercer, Baylor, and Wake Forest).
But we need to realistically assess where we are in this fight. In addition to dreaming about what might be possible if we end fundamentalist control, we need to prepare for the nightmare of remaining under it. Frankly, the nightmare scenario seems more likely at this point.
This link lists the 56 Southern Baptist colleges. More precisely, 51 of them are affiliated with state conventions that maintain cooperative relationships with the SBC. Five of them are undergraduate programs at SBC seminaries. Fortunately, OBU is generally believed to be one of the best Baptist schools in America (though remember that many of the best schools have already left their state conventions). But many of the schools on it shows what a nightmare scenario might look like.
We've already looked briefly at the disastrous consequences of fundamentalism at Louisiana College and Shorter University. These schools have experienced faculty departures by the dozens, horrible governance problems, and financial difficulties. Continuing accreditation looks doubtful. We probably need to look more closely at these cases, as well as other avowedly fundamentalist schools. In addition, we need to examine the cases of schools where the academic constituency declined to fight (or fought unsuccessfully) against fundamentalist takeover factions.
For years, OBU was in the fortunate position of being able to maintain the status quo even in the throes of the Fundamentalist Takeover. But that is no longer possible. If we do nothing, the fundamentalists are going to lead OBU off a cliff. We will become another nominally-accredited fundamentalist Bible academy, one of many in Baptist life. If we fight, at least OBU has a chance to survive as a leading Christian liberal arts college. As one retired professor wisely noted, "We might lose this struggle, but it's not one I would want to lose easily."
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Sunday School: Furman University
Happy Sunday! Thank you for taking a moment to visit the Save OBU blog and read our "Sunday School" feature. Every Sunday, we tell the story of how a Baptist university attained independence from its fundamentalist state convention. Today's Sunday School post tells the story of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Story
Furman's predecessor institution dates to 1826, but was renamed for Richard Furman of Charleston, S.C., the president of the first Baptist convention in the U.S., in 1850. The current campus, built in the late 1950s in Greenvile, S.C., is widely cited as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the U.S. Furman is a beneficiary of the Duke Endowment, having received more than $100 million since the 1920s. Of course, Furman was also affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, which contributed a $1.6 million annual subsidy until 1991.
In the 1980s, Furman administrators and trustees became concerned about fundamentalists taking over the Southern Baptist Convention's boards and seminaries. As the fundamentalist takeover moved to state conventions and the SCBC started electing fundamentalist activists to the Furman Board of Trustees, administrators and trustees knew they had to act. Fortunately, they got an early start. By 1990, only six of the 25 board members were fundamentalists. In 1990, Furman trustees amended the schools charter, giving itself the sole right to elect trustees. Previously, they had been elected by the SCBC. Over the next 18 months, an ugly battle ensued. You should read this brief summary. Furman trustees and administrators offered many concessions, but fundamentalist pastors and state convention leaders fought hard, even preparing to take legal action. In early 1992, a special committee of the SCBC decided it would not use convention funds to sue Furman, and in May 1992 SCBC messengers ended the convention's financial and legal relationship to Furman in a vote by a show of hands.
The Aftermath
As is always the case after Baptist colleges and state conventions part ways, both entities are far better off now. Furman has expanded its mission and profile while remaining true the highest ideals of liberal arts education. It has dramatically improved its position in national college rankings. In fact, in recent years more Furman alumni have gone on to Ph.D. studies than students from any other college in the South. By every conceivable measure, Furman is significantly better off without the fundamentalist South Carolina Baptist Convention attempting to do continual and irreparable harm to its academic programs.
The SCBC, likewise, is free of a significant administrative and institutional burden. It still controls three fundamentalist colleges in the state: Charleston Southern, Anderson, and North Greenville. In the aftermath of the Furman split, the SCBC had somewhat more financial leeway to support its three remaining fundamentalist colleges, as well as bolster collegiate ministries at several dozen other colleges and universities in South Carolina. (However, in 2010, the SCBC reduced its funding to the three colleges in order to send more SCBC money to the International Mission Board.
Each entity is happier and better positioned to reach its goals, as both Furman and the SCBC readily acknowledge. Far from becoming a liberal, secular university, Furman remains proud of its Baptist heritage:
Lessons Learned
Furman was lucky to have leaders in the 1980s who saw the fundamentalist takeover for what it was: a political power grab designed to handicap, then control, then subject once proud institutions. Determined not to let that happen, Furman trustees saw the writing on the wall and made the first move.
For many years at OBU, trustees probably did not have to worry much about the fundamentalist takeover because we had administrators who stood up for academic freedom. That dynamic has dramatically eroded in the past 10-15 years, obviously. While we still have a good faculty that does what it can, we seem to have administrators that have a higher loyalty to BGCO elites. If this is indeed the case, we desperately need trustees to take notice and realize that they may be our last, best vanguards for academic freedom, free inquiry, and OBU's proud liberal arts tradition.
Hopefully, we can begin to strategize in the coming months with trustees who do not want to be complicit in OBU's implosion. They should be encouraged to study the cases of these other Baptist schools and determine what actions they might take. At a minimum, they need to take a more active role in trustee succession. If the BGCO is left completely to its own devices, the fundamentalist takeover of OBU will continue apace.
Yet again, we see a split between a moderate school and a fundamentalist state convention that did not cost presidents and administrators their jobs. We stand ready to lend extraordinary support to President Whitlock if he can provide leadership for OBU as it charts its own course apart from the BGCO's fundamentalist designs. He could be a towering figure in OBU history -- and in Baptist higher education more broadly. Or he could be just one more in a series of BGCO puppet presidents who accede to the BGCO's apparent desire to destroy everything great about OBU. It's his choice, really. Furman President John E. Johns, who had been at Stetson previously, capably and admirably led Furman through the split. He died in 2007.
Furman is a great example for OBU in many ways. OBU's insulation from the fundamentalist takeover of Southern Baptist life is over. We are going to change -- one way or the other. The South Carolina Baptist Convention case is illustrative of our choices. We can either become more like the fundamentalist and increasingly irrelevant schools the SCBC still controls, or we can become more like Furman.
(This is the third in a series of articles about Baptist colleges that have altered or ended their relationships with state conventions. See the previous articles on William Jewell College and Stetson University.)
The Story
Furman's predecessor institution dates to 1826, but was renamed for Richard Furman of Charleston, S.C., the president of the first Baptist convention in the U.S., in 1850. The current campus, built in the late 1950s in Greenvile, S.C., is widely cited as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the U.S. Furman is a beneficiary of the Duke Endowment, having received more than $100 million since the 1920s. Of course, Furman was also affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, which contributed a $1.6 million annual subsidy until 1991.
In the 1980s, Furman administrators and trustees became concerned about fundamentalists taking over the Southern Baptist Convention's boards and seminaries. As the fundamentalist takeover moved to state conventions and the SCBC started electing fundamentalist activists to the Furman Board of Trustees, administrators and trustees knew they had to act. Fortunately, they got an early start. By 1990, only six of the 25 board members were fundamentalists. In 1990, Furman trustees amended the schools charter, giving itself the sole right to elect trustees. Previously, they had been elected by the SCBC. Over the next 18 months, an ugly battle ensued. You should read this brief summary. Furman trustees and administrators offered many concessions, but fundamentalist pastors and state convention leaders fought hard, even preparing to take legal action. In early 1992, a special committee of the SCBC decided it would not use convention funds to sue Furman, and in May 1992 SCBC messengers ended the convention's financial and legal relationship to Furman in a vote by a show of hands.
The Aftermath
As is always the case after Baptist colleges and state conventions part ways, both entities are far better off now. Furman has expanded its mission and profile while remaining true the highest ideals of liberal arts education. It has dramatically improved its position in national college rankings. In fact, in recent years more Furman alumni have gone on to Ph.D. studies than students from any other college in the South. By every conceivable measure, Furman is significantly better off without the fundamentalist South Carolina Baptist Convention attempting to do continual and irreparable harm to its academic programs.
The SCBC, likewise, is free of a significant administrative and institutional burden. It still controls three fundamentalist colleges in the state: Charleston Southern, Anderson, and North Greenville. In the aftermath of the Furman split, the SCBC had somewhat more financial leeway to support its three remaining fundamentalist colleges, as well as bolster collegiate ministries at several dozen other colleges and universities in South Carolina. (However, in 2010, the SCBC reduced its funding to the three colleges in order to send more SCBC money to the International Mission Board.
Each entity is happier and better positioned to reach its goals, as both Furman and the SCBC readily acknowledge. Far from becoming a liberal, secular university, Furman remains proud of its Baptist heritage:
Furman's heritage is rooted in the non-creedal, free church Baptist tradition which has always valued particular religious commitments while insisting not only on the freedom of the individual to believe as he or she sees fit but also on respect for a diversity of religious perspectives, including the perspective of the non-religious person. This heritage has always maintained that the religious journey has both a private and public dimension and is a lifelong undertaking that cannot be tied to doctrinal propositions.And, unsurprisingly, Baptist life is still surprisingly vibrant at Furman. The Baptist Collegiate Ministry is the largest student group on campus.
Furman recognizes its responsibility both in and out of the classroom to encourage students and faculty to confront the problems of contemporary society and to exercise moral judgment in the use of knowledge. To this end, Furman fosters a sense of social justice and encourages civic responsibility in creating a fair and equitable order. The Latin motto of the university, Christo et Doctrinae (For Christ and Learning), underlines the interrelationship of faith and learning. The university is committed to the education of the whole person.
Lessons Learned
Furman was lucky to have leaders in the 1980s who saw the fundamentalist takeover for what it was: a political power grab designed to handicap, then control, then subject once proud institutions. Determined not to let that happen, Furman trustees saw the writing on the wall and made the first move.
For many years at OBU, trustees probably did not have to worry much about the fundamentalist takeover because we had administrators who stood up for academic freedom. That dynamic has dramatically eroded in the past 10-15 years, obviously. While we still have a good faculty that does what it can, we seem to have administrators that have a higher loyalty to BGCO elites. If this is indeed the case, we desperately need trustees to take notice and realize that they may be our last, best vanguards for academic freedom, free inquiry, and OBU's proud liberal arts tradition.
Hopefully, we can begin to strategize in the coming months with trustees who do not want to be complicit in OBU's implosion. They should be encouraged to study the cases of these other Baptist schools and determine what actions they might take. At a minimum, they need to take a more active role in trustee succession. If the BGCO is left completely to its own devices, the fundamentalist takeover of OBU will continue apace.
Yet again, we see a split between a moderate school and a fundamentalist state convention that did not cost presidents and administrators their jobs. We stand ready to lend extraordinary support to President Whitlock if he can provide leadership for OBU as it charts its own course apart from the BGCO's fundamentalist designs. He could be a towering figure in OBU history -- and in Baptist higher education more broadly. Or he could be just one more in a series of BGCO puppet presidents who accede to the BGCO's apparent desire to destroy everything great about OBU. It's his choice, really. Furman President John E. Johns, who had been at Stetson previously, capably and admirably led Furman through the split. He died in 2007.
Furman is a great example for OBU in many ways. OBU's insulation from the fundamentalist takeover of Southern Baptist life is over. We are going to change -- one way or the other. The South Carolina Baptist Convention case is illustrative of our choices. We can either become more like the fundamentalist and increasingly irrelevant schools the SCBC still controls, or we can become more like Furman.
(This is the third in a series of articles about Baptist colleges that have altered or ended their relationships with state conventions. See the previous articles on William Jewell College and Stetson University.)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday School: Stetson University
Happy new year, friends! Thank you for taking a moment to visit the Save OBU blog and read our "Sunday School" feature. Every Sunday, we tell the story of how a Baptist university attained independence from its fundamentalist state convention. Today's Sunday School post tells the story of Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.
The Story
Founded in the 1880s, Stetson is one of the oldest private colleges in Florida. Almost right from the start, Stetson was a case study for Baptists in how not to run a university. Unlike more stringently-controlled Baptist schools (where the convention elects university trustees), Stetson's board of trustees was set up to be self-perpetuating.
The relationship between Stetson and the Florida Baptist Convention was mostly cordial, but became tense by the 1950s. Convention leaders expressed concern about the presence of fraternities (of which my own grandfather was a member) and sororities on a Christian campus, accepting federal aid, and the trustee succession arrangement. The school advocated a "student responsibility based development model" versus the more authoritarian in loco parentis model. In the early 1960s, the FBC issued a report on Stetson-FBC relations that argued for more accountability to the convention, doctrinally and otherwise. Also in the 1960s, the university dropped its compulsory chapel attendance policy.
As with other state conventions, the FBC experienced a fundamentalist takeover similar to what the national denomination experienced in the 1980s. A continuing partnership was narrowly upheld at the 1991 meeting of the Florida Baptist Convention, but ultimately the FBC would not tolerate a true liberal arts university that it could not fully control. (Meanwhile, the FBC had already established two other colleges in Florida.)
The split, which had been brewing for years, became official in 1995. Stetson had decided that it would allow students (of legal age) to consume alcohol at some campus functions. The FBC also had concerns over textbook content and how best to regulate students' sex lives. The split was amicable, with Stetson returning a half-million dollar endowment to the convention.
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. Stetson has expanded its mission and profile while remaining true the highest ideals of liberal arts education. It has dramatically improved its position in national college rankings. By every conceivable measure -- objective or otherwise -- Stetson is significantly better off without the fundamentalist Florida Baptist Convention attempting to meddle in its affairs.
The FBC, likewise, is free of a significant administrative and institutional burden. It has retained control over the fundamentalist Baptist College of Florida in Graceville, an institution much more in line with its mission and worldview, and to which it contributes nearly $2 million in annual support.
Free from its tense and reluctant suport of Stetson, Florida Baptists have expanded their commitment to minister in the mission field represented by Florida's one million college students.
Each entity is happier and better positioned to reach its goals, as both Stetson and the FBC readily acknowledged before, during, and after the split.
Lessons Learned
As always, the biggest problem for OBU is that the BGCO owns the property and elects the trustees. Our route to independence is going to be more difficult than the Stetson-FBC split. Stetson had already offended FBC fundamentalists long before the split finally occurred. It was much less authoritarian with respect to compulsory worship and regulating young adults' lives than OBU is. Stetson was also much less dependent on convention funds than OBU. So the story was more about a fundamentalist convention kicking out a "fallen" university than a still-conservative college needing independence from a fundamentalist convention in order to escape its own descent into fundamentalism.
But unlike the case of William Jewell College, where the split was contentious, Stetson offers evidence that it need not be. Stetson's leaders and Florida Baptists simply acknowledged an obvious fact: Stetson's commitment to liberal arts education, academic freedom, soul competency, and the liberty of the conscience was no longer compatible with the FBC's ever more fundamentalist vision. Leaders of each entity plainly said, "This is who we are. This is who they are." Anyone who looks even an inch between the surface of the OBU-BGCO relationship would have to conclude the same thing. Whereas Stetson actually did move to the left culturally while the FBC moved dramatically to the right, OBU has moved slightly to the right while the BGCO has moved dramatically. The distance is not as great, but it is still significant enough that OBU cannot be what it needs to be as long as the BGCO is in control.
Another thing Florida Baptists had that Oklahoma Baptists do not are other institutions. Florida Baptists have the evangelical Palm Beach Atlantic University as well as the fundamentalist Baptist College of Florida. So even after "losing" Stetson, they still had the ability to incorporate "higher education" into their mission. The BGCO only has OBU. So the stakes may seem higher. This is why the BGCO might be inclined to consider what other post-secondary institutions it might want to establish, take over, or control before it relinquishes control of OBU. (This institute might be a good candidate, thought it might be too fundamentalist even for the BGCO, if you can believe that.)
The parallels between Stetson and OBU are not perfect. But the fact that each is so much happier now should be reason enough for OBU and the BGCO to consider that they, too, would be better off without each other. Also, even in spite of recent changes on Bison Hill, Oklahoma Baptists still might consider OBU to be too liberal -- just as Florida Baptists felt about Stetson. Sure, OBU still forces students to attend worship and forbids them from drinking alcohol, but OBU has its fair share of apostates and heretics (at least as far as the BGCO is concerned). We really need to apply pressure from both sides: OBU thinks the BGCO has become so fundamentalist that it can no longer maintain a liberal arts college with integrity and Oklahoma Baptists need to realize that OBU is invariably too liberal for their fundamentalist tastes.
Happy new year to all! 2012 won't be the year OBU is finally freed from the burden of bowing to Baptist Building elites. But maybe not too many years down the road we'll have what we so desperately seek: a university free from fundamentalist control.
(This is the second in a series of articles about Baptist colleges that have altered or ended their relationships with state conventions. See the previous article on William Jewell College.)
The Story
Founded in the 1880s, Stetson is one of the oldest private colleges in Florida. Almost right from the start, Stetson was a case study for Baptists in how not to run a university. Unlike more stringently-controlled Baptist schools (where the convention elects university trustees), Stetson's board of trustees was set up to be self-perpetuating.
The relationship between Stetson and the Florida Baptist Convention was mostly cordial, but became tense by the 1950s. Convention leaders expressed concern about the presence of fraternities (of which my own grandfather was a member) and sororities on a Christian campus, accepting federal aid, and the trustee succession arrangement. The school advocated a "student responsibility based development model" versus the more authoritarian in loco parentis model. In the early 1960s, the FBC issued a report on Stetson-FBC relations that argued for more accountability to the convention, doctrinally and otherwise. Also in the 1960s, the university dropped its compulsory chapel attendance policy.
As with other state conventions, the FBC experienced a fundamentalist takeover similar to what the national denomination experienced in the 1980s. A continuing partnership was narrowly upheld at the 1991 meeting of the Florida Baptist Convention, but ultimately the FBC would not tolerate a true liberal arts university that it could not fully control. (Meanwhile, the FBC had already established two other colleges in Florida.)
The split, which had been brewing for years, became official in 1995. Stetson had decided that it would allow students (of legal age) to consume alcohol at some campus functions. The FBC also had concerns over textbook content and how best to regulate students' sex lives. The split was amicable, with Stetson returning a half-million dollar endowment to the convention.
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. Stetson has expanded its mission and profile while remaining true the highest ideals of liberal arts education. It has dramatically improved its position in national college rankings. By every conceivable measure -- objective or otherwise -- Stetson is significantly better off without the fundamentalist Florida Baptist Convention attempting to meddle in its affairs.
The FBC, likewise, is free of a significant administrative and institutional burden. It has retained control over the fundamentalist Baptist College of Florida in Graceville, an institution much more in line with its mission and worldview, and to which it contributes nearly $2 million in annual support.
Free from its tense and reluctant suport of Stetson, Florida Baptists have expanded their commitment to minister in the mission field represented by Florida's one million college students.
Each entity is happier and better positioned to reach its goals, as both Stetson and the FBC readily acknowledged before, during, and after the split.
Lessons Learned
As always, the biggest problem for OBU is that the BGCO owns the property and elects the trustees. Our route to independence is going to be more difficult than the Stetson-FBC split. Stetson had already offended FBC fundamentalists long before the split finally occurred. It was much less authoritarian with respect to compulsory worship and regulating young adults' lives than OBU is. Stetson was also much less dependent on convention funds than OBU. So the story was more about a fundamentalist convention kicking out a "fallen" university than a still-conservative college needing independence from a fundamentalist convention in order to escape its own descent into fundamentalism.
But unlike the case of William Jewell College, where the split was contentious, Stetson offers evidence that it need not be. Stetson's leaders and Florida Baptists simply acknowledged an obvious fact: Stetson's commitment to liberal arts education, academic freedom, soul competency, and the liberty of the conscience was no longer compatible with the FBC's ever more fundamentalist vision. Leaders of each entity plainly said, "This is who we are. This is who they are." Anyone who looks even an inch between the surface of the OBU-BGCO relationship would have to conclude the same thing. Whereas Stetson actually did move to the left culturally while the FBC moved dramatically to the right, OBU has moved slightly to the right while the BGCO has moved dramatically. The distance is not as great, but it is still significant enough that OBU cannot be what it needs to be as long as the BGCO is in control.
Another thing Florida Baptists had that Oklahoma Baptists do not are other institutions. Florida Baptists have the evangelical Palm Beach Atlantic University as well as the fundamentalist Baptist College of Florida. So even after "losing" Stetson, they still had the ability to incorporate "higher education" into their mission. The BGCO only has OBU. So the stakes may seem higher. This is why the BGCO might be inclined to consider what other post-secondary institutions it might want to establish, take over, or control before it relinquishes control of OBU. (This institute might be a good candidate, thought it might be too fundamentalist even for the BGCO, if you can believe that.)
The parallels between Stetson and OBU are not perfect. But the fact that each is so much happier now should be reason enough for OBU and the BGCO to consider that they, too, would be better off without each other. Also, even in spite of recent changes on Bison Hill, Oklahoma Baptists still might consider OBU to be too liberal -- just as Florida Baptists felt about Stetson. Sure, OBU still forces students to attend worship and forbids them from drinking alcohol, but OBU has its fair share of apostates and heretics (at least as far as the BGCO is concerned). We really need to apply pressure from both sides: OBU thinks the BGCO has become so fundamentalist that it can no longer maintain a liberal arts college with integrity and Oklahoma Baptists need to realize that OBU is invariably too liberal for their fundamentalist tastes.
Happy new year to all! 2012 won't be the year OBU is finally freed from the burden of bowing to Baptist Building elites. But maybe not too many years down the road we'll have what we so desperately seek: a university free from fundamentalist control.
(This is the second in a series of articles about Baptist colleges that have altered or ended their relationships with state conventions. See the previous article on William Jewell College.)
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.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Sunday Schools
Our first weekly feature on the blog was "Money Mondays." Every Monday, we take a look at the financial implications of the OBU-BGCO relationship and reveal what a raw deal it is for all involved.
The newest weekly feature will be "Sunday Schools." Beginning next week, we will look at other Baptist colleges and universities that have severed ties with their increasingly fundamentalist state conventions. From big name schools like Baylor, all the way to relatively more obscure schools like Stetson (in my native Florida, and my grandfather's alma mater), we will look at the how these Baptist institutions have altered the terms of their relationships with their state conventions.
Just last week, I first heard the story of how William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri gained independence from the Missouri Baptist state convention. It's a pretty inspiring tale, and so I might begin with William Jewell next week. This will require a lot of research on my part, and it's a near certainty that some of our readers know these stories intimately from their own experience. So if you are particularly knowledgeable in the institutional history of a Baptist school that split from its state convention, please let me know. I would love for you to write a guest post for this blog.
Until next week, just bear in mind that many Baptist colleges have been where we are: handicapped by an ever more fundamentalist state convention and beholden to the convention's finances. Even though some of the splits were very contentious and all were painful in some way, without exception the schools and the Baptist state conventions are much better off without each other today. So it will be with OBU and the BGCO. But we have to spread the word. Please share this blog with all your non-fundamentalist friends, classmates, and fellow alumni. Beginning next spring, we will make our voices heard.
The newest weekly feature will be "Sunday Schools." Beginning next week, we will look at other Baptist colleges and universities that have severed ties with their increasingly fundamentalist state conventions. From big name schools like Baylor, all the way to relatively more obscure schools like Stetson (in my native Florida, and my grandfather's alma mater), we will look at the how these Baptist institutions have altered the terms of their relationships with their state conventions.
Just last week, I first heard the story of how William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri gained independence from the Missouri Baptist state convention. It's a pretty inspiring tale, and so I might begin with William Jewell next week. This will require a lot of research on my part, and it's a near certainty that some of our readers know these stories intimately from their own experience. So if you are particularly knowledgeable in the institutional history of a Baptist school that split from its state convention, please let me know. I would love for you to write a guest post for this blog.
Until next week, just bear in mind that many Baptist colleges have been where we are: handicapped by an ever more fundamentalist state convention and beholden to the convention's finances. Even though some of the splits were very contentious and all were painful in some way, without exception the schools and the Baptist state conventions are much better off without each other today. So it will be with OBU and the BGCO. But we have to spread the word. Please share this blog with all your non-fundamentalist friends, classmates, and fellow alumni. Beginning next spring, we will make our voices heard.
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