Four Faculty Inducted into Hall of Fame at Homecoming Chapel

Last weekend, hundreds of alumni descended on Shawnee to celebrate Homecoming on Bison Hill. Among the throngs were many of my friends from OBU. I went to Homecoming last year, capping a year of sustained activism, listening, learning and blogging about my alma mater's deliberate and decisive rejection of the relatively more moderate faculty and administrators who throughout the 20th century turned OBU into a first-rate Christian liberal arts university.

This year, with my work and child care responsibilities, it was simply not possible for me to travel from Washington to attend.

I was glad to see the list of four professors emeritus/a (living and deceased) who were inducted into the Faculty Hall of Fame during the Homecoming Chapel service on Saturday morning.

I'm grateful to the administrators who assisted in making the presentations, especially those for whom it must have been particularly painful and difficult to smile and say nice things about professors they would do everything in their power to avoid hiring at OBU today.

Professor Opal Frazier Craig taught speech at OBU during the Raley, Scales, and Cothen years.  A former student noted that Craig's influence "still permeates pulpits around the globe."  Professor Craig taught students to "converse from the stage or the pulpit in a manner that would persuade rather than preach."  Imagine how disappointed certain people must be to learn that a woman taught hundreds of men (and a few women) a thing or two about preaching!

The Reverend Dr. Dick Rader was the dean of religion and ministry while I was at OBU.  He died shortly after I graduated in 2002 following a difficult, yearlong battle with cancer.  I remember Rader as a traditional Baptist conservative, but not as a fundamentalist.  I met with him in an "exit interview" process to discuss my plans for graduate study.  During that meeting, he was very gracious and encouraging.  He did not seem distraught that I would be asking OBU religion professors to write letters of recommendation to a seminary that was very different from OBU.  Several recent OBU graduates have reported that their exit interview with the incumbent dean does not go as well as what I experienced.  Some of you will no doubt argue this point, but I won't claim definitively that it would be impossible for Dick Rader to be hired at OBU today.  I'll just say that, if he interviewed for the Hobbs College deanship, there would obviously be candidates who are more in step with today's SBC and BGCO elite leadership.  Dick Rader's experience and wisdom would be rejected in favor of a true believer and foot-soldier in ideological battles he had little interest in waging.  Rader was apolitical, and these days a first-tier candidate has to whole-heartedly endorse the fundamentalist agenda.

After two decades in parish ministry, the Reverend Dr. C. Mack Roark held administrative and teaching positions at OBU over a span of nearly 25 years.  During his tenure, Roark, like all of his School of Christian Service colleagues, frequently taught in Oklahoma Baptist churches and served interim pastorates around the state.  Though there is no reason why he would remember me, Dr. Roark's influence was profound.  He made me want to be a better Bible student, a better Christian, and a better man.  I personally witnessed him gently and patiently teach students who had been taught what to believe about the Bible but who had never been encouraged to study it.  Tragically, Mack Roark would be rejected as an applicant for a position at OBU in favor of a post-Takeover fundamentalist who takes the Bible literally, not seriously.  Due to the unpardonable sin of preaching and teaching in churches affiliated with the moderate Cooperating Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma, OBU Dean BGCO Executive Director-Treasurer Anthony Jordan would personally intervene to block Roark's appointment today.  Sad but true.  As many of you know, Dr. Roark is the epitome of the Christian teacher-scholar-pastor.  I would have loved to have been there to see him receive this honor, as he is one of the best teachers I ever had at any level.

Professor Mary White Johnson taught at OBU for 44 years.  She was part of inaugural faculty for the nursing program.  Johnson received OBU's Meritorious Service Award in 1993.  Having taught from 1953 until her retirement in 1997, Professor Johnson influenced generations of OBU students in the healing arts and sciences.  Now that a long-serving moderate nursing dean has retired, several people have brought personnel concerns in the nursing department to my attention.  I don't want to say more at this time, but one wonders if the new dean, a Tea Party activist, would have much use for old-school moderates like the legendary Professor Johnson.

These professors collectively gave well over a century of service to OBU.  Honoring them was the right thing to do.  I'm sure the ceremony was dignified and without controversy.  But the fact remains that these fine people would face an uphill battle to be hired at OBU today, and that's an understatement.  Why is that the case?  No, really.  Why?  Stop and think about what is so offensive or unchristian about these honorees that would render them unacceptable today.  It's ridiculous!  Are you okay with this?  Are you content knowing that OBU administrators will praise these people out of one side of their mouths, but when no one is looking, do their best to make sure these kinds of people will never be hired again?

If this troubles you, then you understand what Save OBU stands for and why we need to remain strong.  In the end, awards are just plaques hanging on walls.  The real way to honor these professors is to insist that OBU welcome faculty like them in the future as heirs and successors to the distinguished legacies they established during their years of service.  That these honorees would be unwelcome today is a huge problem.  To this alum, it's unacceptable.


Here are a few posts I wrote last year after attending Homecoming 2012:
Saturday morning
Saturday evening
Sunday morning
Sunday evening (recap of our Save OBU meeting)

OBU Sues USA Over "Abortion Pill Mandate"

As we speculated last week, the Alliance for Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group, filed a lawsuit Friday against U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on behalf of OBU and three other Christian colleges in Oklahoma.  The suit alleges that an administrative rule the HHS issued in January 2012 violates the universities' First and Fifth Amendment rights.

The HHS Mandate, one of many bureaucratic rules across the government related to the implementation of the health insurance reform law, immediately met fierce resistance from the Catholic hierarchy and a number of Protestant religious liberty advocates.  Both before and since the HHS made accommodations so that insurers, rather than employers themselves, would bear the costs of contraceptive measures that might violate certain employers' religious beliefs, dozens of lawsuits representing several hundred plaintiffs have been filed.

Personally, I see some compelling reasons to oppose this action.

• For one thing, it is needlessly divisive.  While many alumni/ae are no doubt supportive of OBU's lawsuit, many alumni/ae will be disappointed and angry.
• Second, this a giant slap in the face to employees, particularly women, who up to this point have believed that they, not the president or the trustees, should decide what contraceptives they can access through the university's group health insurance plan.
• Third, there's no real upside for OBU.  There are already more than enough cases working their way through the federal courts on this matter. If this was really important, OBU should have had a conference call with trustees and launched this action in early 2012.  At this point, it's just piling on.  There is no chance that this lawsuit will ever be decisive or relevant to the ultimate legal or political resolution of the HHS Mandate.
• Furthermore, it's ridiculous to assume that all, or even most, Southern Baptists believe the morning after pill is ethically identical to, say, an abortion at 6 or 8 weeks gestation.  Along these lines, it's dubious at best and egregiously dishonest at worst for OBU's PR office to try to sell this as opposition to the "abortion pill mandate." [EDIT: OBU's website changed the headline to "OBU Joins Fight for Religious Liberty." I wonder who else complained...]
• Since this action comes so late in the public political and legal debate over the HHS Mandate, many will interpret this action as blatantly partisan and ideological rather than arising out of a legitimate religious or theological concern that has any kind of consensus among OBU stakeholders, and particularly among the faculty and staff who will be affected.

Even so, after consulting with several people who have shown the most interest and involvement in the Save OBU project since its inception, I do not think Save OBU should take a position on this matter and I do not intend to condemn it or the administrators and trustees who advocated for it.  This matter is substantially different from the kinds of concerns we have raised about academic freedom and ethical administration.

Institutions have a right to preserve their own autonomy and prerogatives.  While it seems to me that most religious moderates are satisfied with the cumulative accommodations the federal government has made since the initial outcry over the HHS Mandate on January 20, 2012, I am sensitive to the criticism that the original mandate was tone-deaf to religious liberty concerns.  I understand why President David Whitlock and the OBU trustees took this action.  But I hope there will be a healthy debate among students, staff, and alumni about precisely what interest OBU has in the case and, specifically, whether an "abortion pill mandate" actually exists.

Coincidentally and for the sake of full disclosure, I have a professional and scholarly interest in evangelicals' attitudes regarding contraception.  If you are interested, you can read some of my thoughts in this recent Associated Baptist Press commentary.

I realize that many will disagree with the decision not to oppose the administration and trustees in this matter because there will be significant overlap between people who support Save OBU's efforts and people who would prefer that their alma mater did not join a late, irrelevant lawsuit over the "abortion pill mandate."  This lawsuit will divide OBU constituents, but I hope those of us who want OBU to remain a legitimate liberal arts university will be continually united against our alma mater's very real and ongoing threats to its heritage and identity.

The Bison: Legit Journalism or Good News Sheet?

Many of you have asked for a follow-up to our lingering concerns about the absence of investigative and editorial content in OBU's student newspaper.  Last month, in a list of concerns we're following, I mentioned The Bison:

Though the writing is very good and the production value is high, The Bison simply isn't what it once was in terms of journalistic inquiry into serious campus issues.  There are lots of impressionistic columns, general debates, and personal advice features, but there is no investigative reporting.  Editorial pages (with real editorials) have disappeared.  Journalists go berserk if you accuse them of censorship, but I don't know what else to call it.  I'll say it as nicely as possible: The gaps in news coverage and editorial content could lead a reasonable person to speculate that there is a) censorship, b) fear of censorship, or c) blow-back that creates self-censorship. 

Of particular not here is the fact that The Bison recently decided against printing an open letter to "The OBU Family" (edited for length) in response to a chapel sermon by an "ex gay" evangelist on the grounds that Save OBU endorsed the letter (which is simply not true) and that we tried to bully the paper into printing the letter.

A campus newspaper is more than an exercise for a handful of journalism and graphic design majors.  A free student press is widely considered to be vital to the transparency, health, and flourishing of any university community.  For much of OBU's history, The Bison has met that need.  In the early 1980s, The Bison editorialized strongly in response to the "heresy papers" controversy.  In the early 2000s, The Bison was a forum for a campus discussion in response to a chapel preacher's contemptible (or merely regrettable, depending on your perspective) comments about rape.  These are just some examples I know off the top of my head.

In spite of at least two Bison faculty advisors clashing with administrators, most people report to me that the journalistic and editorial quality remained high throughout the 2000s.  In fact, as recently as 2010 and 2011, The Bison printed letters of dissent against the new administration's policies and reported on the alumni petition.

Around that time, the investigative reporting and editorializing stopped.

Coincidence?  I don't think so.

I have corresponded via email with two Bison staffers from the last several years.  One complained that the paper is censored and the other swore up and down that the paper has complete editorial freedom.  Obviously, both can't be true.  So let's get to the bottom of this.

Either the issues we've discussed on this blog are not newsworthy or OBU's student journalists are being suppressed from reporting on and editorializing about them.  Perhaps every issue we've addressed may not be front-page above-the-fold news.  But at least some of the faculty, student, and alumni concerns about academic freedom and ethical administration are newsworthy by any standard.

The Bison's Twitter account (@BisonNews) has been inactive for over a year.  But on January 26, 2012, it asked what people thought of the Save OBU blog.  That's the closest Save OBU got to the paper's news or editorial pages.  For 18 months, Save OBU has sustained a popular blog that has discussed dozens of campus issues.  We've had 5 guest writers.  We have active Facebook and Twitter communities.  There have been more than 260 blog posts.  Yet nothing we've said or done is newsworthy?!

Look, we don't need the publicity.  This blog gets more readers each week than The Bison, anyway.  Of course, we would welcome more student interest and involvement.  But most of all, we would like to know whether or not students at our alma mater are still allowed to investigate and discuss important campus issues and policies.

Bison staffers already missed their chance to do right by the people who have been fired and demoted.  You could have asked the hard questions, and you didn't.  And you may not be able to prevent the next egregious over-reach.  But you --- perhaps more than anyone else --- can help maintain a culture of transparency and responsiveness on campus.

Start small.  Ask what happened with the bookstore's botched orders last fall.  Ask whether OBU's agreement with Tree of Life is working out the way faculty and students had hoped.  Ask what role faculty search committees have in hiring decisions, and what circumstances the deans and provost believe justify over-ruling a committee recommendation.  With all the coaching hires and athletic scholarships announced this year, ask whether OBU's largest-ever freshman class will face a higher teacher-student ratio or more courses taught by adjuncts.

If The Bison is now a good news sheet that only prints stories and opinions that the administration deems safe for consumption, that's fine.  Just be honest about it.  And if that's The Bison's mission at the new OBU, I suggest the student journalists P.R. staffers start submitting invoices to the Public Relations Office.  Other people earn a decent living to present the polished, official image of an OBU devoid of controversy.  You should, too!

If, on the other hand, The Bison is a still news and opinion organization, I, for one, would like to see a little more courage and truth-seeking.  It's only a matter of time until another religion professor gets fired unjustly.  Then it will once again be too late to make a positive difference on campus by insisting on truth, transparency (to the greatest degree possible), and adherence to institutional norms when it comes to the most important issues.  Even Cedarville University, a fundamentalist school, still apparently has a student paper with editorial independence.  If the same is true of The Bison, we wouldn't know it by the lack of investigative pieces that uncover issues and provide the news foundation for editorials on consequential issues.

"The Norm," the alumni petition, and Save OBU can only do so much.  Administrators can ignore Save OBU.  They can deal with the alumni petition by sending out a private email with talking points for trustees.  When students protest, as with "The Norm," they can simply wait until those students graduate and hope that new students never learn of the violations of academic freedom and assume their way of doing things is normal when, in fact, it is a significant departure from institutional norms.

But they can't ignore you.  Sure, administrators can refuse interviews.  They will, of course, decline to comment on personnel matters.  But it reflects very poorly on them if they never give any answers or explanations for their decisions and actions.  After all OBU has been through lately, it's clear that administrators either haven't been pushed very hard or they are censoring the paper.

Maybe the difference between the year past and previous years wasn't related to censorship.  Maybe The Bison had a fundamentalist yes-man student editor who chose not to pursue important news stories or run real editorials.  I simply don't know.

But I hope next year's Bison staff will receive this message with humility, grace, and a sense of journalistic responsibility.  If your hands are tied, that's understandable.  It would surprise no one to know that Dr. Robinson, Dr. Norman, or Dr. Whitlock are blocking the paper from being anything more than a good news sheet.  Just say so, and your readers can lower their expectations accordingly.  But if you have editorial independence as you should, you need to step up your game.  Simple as that.  The entire OBU community deserves better.

In an upcoming post, I'll share the story of how The Bison blamed Save OBU for its decision not to publish a letter to the editor in response to a controversial chapel sermon this spring.

Save OBU Spring 2013 Agenda

Whether you are excitedly beginning a new semester on Bison Hill or just wish you were, I hope this message finds you well.  Save OBU took an extended break during December and January, with only intermittent blog posting.  With a new semester upon us, here are some of the things we'll be watching and reporting on.

• Thus far, the most egregious problems have been in the religion/ministry/philosophy area. However, we continue to hear rumblings from fine arts students as well as other sources about concerns in the fine arts department.  Many of these concerns stem from the fact that the administration ignored a search committee recommendation to hire an experienced administrator from another Baptist college and instead installed a more fundamentalist-friendly dean.  I don't mean to dismiss the very valid concerns many students and alumni have, but I am still researching and fact-checking.  Expect a "Fine Arts Fiasco" series in the coming months.
• Will the provost assert himself again?  Sources indicate that Provost Stan Norman has toned down the pace and intensity of his desire to remake the faculty in the image of a fundamentalist Bible academy.  We don't want to harp on this guy incessantly, but some people who know him and have worked with him believe it is only a matter of time before he gets bored of administrative duties like being editor-in-chief of the alumni magazine (huh?) and starts purging moderates again.
• Spotlight on past protest/reform efforts.  Though most people experience OBU as a very conformist culture, there have been protest movements over the years.  I want to invite alumni to tell those stories.  I have some documents related to the "Heresy Papers" controversy in the early 1980s, when a few professors were harassed for not being fundamentalists.  One alumna is going to tell a story about a short-lived feminist group that arose in the early 2000s in response to a chapel preacher's intemperate remarks about rape.
• Connections with other schools.  Different versions of the struggle to protect academic freedom and to ensure ethical administration are happening at many other evangelical colleges.  It's a real problem.  In addition to being a watchdog for OBU, the Save OBU community has become a leader in building bridges to constituents of other Baptist and evangelical institutions.  We want to continue to build and nurture those connections.  Usually fundamentalists have the power to remake colleges in their own image.  And usually they can't help themselves.  But we are here to tell these powerful men, "When you run roughshod over traditions, values, and norms that we cherish, we will call you out. Publicly. Every time."

What else do you think we should be working on as a community? How do you want to contribute and become more involved? Feel free to respond here or on Facebook or Twitter.

Our very best wishes to the students, faculty, staff, and administration of OBU.  We hope and pray this spring semester is a thrilling journey of intellectual and spiritual growth.

Homecoming: The Morning After (Church & Meeting Prep)

Thanks to the generous hospitality of a friend, I was able to rest well in OKC last night after a long and exciting day of Homecoming activities.  This morning, we attended an early service at Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City. Now, Mayflower is not for everyone (though everyone is welcome).  But a lot of people who don't really "fit" in conservative evangelical or fundamentalist Southern/Midwestern U.S. Protestantism have banded together and made Mayflower a unique church.  After speaking to the associate minister afterwards, we were told that Mayflower actually has a number of OBU alumni/ae in its congregation.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but Mayflower has a sparsely appointed (New England/Puritan-style) sanctuary that is quite beautiful in its simplicity.

Mayflower Congregational (UCC) Church of Oklahoma City

How do I say this diplomatically?  Most Save OBU supporters are conservative and moderate evangelicals.  But I think we may have a few liberals.  If you lean toward the liberal end of the spectrum and you live in Central Oklahoma, you should strongly consider making Mayflower your church home.

Back in Shawnee, I was delighted to worship at First Baptist Church for the first time in over 10 years.  As most of you know, Shawnee has a number of great churches, each one with a different flavor and personality yet united in making disciples.  Whereas many downtown churches are struggling (I'm speaking generally, not about Shawnee in particular), FBC is a vibrant congregation.  The music was absolutely spectacular!  One of the hymns used the tune (AZMON) that Methodists use for Charles Wesley's great hymn, "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing," so that was a little weird for me.  My old Methodist heart broke just a little!  A trumpeter blasted out the triumphant melody of "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" before the congregation joined in song.  We also sang "It Is Well with My Soul," which is a favorite of practically everyone.  The choir offered a beautiful adaptation of a psalm as a call to prayer.  A piano quartet(!) performed "How Great Thou Art," which has special meaning for me because it was sung at my grandfather's funeral.  I was so grateful for the opportunity to personally thank two retired OBU music professors for enhancing my OBU experience with glorious music in Raley Chapel on so many occasions.

The Gospel text was from the Sermon on the Mount, and the minister brought an inspiring message that both comforted and challenged me.  Especially as I have been critical of certain OBU policy and personnel changes, I must grapple with Christ's command to "Love your enemies."  I don't think of the new administrators as enemies, but I want to guard my heart carefully and seek divine guidance on how to balance our obligation to stand up for what is right with our imperative to love our enemies.  Let's all pray for one another!

First Baptist Church, Shawnee, OK

For the next few hours, my co-editor Veronica will be in the GC meeting with OBU students who may want to know more about Save OBU.  Remember, many students who were at OBU during the most tumultuous times have graduated in the past two years.  As I spoke with underclassmen yesterday, none of them had any idea about the problems OBU has been having with academic freedom and ethical administration.  It's vitally important that the older students pass this knowledge on to the younger ones, in order that the students can stand up for their professors and defend, where appropriate, against fundamentalist encroachment.

I look forward to meeting with many of you today at 4 in front of the library.  We'll strategize for 90 minutes or so and hopefully re-tool our message and methods for the months and years ahead!

Jacob's Homecoming Adventure

What a day!  I saw some old friends, made some new ones, and got to meet (ever so briefly) Provost Stan Norman and Hobbs College of Theology and Ministry Dean Mark McClellan.  Here's a rundown of the day's events.  There were so many things going on, I couldn't attend them all.  And I forgot to take pictures at the basketball doubleheader, but the women's and men's teams were both victorious in dominating fashion).

I tweeted a couple dozen observations, which you can see here.

I made some awesome Save OBU brochures, but I just didn't have the heart to leaflet the parking lot like the Christian Coalition on the Sunday before Election Day.  A lot of people think any attention is good attention, but I thought it best not to detract from people's affectionate feelings toward OBU.  So now I have a bunch of flyers if anyone wants them!

I attended my frist-ever non-compulsory chapel service.  That's right, I went of my own free will (though OBU's religion department is getting so Calvinist, I don't know if we still believe in free will...)  The alumni chapel service was inspiring!  The music was absolutely sublime, as it always was during my student days.  President Whitlock gave a warm welcome and highlighted the many exciting, wonderful things going on at OBU.  Eight outstanding alumni/ae were honored and three esteemed professors were inaugurated into the OBU Faculty Hall of Fame.  The Rev. Dr. Hance Dilbeck brought a testimony/reflection based on John 15 ("Abide in me and I in you..."), a chapter he was challenged to memorize as a freshman at OBU.  Did I mention that the music was beautiful?!

At a reception honoring the award recipients, a former professor of mine briefly introduced me to the provost.  I just said, "I know I'm not your favorite person in the world, but my best wishes to you."  I said the same thing to Dean McClellan, and we had a brief, honest, and respectful exchange.

My home for 3 years: Agee Residence Center (formerly Brotherhood Dormitory).

On my way to lunch, I paid homage to the late Dr. James Ralph Scales, OBU's ninth president and one of the several that the BGCO has managed to get rid of over the years.  The fundamentalists in the BGCO are frankly more powerful than the OBU faculty.  So there's a natural tendency for OBU presidents to appease the former at the expense of the latter.  But President Scales stook for principle over politics, and I think he is a wonderful example for Baptist college administrators to follow.  President Whitlock doesn't need to look to Jackson, TN (or God forbid Ft. Worth or Louisville) for role models.  He should just look across the Oval at someone a little closer to home:

I actually went to the wrong room for my Class of 2002 luncheon.  I got there and though, "Wow, these people look good."  Then I realized I was at the Class of 2007's luncheon.  My class luncheon was a lot of fun.  My thanks to the organizers, banquet servers, and other staff who made it run smoothly.

It was a pleasure to sit with Save OBU Contributing Editor Veronica Pistone and her husband, Scott, as the Bison basketball teams cruised to victory over Manhattan (NY KS) Christian.  I had worked up quite an appetite, so I naturally drove to Van's Pig Stand.

Now I'm enjoying the hospitality of my new friend, Parker.  And a view of the spectacular new Devon Tower.  To the east are the Bank of America Center (tallest building in OKC from 1931-1971) and the Chase Tower (tallest building in OKC from 1971-2011).

I went to see the good guys at Tobacco Express at NW 63rd and May in Oklahoma City, where I bought a new pipe to commemorate my inspiring and hopefully fruitful trip to Oklahoma!

So that was my day in a nutshell.  I've been critical of certain policy and personnel changes in my writing here.  But let me be clear: 99.5% of what is going on at OBU is absolutely wonderful!  We just believe that the problem areas are actually quite consequential for the mission and character of the institution.

If you're in the area, please meet with Veronica in the lower level GC tomorrow (Sunday, November 11, 2012) to learn more about Save OBU.  And plan on attending our strategy session at 4:00.  We'll meet in front of the library and then proceed to the meeting.

God bless OBU!

[EDIT]: See my posts on Sunday's activities (worship and strategy meetings). Veronica will add her perspective on the meeting by midweek.

A Note of Thanks to Our Readers

Though it indicates a great deal of thoughtfulness and Christian charity in our growing community, it is not necessary to email me and ask if the reason there hasn't been a new post today is that the BGCO sued me.

I assure you, I have not been sued or even approached by the BGCO or any OBU administrators or trustees.  A number of people expressed concern in July, when posting was sparse.  And others of you have written since that time, which I appreciate.  But I want to let you know there is no need for concern.

Although, if I ever get a legal threat, summons, order, or injunction, I'll post it right here for your viewing entertainment, Dear Reader!  It might help get the word out.  So far, we haven't pursued media attention.  Our friends at Save Our Shorter were quite successful with their aggressive media strategy.  If things get much worse at OBU, I suspect we'll have no trouble raising awareness among a large audience.  But for now, we are trying to make connections with students and alumni.

I'll offer a few comments on the relatively less frequent posting.  First, we're fairly satisfied that things are somewhat better right now than they were this time a year ago.  (If we're wrong, please let us know immediately.)  This is not to say that things are as they should be -- the damage already done is significant.  Second, Veronica is a newlywed, I'm a new father, and we're both consumed with the demands of a new semester of graduate student life.  Third, we haven't received much multiply-attested inside information since last spring.

If you're interested in doing some guest writing on the blog, send me a note and let me know what you have in mind.  If you want to help with research or promotion, let me know.  And if you're a current or former trustee, faculty member, or administrator, I would, of course, be most eager to hear from you.  I assume most faculty members think their careers could be in jeopardy if they publicly advocated that OBU separate from the BGCO.  And maybe most faculty members are okay with BGCO control in principle, but are just angry about how it has manifested itself in recent years.  In any event, one faculty member even created a pseudonymous email account to communicate with me, though s/he eventually learned to trust my discretion.

However you prefer to communicate and whatever you have to say, I'm all ears.  My email address is jlupfer -at- gmail -dot- com.  I'd love to hear from students, alumni, or anyone else.  But there's no need to ask if I've been sued by the BGCO!

Save OBU 6 Months Later

I've been busy this week with teaching responsibilities at Georgetown.  But I didn't want to let the day pass by without noting a nice little milestone for our movement: The Save OBU blog has been online for six months!  Our first post (December 6, 2011) is here.

Save OBU was founded on the heels of an alumni petition that circulated last fall.  The alumni effort followed a period of sustained protests from faculty and students against two unethical dismissals carried out by OBU administrators.  In addition to the two botched dismissals, we've raised awareness about restrictions on academic freedom, administrative interference in curriculum matters, preferential hiring of avowed fundamentalists, the installation of a non- (anti?) academic bookstore, and a general tendency to reward ideological purity over professional achievement.  All these issues are new at OBU since the arrival of the Whitlock-Norman regime.  These problems, while tragically common in what remains of Southern Baptist higher education, are blatantly contrary to OBU's proud and distinctive Christian liberal arts tradition.

I remain convinced, as I have been since I first set foot on Bison Hill in 1999, that the root of the problem is OBU's relationship with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.  Without the BGCO to appease, Stan Norman, Mark McClellan, and at least a handful of recent hires would have never ended up at OBU.  Because of the BGCO, however, fundamentalist encroachment is advancing.  Conveniently for the convention, Provost Norman is apparently acting out of his own volition as he works to transform our beloved OBU into a fundamentalist Bible academy.  So it's hard to point fingers at the Baptist Building.  But as long as the BGCO calls the shots, there will always be a Stan Norman-type figure (or figures) trying to remake OBU in the BGCO's own post-Takeover self image.  Fundamentalism is simply incompatible with true, honest, and rigorous education.

Six months into our effort, let me respond briefly to the two major criticisms I have received.

Don't you know that OBU and the BGCO cannot be separated?
Yes.  Of all the legal arrangements between Baptist colleges and state conventions, OBU's is unquestionably the absolute worst.  Not only does the convention elect all the trustees, it literally owns OBU.  OBU is completely at the mercy of the BGCO.  Thankfully, a generation of BGCO leaders (Joe Ingram and Bill Tanner) and a generation of OBU leaders (James Ralph Scales, Grady Cothen, Tanner, Eugene Hall, and Bob Agee) managed that relationship quite well.  But in the 1990s, the BGCO leadership was taken over by fundamentalists and even turned on Joe Ingram.  Since Anthony Jordan became executive director-treasurer, OBU has had reason to worry.  The Brister years had their ups and downs, but ultimately Mark Brister realized that Anthony Jordan was not his boss and refused to aid and abet fundamentalist encroachment at OBU.  With David Whitlock, the fundamentalists have had a field day.  It's as if Whitlock agreed to abide the fundamentalists' long-awaited transformation of OBU as a condition of his election.  We're looking into the search process as deeply as we can to get as much insight as possible.

As I said on day one, at a minimum, OBU needs to be allowed to select a majority (if not all) of its trustees.  Short of that, we'll lose this fight.  In that case, I only hope that the professors who I count as mentors can finish their careers satisfactorily and that their pensions will be paid before OBU descends into irrelevance and ruin.

Following the pattern of fundamentalist domination of Baptist colleges, we can expect an all-out takeover of OBU's Board of Trustees in the coming years.  Now, while we actually have a really good board, OBU needs to take action to protect itself.  In the coming months, we'll talk more about what that might look like.  And we'll finally be in touch with the trustees in a formal way.

Why do you give David Whitlock a free pass?
Whitlock is going to be the president of OBU for quite a few years -- maybe for as long as he likes.  He will personally have a decisive impact on whether OBU remains a leading Christian liberal arts college or faces a fate like Shorter or any number of other Baptist colleges that the fundamentalists have destroyed.  If Whitlock left OBU, it's a near certainty that we would end up with someone much, much worse.  The best thing about Whitlock is that he doesn't have a Ph.D. from a post-Takeover SBC seminary.  He wasn't modled and formed in the trenches of the Takeover.  In fact, some professors have described him as theologically naive or "theologically an infant."  Multiple people recounted an instance where he appeared at First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City and seemed genuinely perplexed about why that congregation had a troubled relationship to the BGCO (something that any insider would know and understand very well).  Most people have the impression that he is more of a politician/manager than an ideological warrior.  If we didn't have David Whitlock, the odds are overwhelming that we'd have someone who is a committed Takeover activist who has been formed and molded over many years in one of the increasingly insular and ever more fundamentalist SBC seminaries.  Think Stan Norman.  If not Whitlock, we'd probably have someone very much like Norman.  I know a lot of you are angry at President Whitlock.  But I would still submit for your consideration that it could actually be worse.

Now, it's true that Whitlock has been able to hide behind his hatchet man.  Occasionally, he's had to clean up messes.  But in general, Whitlock does not seem to have the inclination to fight the fundamentalists' battles for them.  Which is why if Stan Norman left OBU, everyone keeps telling me things would be much better.  But I must concede the point so many of you have made in your emails, comments, and calls: David Whitlock has sat idly by while good men's careers were needlessly disrupted and while Stan Norman has begun to undermine generations of greatness at OBU.  And from what I can tell, Whitlock has not lifted a finger to protect academic freedom in any of the several instances where it is being undermined.  I agree that this is unacceptable.  But sometimes there's no way to hold people at the top accountable.

Looking Ahead to the Next 6 Months
We have plans to release our survey of BGCO pastors and church staff in the coming weeks.  We also plan on featuring a handful of new guest writers.  As I've mentioned, we're compiling a dossier to send to OBU trustees.  And we'll closely monitor the trustee selection process, or at least the election of 8 new trustees in November.  We'll also continue to form relationships and forge alliances with constituents of other Baptist schools whose great traditions are being eroded by fundamentalists.  Eventually, I plan on doing some writing for higher ed trade publications to help raise awareness about the plight of Christian liberal arts in the context of post-Takeover Baptist schools.

I also have a family to love and a doctoral dissertation to write.  So I'm going to scale back my involvement as we bring on a new, broader leadership structure.

A Personal Word of Thanks
I am so grateful to each of you for indulging my outspoken voice these past six months and supporting me to the extent you are inclined and able.  I've certainly made a few mistakes.  But I stand by the work we've done together as vital and hopefully decisive in protecting the OBU we all love so dearly.  I'm especially grateful to Veronica Pistone for adding her voice and passion to our effort.  But I'm also grateful to all those whose activism paved the way for Save OBU: Chris Jones who spearheaded the alumni petition effort, the faculty who pushed back hard against the botched and shameful dismissals, and the students who courageously spoke out against negative policy and personnel changes.

I've learned a lot about Baptist higher education -- more than I ever thought I'd know!  I'm grateful for the new knowledge and (I hope) better perspective I now have.  But mostly, I'm grateful that I reconnected with old friends and made many new ones.  It's been a joy.

God bless OBU!

Looking forward to the next 6 months!

-Jacob

From the Archives: "Why I Do This" Series

Sorry for the late post tonight.  I've been busy with my family celebrating my bride's law school graduation!  It's a pretty remarkable achievement, considering that Cara gave birth to our daughter barely 5 weeks ago.  She excelled on her final exams and graduated with honors.  It's been very sweet to celebrate her accomplishments this week with our friends and parents (who also happen to be first-time grandparents).

During the week of OBU's commencement (when we weren't busy commenting on OBU's decision to honor a leading BGCO/SBC fundamentalist and presenting our letter of congratulations to 2012 OBU graduates), we published a series of posts on why we have invested our time and energy promoting the Save OBU cause.    (Short answer: We do this as an act of love for OBU.)  Veronica explained why she does this and followed later in the week with posts on the need for continuing vigilance as well as a vision for OBU's place and meaning in the wider world.  I also gave a brief reflection on why I've devoted my energy to this effort.

We'll try to keep the blog updated over the long weekend.  But get excited!  Next week promises to expose the problem of encroaching fundamentalism at OBU in the most vivid possible way.

Plans for the Week and for the Summer

This week, we're taking a break from our usual blogging schedule.  Veronica is taking an intensive weeklong course at Brite.  I have family in town to celebrate my bride's graduation from the Catholic University of America School of Law (and, of course, to shower our month-old newborn daughter with love and attention).

We've covered a lot of ground since Spring Break, our last week off.  Our readership has grown significantly in that timespan.  So this week, we're featuring some highlights from the past two months, since many in our coalition may have missed them the first time around.

I want to expand briefly on Veronica's Friday note about summer plans.  As the summertime approaches, we will scale back and retool our blogging efforts, but only a little bit.  We still have posts planned about the fine arts area, some trustee issues, and the results of our recently completed survey of over 100 BGCO pastors and church staff.  But in the summer months, we'll also try some new things.  We want to tell more peoples' OBU stories.  We want to build bridges to concerned constituents of other Baptist institutions.  We will continue to present and defend the Baptist distinctives that stand at the core of what we're trying to accomplish.  And we may try to facilitate some online book reading/discussion groups.  (Let us know if you want to help out: SaveOBU@gmail.com).

A lot of people have been asking, "Where do we stand?" and "What can I do?"  OBU is definitely in a better place today than it was nine months ago.  We believe the cumulative effect of vocal faculty opposition, last fall's alumni petition, passionate protests from retirees, and the Save OBU movement has been to put the administration on notice that there will be no fundamentalist takeover at OBU.  We still have trustees and a president who want the best for OBU.  The provost, who had been a one-man Takeover architect, was severely chastened this year, even before a sobering set of job evaluations made it crystal clear that the faculty do not want his meddling -- and many (if not most) do not want him -- at OBU.  Our website statistics indicate that we are not really being read in Thurmond Hall.  But we are being read in the Baptist Building.  We've presented a number of inconvenient truths about the OBU/BGCO relationship.  But some of our hardest-hitting arguments will be hard to make without data that we don't have (i.e., how few BGCO pulpits are filled with OBU ministry grads, how many OBU grads attend non-SBC seminaries, etc).

Here are a few things you can do:

• Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.  This increases our social reach dramatically.
• Tell your non-fundamentalist friends and classmates about what has gone on at OBU and what Save OBU is doing to stop it.
• Share the news of Save OBU with friends who are faculty/students/alumni at other Baptist colleges.  Chances are, their schools are experiencing versions of the same problems.
• Use the link at right to donate $30 via PayPal to fund a Facebook ad campaign.  (These have been extremely effective.)
• Learn as much as you can about the state of Baptist and evangelical higher education.  Remain in prayer and discernment about how to ensure the best possible future for OBU students and for the university's greatest asset -- its faculty.

Organizationally, we will be convening an advisory board for Save OBU this summer.  Ideally, members should be active laypeople in Oklahoma Baptist churches.  Sadly, I don't think BGCO clergy will have the freedom to be leaders in our effort, although we know from many emails that a number of them share our concerns.  If you would like to help provide leadership in this way, please let us know.  Also, please let us know if you would like to nominate someone for the Save OBU Advisory Board.

Thank you for your continued support.  Most of all, thank you for your love and passion for OBU!

OBU's 2012 Commencement: Beneath the Surface

Congratulations to the OBU Class of 2012!  The Green Book lists 23 regulations pertaining to "College Citizenship," and I hope the graduates went out and broke 1 or 2 of them last night.  God loves a joyful celebration!

I understand it was cloudy yesterday -- perhaps an apt metaphor for the storm clouds of conflict looming over the campus.  I saw part of the ceremony, which was streamed on Shawnee Live and is also available "on demand" through OBU's website.  It was hard to believe a decade has passed since I walked across that stage!  But I was so happy and proud for all the students and their families.  I have to credit last fall's alumni petition for providing the impetus to start Save OBU.  And I credit Contributing Editor Veronica Pistone for helping make sure the movement survived its infancy.  But the truth is, we wouldn't be this far without the hundreds of OBU students who have expressed interest in our movement, read our blog, and kept the issues salient on campus.  I'm especially grateful to the several dozen students -- mostly seniors -- who actively helped out by providing information, context, and nuance on a number of fronts.  We invite you to even more active participation in Save OBU now that you are alumni!  And we trust that the torch of student leadership is passing to students who may not remember OBU under Brister or Parrish, but who nonetheless revere academic freedom, Baptist freedom, and OBU's great liberal arts heritage.

While it was entirely appropriate for the university to pull itself together to honor the 246 graduating seniors, there are a handful of relevant tidbits that curiously didn't make it into the official press release.

Speakers

Commencement Address/Honorary Degree
OBU conferred an honorary doctorate on the Rev. Dr. Tom Elliff, a former missionary, Oklahoma Baptist minister, and current president of the SBC's International Mission Board.  Of course, no opportunity is wasted to remind everyone that OBU sends more missionaries to the IMB than any other college.  And we will not waste an opportunity to a) courteously remind everyone that correlation does not imply causality and b) reiterate our view that Oklahoma's contribution to the mission field owes as much to Falls Creek as to OBU, and that as with all BGCO ministry and mission priorities, funding for Falls Creek suffers because of the BGGO's $2.5 million annual subsidy to OBU.

After hearing Dr. Elliff's rather innocuous homily, I almost felt bad for highlighting his role in the Fundamentalist Takeover (and aftermath) of the SBC.  It's amazing how downright likable fundamentalists can be when they're not waging ideological warfare and destroying our treasured institutions.  The bondservant/slave and kamikaze illustrations seemed a little strange at first, but do indeed point to important servant/surrender aspects of the Christian life.  But given his open disdain for moderates in the SBC and the fact that OBU gave him an award less than a year ago, I continue to feel that honoring him in this way was insulting, particularly to faculty.  Still, they politely applauded the man who likened moderates in Southern Baptist life to "barnacles and parasites" that he himself proudly "removed from the Ship of Zion."

Awards/Acknowledgments

Retiring Faculty
We certainly join OBU in commending the service of six very fine retirees.  At least two of them have been courageously and openly opposed to some of the bad policy and personnel changes we've seen in recent years.  One of the retirees, interviewed in The Bison last fall, said she doubts she would be hired by OBU today.  What a tragedy.  Still, we must thank these very fine folks for their service and leadership over the years.  We wish them all the best as they begin exciting new chapters in their lives.

Faculty Awards
There is widespread suspicion among the faculty that politics played a role in the Promising Teacher Award this year.  Many faculty had assumed the award would go to an effective and well-loved professor who just finished his sixth year -- his last year of eligibility for the award.  Of course, being an Episcopalian may have been the kiss of death, given a certain administrator's recent obsession with church affiliation politics.  OBU may be saying to young professors, "We may not be able to fire you or deny you tenure 'in a winsome way,' but don't think you're getting any extra awards unless you a down-the-line fundamentalist Baptist."  Many were surprised that the promising teacher honor went to a relatively newer hire who is demonstrably more in line with the fundamentalist party line.  As one insider explains:

It's clear that the administration chose him for the award to make a statement, especially in light of Veronica's Save OBU blog post.

This awkward situation underscores the problems created when faculty search committee recommendations are ignored and when politics and ideology figure so prominently in OBU administrators' decisions about who to hire, honor, and reward.  Many faculty suspect this move is administrators' way to try to justify their decision to overrule the faculty search committee, which unanimously preferred another candidate.  Anyone want to take bets that the Christian apologetics professor wins the award next year?

Student Awards
Last year, when our own Veronica Pistone won the Outstanding Religion student award, the OBU website featured a nice writeup and a picture of Dean Mark McClellan giving her the award.  We're told that Dean McClellan was not too happy that one of last year's most decorated graduates (a woman now studying for the ministry at a non-SBC seminary) has become a prominent figure in the growing opposition to the BGCO's mutually draining stranglehold on OBU.  This year, another woman won the Outstanding Religion award.  But Dean McClellan told the religion professors that "we need to be careful who we choose for this award because we don't want someone getting the award and then using it as platform against OBU."  Thankfully, the faculty convinced the dean that their choice would not "turn" on OBU after she graduated and she won the award she so richly deserved.  However, just to be safe, there is no photograph or press release this year.  (EDIT: Yes, there is: here.)

Oh, and just for the record, perhaps Dean McClellan should consider that maybe his bosses in Thurman and friends in the Baptist Building are the ones who are using their positions as platforms against OBU.  And maybe rather than thinking that some of these "gals" (his term for female religion and ministry students) turned on OBU, he might consider that it is OBU that has turned on women, particularly strong, bright women who reject the fundamentalist vision of "biblical womanhood."

We will continue to monitor the distribution of student and faculty awards in the months and years to come.

Music
Just a quick shout-out to the organist, whoever s/he was.  "How Firm a Foundation" is a wonderfully appropriate graduation prelude and I enjoyed the rendition immensely, as well as the rest of the medley.  Speaking of music, we wish the University Chorale a safe and successful tour this week!  And in the coming weeks, we'll be blogging about changes in the College of Fine Arts under the new regime.

--

So there you have it.  OBU may not be in the throes of a full-on faculty rebellion or a dramatic fundamentalist takeover (yet).  But this week's celebrations definitely papered over a number of important conflicts that exist as a result of OBU's relationship with the BGCO.  We'll continue to keep you informed of progress and changes.

Again, our very best wishes to the OBU Class of 2012!  "May thy spirit guide thy sons, keep thy daughters true!"

Why Do I Do This? (Veronica)

Hello SaveOBU!

I feel like I have been gone for so long. For those of you keeping score at home, I am still about a paper and a half away from finishing the semester, but I am glad to get to be back in the blogging world for just a bit.

Why, you may ask, this obvious attempt to humanize myself? Well, my plan for today is to get a little personal. The problem has been that I am so tempted to respond to those who seem to think I am about a 3rd grade girl, judging from the tone of their comments, that I forget to respond also to my friends and supporters. 

Lately, I have been getting this question a lot: do you enjoy doing Save OBU? or the alternative, Why do you do it?

Well, these are very good questions, and let me take them one at a time.

I do enjoy writing for Save OBU. I enjoy doing what I think is right by bringing light to an issue that is very important to me. I enjoy being a good alumna in the best way that I can see to do it right now. I enjoy finally feeling like I might have a voice that can do some good and letting many others out there know that they are not alone in their hopes that OBU will not turn into a fundamentalist bible school.

But there is something else that keeps me writing, even on days like today when I should be thinking about Christianity in the 1700's or the use of hesed in Ruth. (See? I go to a real seminary!)

Growing up, my parents always had two separate copies of the same poster. One is in their room and one is in my Mom's office. It may seem silly, but it is this quote from Martin Neimoller:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

The truth is, I do Save OBU because I was taught that when you see someone doing the wrong thing, it is your duty as a human being (and especially as a Christian) to work for justice.

In my time at OBU I saw demotions, firings, mis-hirings, the angriest Owens Hall you can imagine, and above all, a pattern of intimidation and disrespect for those who did not simply lie down and take it. I saw students being bullied by those in power followed by feeble attempts at mollification which insulted our own intelligence.

I can be angry about these things as much as I please, but in my family, your anger is only as good as whatever it inspires you to do. I write for Save OBU to bring light to injustice. I write for Save OBU because it is the best way I know how to do what is right and to stand up for those who have no voice or no public voice. I write for Save OBU because I cannot get fired or expelled-- but there are many who cannot speak up because they can. My status as a human demands my voice stand in solidarity with theirs.

First they came for the philosophers and I knew that a university cannot continue without a philosophy department. 

Then they came for the women, and I knew that OBU needs the voices of women in high places and especially the voices of women in theology. 

Then they came for the religion department, and finally everyone got mad enough that real things started to happen and we all spoke up.

Then they stopped coming, because they knew that vigilance was too high and they could no longer get away with it.

Or, at least, that is my hope, and my motivation to continue blogging.

Houston Baptist University Considers Name Change

A lot of you may have already heard about this, but it was news to me when I read it two weeks ago.  Houston Baptist University, affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is considering a name change that could include dropping "Baptist" from the school's name.

Half a century after being founded by the Baptist General Convention of Texas as "a Christian college of the highest order," Houston Baptist University may soon erase the religious designation in its name. 

Saying that the Baptist tag creates a barrier for potential students, university officials are exploring a name change for the 51-year-old school - a prospect that concerns some alumni who fear HBU's religious identity would be de-emphasized.

Photo credit: Houston Chronicle

The tone of the article makes it seem like it's pretty much a done deal, pending action by the school's trustees next month.  The name change committee notes that both the geographical and denominational labels could be hindering HBU in its effort to become a national, comprehensive Christian liberal arts college.  Unlike OBU, where an overwhelming majority of students are Southern Baptist, only about a third of HBU students are.

The name change issue has come up before, but now, under President Robert Sloan's robust leadership, HBU seems ready to expand its profile beyond the sprawling Houston suburbs.  Having commissioned a study regarding the school's name recognition, HBU found that while most people know about the larger and more prominent Rice University and the University of Houston, relatively few people knew much about HBU.

While OBU draws extensively from Tulsa, OKC, smaller towns in Oklahoma, as well as the Dallas and Kansas City suburbs, HBU students are almost exclusively from three surrounding counties.  Proponents argue that a name change could help expand the school's geographical reach.

As for the "Baptist" part, we already know the name carries some baggage.  While we here at Save OBU are exceedingly proud of Baptists' rightful heritage, even the SBC itself acknowledges that the term connotes intolerance, anti-intellectualism, and even a racist past.  One progressive and brilliant thing HBU has done is allow a few non-Baptists Christians to serve on its Board of Trustees.  In fact, HBU is the first BGCT school to make this move.  Since some measure of theological diversity is actually tolerated in the BGCT (unlike in the uniformly conservative BGCO, where moderates are unwelcome and marginalized), there is little fear in sharing university governance with Christians from other denominational families in recognition of the need to attract students and faculty who may not be Southern Baptists.

Naturally, there are some who fear that taking the "Baptist" name away will invariably dilute the school's religious character.  Name change proponents dispute this charge, pointing out that the school's core mission will not change and that one of the proposed new names is "Morris Christian University" (in honor of founding father and major donor Stewart Morris).

At the moment, OBU clearly has much bigger problems on its plate than whether or not "Oklahoma" and "Baptist" are limiting its reach.  So we are not even interested in discussing a name change here.  It's less relevant, anyway, because we already have more of a regional and even national reach than HBU.

But it is a little sad to compare the differences in governance and administration between OBU and HBU in light of recent events.  With administrative leadership free of fundamentalists to appease and deliberate efforts to join the top tier of Christian colleges, HBU is on a dramatic upward trajectory.  OBU has made good on efforts to bolster enrollment and expand its programs and facilities, too.  But the recent personnel and policy mistakes have taken a toll not only on our reputation.  Appeasing fundamentalists consumes too much time and energy, and makes it impossible for OBU to move forward.  At present, it's all we can do to avoid moving backward.

"The Norm" -- One Year Later

Today is a pretty momentous day in the history of spirited defense of academic freedom, integrity, and rigor at OBU!  Exactly one year ago, a small group of concerned students created and circulated a publication called "The Norm."

As faculty, alumni, and retiree groups raised their voices in protest against the bad policy and personnel changes at OBU, each drew strength from the fact that students had courageously and passionately raised many of the same issues.  I can't speak for the whole alumni petition movement last fall, but I suspect that it might never have gotten off the ground if not for The Norm.

I can certainly say that Save OBU would not exist without The Norm, and here's why:  While it's clear that a lot of OBU constituents have been badly disaffected by the disastrous actions taken by administration since around 2010, there was initially very little appetite for looking at the big picture -- BGCO ownership and control.  Plenty of people are willing to stand up for academic freedom and protest the absolutely shameful treatment of two well-loved professors (whose professional accomplishments and Christian devotion are beyond question).  But the idea of independence from the BGCO is a leap that some -- even some friends concerned about fundamentalist encroachment -- have been unwilling to take.

The reasons are fair enough: "It's always been this way" is an idea that powerfully bolsters the inertia of the status quo.  Given the BGCO's unique ownership stranglehold, separation may not even be legally possible.  Faculty are generally free to stand up for their Handbook rights (they've restarted a long-defunct AAUP chapter in the wake of the administration's assault), but are not free to publicly argue for BGCO separation, so Save OBU has had to go along without them officially on board. Retirees depend on pensions and benefits, and there is sadly actually precedent in Southern Baptist life for stealing retiree benefits after a fundamentalist takeover.  (Who cares if a few aging liberals die prematurely, right?)

Rather than just complaining about one of the many OBU governance/administration issues gone awry, The Norm connected the dots and pointed to the conclusion that the norms of a true liberal arts university -- even a Baptist one -- are no longer in concert with the Baptist state convention due to that body's dramatic lurch toward fundamentalism over the past 20 years.

Thanks to their foresight and leadership, the protest they inaugurated is alive and growing one year later.  The Class of 2011 has been indispensable to Save OBU's efforts thus far.  We look forward to welcoming more friends from the Class of 2012, as well as underclassmen, to join us in standing for a stronger OBU.

A Future Bison?

On April 18 at 11:23 p.m. in Washington, D.C., my beautiful bride, Cara, gave birth to our fist child, a perfect baby girl named Amelia.  Though it's not relevant to Save OBU, please allow a point of personal privilege for a proud daddy:

Having started the Save OBU blog in the 5th month of Cara's pregnancy, I want to thank her for indulging my passion for helping protect OBU's heritage.  It's still not entirely clear to me why I've devoted so much time to this, but Cara has tolerated my activism with grace and good humor.  Most of the time.  My initial commitment of 6 weeks has stretched into the spring months, and I'd like to remain involved at least until we have an advisory committee in place and formally reach out to OBU trustees.

I also want to thank Veronica specifically for her fine series on Baptist freedoms that ran on the blog over the past six days, and generally for joining me as a Contributing Editor to the blog and providing so much leadership and vision for our movement.

On last fall's alumni petition, I stated rather dramatically and hyperbolically that I'd never let my child anywhere near OBU, given the current crackdown.  (I was the 216th signature.)  But since that time, I've grown nostalgic for Bison Hill.  I would love for my daughter to attend a small liberal arts college with a residential campus.  The truth is, there are a lot of people who no longer recommend OBU to young people in their spheres of influence.  I've received literally dozens of emails to this effect since Save OBU's inception.  Our association with the BGCO raises significant and legitimate doubts about OBU's commitment to academic freedom, integrity, and rigor.  The recent negative changes confirm the suspicions that a non-trivial number of OBU friends and alumni have had ever since the Takeover.  Already, we have OBU parents concerned that maybe their children should transfer.  At some Baptist colleges, students are transferring by the hundreds.  Other colleges are so obsessed with appeasing state convention fundamentalists that they no longer even pretend to be legitimate academic institutions, to the extent of throwing away their accreditation.

But setting aside the issue of transfers for a moment, think of how many bright and capable young students are not being encouraged to go to OBU.  This is a real shame, and the only way to change that dynamic is to make sure that OBU is a place where academic freedom and open inquiry thrive, not a place where they are actively eroded (at worst) or merely tolerated (at best).

Save OBU's argument -- that independence from the BGCO is the only necessary and sufficient safeguard against fundamentalist encroachment at OBU -- would be much easier if we were, like Shorter University, in the throes of an all-out assault.  But the truth is, while there are some aspects of OBU's management and governance we don't like, things have stabilized on Bison Hill after a year of widespread protests.  Our constant vigilance is what will deny BGCO elites of their long-elusive dream: remaking Oklahoma's only Baptist university in their own post-Takeover image.

If we succeed, OBU may once again be an attractive college option for my daughter, Amelia, and literally thousands of other young people.  Most of us had a fantastic experience at OBU.  But we can't in good conscience recommend OBU to our children, students, and friends if we harbor serious doubts about the experience they would have under the new regime.  Disillusioned friends and alumni represent a massive untapped reservoir of support, enthusiasm, and recruitment for OBU.  Since the Takeover, and especially in the past two years, trust has been broken.  I welcome any efforts by top OBU administrators to repent of their mistakes and begin the hard, slow work of repairing the broken relationship.  That laborious effort would bear fruit in time, and it is an honorable path to take.  But a wiser, quicker, more efficient, and, frankly, more authentically Baptist solution is to break free of BGCO control and be the rigorous yet faithful Christian liberal arts university we all knew and loved.

The Downward Spiral: Save OBU's Vital Role

Over the past four days, we've looked at Baptist schools whose headlong descent into fundamentalism makes OBU's recent missteps seem minor by comparison.  Just as we began the Downward Spiral series with an optimistic note about things stabilizing at OBU, we want to end with an appropriate balance between acknowledging progress and sticking to our guns about the ultimate source of the tension -- the tenuous, mutually draining relationship between OBU and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

First, credit where credit is due: After nearly a year of protests, I absolutely believe that OBU President David Whitlock is in a position to do right by OBU.  The faculty and retirees' efforts, in particular, have let let him know the seriousness of dismissing two professors without providing Faculty Handbook rights to them.  He is now much more aware of the widespread displeasure with the orientation of OBU as a consequences of the several bad policies his administration has adopted.

More good news:  At least one academic department reports being able to move forward with two new hires, both their first choice.  Dr. Norman is not getting to play the Doctrinal Enforcer role he obviously envisioned for himself.  As long as he is constrained by appropriate pressure, he will not be able to do further harm.  Whether he will ever be able to repair broken trust and lost confidence is unknown.  But to the extent he is willing to try, we have to honor that effort.

So if we are ending a crisis-filled year on a tentatively hopeful note, why do we still need Save OBU?

Let's not forget the ugly facts of the matter: Two professors were unethically dismissed.  Several core curriculum areas have suffered.  Faculty search committee recommendations have been ignored and overruled.  Legitimate doubt exists about whether Whitlock and Norman want to be loyal to the BGCO's wishes or to the interests of students and faculty.  That doubt will exist as long as BGCO control does, but given the breach of trust, we need to be vigilant.

Faculty can only do so much.  Yes there was widespread anger, fear, and sadness in the wake of two ideologically-motivated firings.  But the faculty really can't continue to beat the administration over the head with this.  Mistakes were made.  OBU's reputation is suffering.  But the faculty have to move on, though they do not have to forget what has happened.  They have to move forward, engage other issues, and allow trust to be rebuilt if the administration repents and makes a genuine effort to uphold academic freedom and the Christian liberal arts tradition that made OBU great.

We may not be heading down the path of mass firings and a wholesale abandonment of everything we hold dear.  But we have to be prepared for things to get ugly.  While we stand in solidarity with the Save Our Shorter coalition, we are well aware of the dangers inherent in waiting until after another major defilement of academic freedom or our cherished Baptist principles before we get organized and stand up for what we believe is right.

Unfortunately, the past two years have made it abundantly clear that OBU needs a watchdog that brings together the interests and perspectives of students (current and prospective), parents, alumni, faculty, and Oklahoma Baptists.  Just because OBU's takeover is in its infancy while at other Baptist schools it is complete does not mean that we could never go down that road.  We welcome any progress, but we remain absolutely convinced that ending BGCO control is the only necessary and sufficient condition for eliminating threats to academic freedom, integrity, and respectability on Bison Hill.