In our last post, we noted that OBU recently honored Union University (TN) President David Dockery with the Herschel Hobbs Denominational Service Award. We can't help but notice that Union has become the darling of the post-Takeover SBC. Many SBC elites send their own children to Union. In contrast, OBU fails to attract the children of the SBC's leading men.
As far as I'm concerned, this is great news.
All indications are that Union is a solid Baptist liberal arts university that has absolutely thrived under David Dockery's leadership. It has more than doubled in size, scope, enrollment, and budget. My perception is that Union may be somewhat more intentionally conservative than OBU. Even so, we haven't heard rumblings about unethical firings or unilateral redirection of entire academic divisions based on fundamentalist ideology, as we have seen at OBU and other Baptist universities. So maybe Union already went through that change. Or maybe it's just more uniformly conservative and no one protests very loudly. I don't know enough about Union's history to know whether it was always a happier home for fundamentalists, or whether Dockery has deliberately ushered it in that direction. Folks who know him praise him and tell me that, while not as extremely right wing as today's SBC, Dockery is a traditional conservative who saw which way the wind was blowing. Hopefully, for his sake, he didn't have to compromise too many of his own beliefs and principles to win the adulation of post-Takeover SBC leaders.
Somehow, Union has managed to communicate two things. First, it is a growing, thriving, nationally recognized Christian liberal arts university with a good academic reputation, good professors, and good students. (Unlike OBU, Union didn't need to add a football program to boost male enrollment.) And second, Union enjoys a reputation for being a safe place for fundamentalists to send their children to college.
Union's success with this delicate dance must be vexing to OBU's new leadership. For some reason, the dance has been more difficult at OBU. When David Whitlock and Stan Norman arrived on Bison Hill, each pointed to Union as a model. OBU, though smaller, had at least as good a reputation. But OBU is not as widely considered to be a safe place for fundy kids. Of course, OBU produces tons of graduates who are fundamentalist, home-schooling culture warriors. But not as many as certain other Baptist colleges. At OBU, the chances seem higher that students will end up taking the Bible seriously, not literally. It has been much more likely that OBU religion and ministry graduates will attend non-SBC seminaries. As Whitlock and Norman discovered, OBU's relatively moderate reputation has been hard to kill. At this moment, I do not know of a single SBC seminary professor or high-level agency staffer who has a son or daughter enrolled in OBU.
That's unlikely to change. And frankly, we don't need more once-reputable Baptist colleges descending into fundamentalism. The SBC elites with children inclined toward religious colleges will continue to send their kids to Union, or, if they don't care at all about academic respectability, to an undergraduate program at one of the seminaries.
It's fine that OBU honored David Dockery. I intend no offense toward Union. As I said yesterday, Dockery has done the impossible: kept hardliners happy while also maintaining some mainstream legitimacy. It's not an easy feat. Usually you squander much of your institution's legitimacy when you pander to the hardliners. Just ask Emir Caner (Truett-McConnell), Joe Aguillard (Louisiana College), Don Dowless (Shorter), and Thomas White (Cedarville). Thankfully, David Whitlock seems less eager to take OBU over that cliff. I have always believed that Whitlock has it in him to be a great university president, but I doubt any Baptist college president can do what Dockery has done: Pleased the SBC without turning his institution into a joke.
So you have to choose.
While past OBU presidents courageously risked alienating the increasingly fundamentalist SBC as they were building OBU into a top-rated Christian liberal arts university, today's leaders seem too eager to advertise that the Fundamentalist Takeover is, at long last, coming to Bison Hill. This seems to be the intent of the Hobbs Award.
But the field of schools trying to out-Union Union is already very crowded. And it's not going well for any of them. So we will say what we've said all along. OBU should be what it has been for decades: A hospitable home for moderate and conservative faculty and students characterized by academic rigor, academic freedom, and academic integrity.
Showing posts with label Louisiana College. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louisiana College. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Cedarville (OH) Purge Intensifies
It's likely that few people noticed, but I've taken the past six weeks off from blogging. As I explained last month, I feel that we have raised enough awareness and that the situation at OBU has stabilized significantly since this blog began in December 2011. OBU's fundamentalist encroachment, though disappointing, has actually been quite minor in comparison to other colleges affiliated with Baptist state conventions.
To cite just one example, our worst fears about Cedarville University have been confirmed. This spring, I invited a Cedarville alumna to discuss how fundamentalist trustees and administrators were transforming the Ohio liberal arts college. In the wake of national press coverage of the Cedarville situation, Sarah Jones's four-part series reached many thousands of readers in a matter of a few days.
After a popular administrator was forced out and the entire philosophy major was gutted, we figured Cedarville would soon experience a fundamentalist takeover similar to the one we saw at Shorter University (GA) in 2012, when dozens of faculty were forced out for declining to affirm Shorter's new, fundamentalist direction.
To oversee the purge at Cedarville, trustees unanimously elected the Reverend Dr. Thomas White as president. White has spent his graduate student and professional careers at post-Takeover SBC seminaries, serving most recently as vice president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
How quickly will President White move to purge Cedarville of moderates and complete the fundamentalist transformation of Cedarville? Only time will tell. For the moment, faculty are obviously very anxious and students are uncertain of what is to come. Will White merely bring in a few of his own (male) friends and colleagues for important administrative positions? Or will he lead a Shorter-style implosion?
In the tradition of Save OBU, Save Our Shorter, and Louisiana College student Joshua Breland's very fine blog, a blog called Let There Be Light (@fiatlux125) is monitoring the situation.
I welcome Cedarville constituents to the Save OBU blog. Next week, I'll have more to say specifically about OBU and where we should go from here. But now, while students, faculty, and alumni/ae of several Baptist colleges are paying attention, I want to say this:
Many evangelical colleges are flourishing without a hint of fundamentalist encroachment. Wheaton, Calvin, and Gordon would not tolerate unethical administrative actions or violations of academic freedom. But Southern Baptist colleges are falling apart before our eyes. OBU (my alma mater) is actually in much better shape than many Baptist colleges, as administrators there dare not do any more damage than they have already done to OBU's faculty morale and academic reputation. We need to stand together. We are all fighting slightly different versions of the same battle. We must stand for integrity and rigor in Christian higher education. The reputations, faithfulness to fearless scholarly inquiry, financial health, and even accreditation of our schools will soon be in jeopardy if present trends continue.
Blessings to all of you,
Jacob Lupfer
OBU Class of 2002
Silver Spring, Maryland
Founder and Contributing Editor, Save OBU Blog
To cite just one example, our worst fears about Cedarville University have been confirmed. This spring, I invited a Cedarville alumna to discuss how fundamentalist trustees and administrators were transforming the Ohio liberal arts college. In the wake of national press coverage of the Cedarville situation, Sarah Jones's four-part series reached many thousands of readers in a matter of a few days.
After a popular administrator was forced out and the entire philosophy major was gutted, we figured Cedarville would soon experience a fundamentalist takeover similar to the one we saw at Shorter University (GA) in 2012, when dozens of faculty were forced out for declining to affirm Shorter's new, fundamentalist direction.
To oversee the purge at Cedarville, trustees unanimously elected the Reverend Dr. Thomas White as president. White has spent his graduate student and professional careers at post-Takeover SBC seminaries, serving most recently as vice president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
How quickly will President White move to purge Cedarville of moderates and complete the fundamentalist transformation of Cedarville? Only time will tell. For the moment, faculty are obviously very anxious and students are uncertain of what is to come. Will White merely bring in a few of his own (male) friends and colleagues for important administrative positions? Or will he lead a Shorter-style implosion?
In the tradition of Save OBU, Save Our Shorter, and Louisiana College student Joshua Breland's very fine blog, a blog called Let There Be Light (@fiatlux125) is monitoring the situation.
I welcome Cedarville constituents to the Save OBU blog. Next week, I'll have more to say specifically about OBU and where we should go from here. But now, while students, faculty, and alumni/ae of several Baptist colleges are paying attention, I want to say this:
Many evangelical colleges are flourishing without a hint of fundamentalist encroachment. Wheaton, Calvin, and Gordon would not tolerate unethical administrative actions or violations of academic freedom. But Southern Baptist colleges are falling apart before our eyes. OBU (my alma mater) is actually in much better shape than many Baptist colleges, as administrators there dare not do any more damage than they have already done to OBU's faculty morale and academic reputation. We need to stand together. We are all fighting slightly different versions of the same battle. We must stand for integrity and rigor in Christian higher education. The reputations, faithfulness to fearless scholarly inquiry, financial health, and even accreditation of our schools will soon be in jeopardy if present trends continue.
Blessings to all of you,
Jacob Lupfer
OBU Class of 2002
Silver Spring, Maryland
Founder and Contributing Editor, Save OBU Blog
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Reflection on Calvin College (and Other Non-Baptist Evangelical Schools)
I've spent the past three days attending a conference at Calvin College. Calvin's Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Religion and Politics hosted the Seventh Biennial Symposium on Religion and Public Life on the school's Grand Rapids, Michigan campus. (Outside my involvement with Save OBU, I am a political science Ph.D. student with research interests in the area of religion and politics.) I had occasion to talk with many professors who work in evangelical higher education, all of whom were very interested in Baptist schools' recent lurches back toward fundamentalism.
Lately, our blog has focused attention on happenings at colleges that are, like OBU, affiliated with Baptist state conventions:
But we have talked about non-Baptist evangelical schools before. Last summer, when the new round of Forbes rankings came out, we saw that non-Baptist evangelical colleges not only have fewer restrictions on academic freedom, but also better reputations than Baptist colleges. (We've also talked about how, before the changes, OBU was regarded as the best Southern Baptist CCCU-affiliated college. Now it is quickly losing ground to Union, Ouachita, Samford, and others.)
We also speculated about how the purported "Evangelical Renaissance in Academe" is likely not to include Southern Baptists as long as their rightful heritage as legitimate liberal arts colleges is continually under attack from fundamentalist forces.
Baptist power brokers want you to think that if they don't exercise control over colleges, the colleges will quickly abandon Christianity. That idea is laughable to people affiliated with schools like Wheaton College in Illinois and Gordon College in Massachusetts which, in spite of having no denominational ties, manage to sustain a strong Christian commitment and identity.
Calvin is a bit of an anomaly. The denomination that controls it, the Christian Reformed Church in America, is not nearly as fearful or dogmatic as today's Baptist state conventions. Yet in spite of having a rigorous faith examination as part of new professors' hiring process, Calvin does not seem interested in imposing restrictions on academic freedom. Calvin faculty hires must produce a letter of affirmation from a pastor, commit to joining a Reformed congregation within two years, and appear before a committee of faculty and administrators to discuss matters of faith and the meaning of Christian education. Yet no one is being run out of the Calvin philosophy and theology departments for doubting that Jonah was really swallowed by a fish or that the earth was created in 6 24-hour periods about 6,000 years ago.
Also to Calvin's great credit, it attracts academically talented students. Just as a team is only as good as its worst player or an orchestra is only as good as its worst instrumentalist, there is a sense in which a university is only as good as its least academically capable student. Let's be honest. OBU has a HUGE problem in this area. OBU admits almost everyone who applies, often probationally. Calvin (and many of the top-tier evangelical colleges) are more selective in admissions and less willing to compromise academic rigor and quality. If OBU truly wants to be a peer of Wheaton, Calvin, and Gordon, it needs to be more intentional about attracting (and retaining) better students.
When I tell evangelical professors about the worsening state of Baptist undergraduate education in certain quarters, they are almost universally sympathetic. They cannot fathom seeing colleagues dismissed for the reasons OBU (and so many others) has given. They cannot believe how much power is concentrated in fundamentalists' hands. They are frankly offended at the notion that fellow evangelical scholars/professors cannot be trusted to sustain an institution's Christian identity without heavy-handed administrative intervention and denominational oversight. They are perplexed by the dismantling of philosophy departments and the increasing trend toward dumbed-down "apologetics" and bizarrely defensive "Christian worldview" classes.
For the record, these people are NOT liberals, let me assure you. They are people who believe in Christ as their personal savior, trust the Scriptures as authoritative, and go to theologically conservative churches every Sunday.
The more I reflect on the massive variation in academic freedom among Christian colleges, the more I think the CCCU needs to get involved. We've expressed our qualms about the CCCU before. But for better or worse, it is the institutional representative of these conservative Protestant schools -- Baptist, nondenominational, and otherwise. Obviously the CCCU lacks an incentive to meddle in member institutions' internal affairs. But the quality of the schools that have academic freedom starkly contrasts with frankly embarrassing turn of events at Cedarville, Louisiana College, Shorter University, OBU, and elsewhere over the past few years.
The fundamentalists won the Takeover fight in the SBC -- we get it. "To the victor goes the spoils." But now that the Takeover has moved from the state conventions to the colleges, we have to ask, when is enough enough? There are many fine examples of academic freedom, ethical administration, and the responsible integration of faith and learning at so many evangelical institutions. Baptists can do better.
Lately, our blog has focused attention on happenings at colleges that are, like OBU, affiliated with Baptist state conventions:
- The coming split between the Kentucky Baptist Convention and Campbellsville University
- The transformation of Cedarville University from a liberal arts college to a fundamentalist Bible academy
- The ever-bizarre goings-on at Louisana College
- The Georgia Baptist Convention's shameful assault on Shorter University
- The GBC's support for fledgling fundamentalist schools like Truett-McConnell and Brewton-Parker
- Ongoing problems at my own beloved alma mater, Oklahoma Baptist University
But we have talked about non-Baptist evangelical schools before. Last summer, when the new round of Forbes rankings came out, we saw that non-Baptist evangelical colleges not only have fewer restrictions on academic freedom, but also better reputations than Baptist colleges. (We've also talked about how, before the changes, OBU was regarded as the best Southern Baptist CCCU-affiliated college. Now it is quickly losing ground to Union, Ouachita, Samford, and others.)
We also speculated about how the purported "Evangelical Renaissance in Academe" is likely not to include Southern Baptists as long as their rightful heritage as legitimate liberal arts colleges is continually under attack from fundamentalist forces.
Baptist power brokers want you to think that if they don't exercise control over colleges, the colleges will quickly abandon Christianity. That idea is laughable to people affiliated with schools like Wheaton College in Illinois and Gordon College in Massachusetts which, in spite of having no denominational ties, manage to sustain a strong Christian commitment and identity.
Calvin is a bit of an anomaly. The denomination that controls it, the Christian Reformed Church in America, is not nearly as fearful or dogmatic as today's Baptist state conventions. Yet in spite of having a rigorous faith examination as part of new professors' hiring process, Calvin does not seem interested in imposing restrictions on academic freedom. Calvin faculty hires must produce a letter of affirmation from a pastor, commit to joining a Reformed congregation within two years, and appear before a committee of faculty and administrators to discuss matters of faith and the meaning of Christian education. Yet no one is being run out of the Calvin philosophy and theology departments for doubting that Jonah was really swallowed by a fish or that the earth was created in 6 24-hour periods about 6,000 years ago.
Also to Calvin's great credit, it attracts academically talented students. Just as a team is only as good as its worst player or an orchestra is only as good as its worst instrumentalist, there is a sense in which a university is only as good as its least academically capable student. Let's be honest. OBU has a HUGE problem in this area. OBU admits almost everyone who applies, often probationally. Calvin (and many of the top-tier evangelical colleges) are more selective in admissions and less willing to compromise academic rigor and quality. If OBU truly wants to be a peer of Wheaton, Calvin, and Gordon, it needs to be more intentional about attracting (and retaining) better students.
When I tell evangelical professors about the worsening state of Baptist undergraduate education in certain quarters, they are almost universally sympathetic. They cannot fathom seeing colleagues dismissed for the reasons OBU (and so many others) has given. They cannot believe how much power is concentrated in fundamentalists' hands. They are frankly offended at the notion that fellow evangelical scholars/professors cannot be trusted to sustain an institution's Christian identity without heavy-handed administrative intervention and denominational oversight. They are perplexed by the dismantling of philosophy departments and the increasing trend toward dumbed-down "apologetics" and bizarrely defensive "Christian worldview" classes.
For the record, these people are NOT liberals, let me assure you. They are people who believe in Christ as their personal savior, trust the Scriptures as authoritative, and go to theologically conservative churches every Sunday.
The more I reflect on the massive variation in academic freedom among Christian colleges, the more I think the CCCU needs to get involved. We've expressed our qualms about the CCCU before. But for better or worse, it is the institutional representative of these conservative Protestant schools -- Baptist, nondenominational, and otherwise. Obviously the CCCU lacks an incentive to meddle in member institutions' internal affairs. But the quality of the schools that have academic freedom starkly contrasts with frankly embarrassing turn of events at Cedarville, Louisiana College, Shorter University, OBU, and elsewhere over the past few years.
The fundamentalists won the Takeover fight in the SBC -- we get it. "To the victor goes the spoils." But now that the Takeover has moved from the state conventions to the colleges, we have to ask, when is enough enough? There are many fine examples of academic freedom, ethical administration, and the responsible integration of faith and learning at so many evangelical institutions. Baptists can do better.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Where is the CCCU!?
Before I begin, let me extend a warm welcome to our hundreds of new readers this week. Please look around the site and get to know us a bit. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. And please excuse this hastily composed stream-of-consciousness post.
I hate to interrupt guest contributor Sarah Jones's excellent series on Cedarville University. But as fundamentalist encroachment proceeds apace at a number of evangelical colleges with no sign of letting up, I have to ask, Where is the CCCU?
For the uninitiated, the Council for Conservative Christian Colleges & Universities is a Washington, D.C.-based lobby for a very small subset of Christian colleges. We've written about the CCCU here before. Last March, we quoted Gordon College Professor Karl Giberson, who rightly said that some CCCU schools' "lingering attachment to some of the more dubious certainties and habits derived from Fundamentalism" badly hurt their credibility as legitimate academic institutions. In April, Save OBU Contributing Editor Veronica Risinger wrote a series on women at OBU. She prefaced it by looking at women in CCCU schools, which the CCCU strongly implies are the only schools that are "intentionally Christ-centered." On this score, Veronica noted that only 6% of CCCU institutions have female presidents: "For women who want to lead, the odds are a lot better if your school isn't intentionally Christian." Finally, in July, I congratulated outgoing CCCU President Paul Corts and welcomed the newly-elected president, Ed Blews.
My interest in academic freedom and ethical administration in Christian higher education began when I heard about failings in those areas at my alma mater (Oklahoma Baptist University) from 2009 to 2011. But I have been saddened (though not surprised) to learn that the situation is worse -- much worse -- at peer institutions like Shorter, Cedarville, and Louisiana College. This is without even mentioning other Baptist schools who have apparently made their peace with the new, fundamentalist direction of the post-Takeover SBC such as Union University, Southwest Baptist, and North Greenville University. And we constituents of institutions related to Baptist state conventions are just beginning to learn about goings-on at colleges related to other, smaller evangelical and pentecostal denominations that comprise a majority of the CCCU's membership.
Now, I suppose the CCCU does not want to meddle in its member institutions' internal affairs. But unlike accrediting bodies, which must verify colleges' independent governance, the CCCU seems either unconcerned about or uninterested in stopping problematic threats to academic freedom and lapses in ethical administration that occur when fundamentalists take control.
Thank God moderates at OBU still had enough clout to prevent, or at least delay, the new administration from turning it into a fundamentalist Bible academy. But if we OBU constituents are losing the battle slowly, constituents of Louisiana College, Cedarville, and Shorter are losing the battle swiftly and forcefully. Will no one in the CCCU stand up for them?
I would think the tide of embarrassing press (Cedarville, Shorter), threats to accreditation (Shorter, Louisiana College) and dramatic declines in national rankings (OBU, maybe others) would get the CCCU's attention. But I know of no evidence that this is the case. CCCU President Ed Blews wants to focus on protecting scholarship and loan programs (which is good, I guess, though the wisdom of borrowing heavily to finance a private undergraduate education is debatable). Blews also wants to protect "religious freedom" (i.e., challenge the so-called HHS Mandate, which is a little strange since the CCCU excludes all Catholic universities as insufficiently Christ-centered). Of course it's vital for the CCCU to advocate on issues relevant to all its member institutions and I am as confident as anyone that under Blews's leadership, the council will continue to do so very effectively.
But the CCCU needs to realize something. All is not well. Sure, there are a handful of mainline-affiliated (literally no more than 15) and a few unaffiliated CCCU schools where academic freedom is secure and denominational politics cannot or will not interfere. But at many member institutions, faithful Christian scholars and students are suffering.
I know it's a fine line for the CCCU to walk. After all, the CCCU is a big tent considering its rather precise definition of what constitutes "intentionally Christ-centered." Its membership includes some very reputable, academically rigorous institutions and some pretty wacky, nominally accredited, and avowedly fundamentalist degree mills. But at this point, the CCCU's silence is deafening. One prominent evangelical blogger, noting problems at several institutions (CCCU and otherwise) more eloquently characterized the current collective problem as an "Evangelical Inquisition."
It's well and good that Ed Blews was smiling and joking around with Messiah College President and CCCU Board Chair Kim Phipps at his inauguration last month in Washington. But it's time to get serious about fundamentalist encroachment and oppose this inquisition. It recently hit close to home for Dr. Phipps (incidentally one of the handful of female CCCU college presidents), as one of Messiah's professors is under fire for a blog post that challenged unthinking, literal interpretations of Scripture. The CCCU requires its members to "be supportive of other Christian colleges." Well, we at OBU, Cedarville, Shorter, Louisiana College and a host of other member institutions need to feel that support.
We need it now more than ever.
P.S. I live in Washington, so I am willing to meet with senior CCCU staff to strategize about how we can all work together to protect academic freedom and ensure ethical administration at our beloved Christian colleges.
P.P.S. The hymn "Forward Through the Ages" was sung at Mr. Blews's inauguration service. It's one of his favorites and it's one of mine, too. I hope it calls to mind the unity and determination we need to protect and preserve the traditions and values we hold dear.
1. Forward through the ages, in unbroken line, move the faithful spirits at the call divine; gifts in differing measure, hearts of one accord, manifold the service, one the sure reward.
Refrain: Forward through the ages, in unbroken line, move the faithful spirits at the call divine. 2. Wider grows the kingdom, reign of love and light; for it we must labor, till our faith is sight. Prophets have proclaimed it, martyrs testified, poets sung its glory, heroes for it died. (Refrain) 3. Not alone we conquer, not alone we fall; in each loss or triumph lose or triumph all. Bound by God's far purpose in one living whole, move we on together to the shining goal. (Refrain)
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Finding Parallels In Cedarville's Story
I've mentioned lately that one of our tasks moving forward is to build solidarity with constituents of Baptist and other evangelical colleges that are experiencing fundamentalist incursions. OBU is not alone. Some schools are in much worse shape, in fact. Once-proud institutions have been taken over and are being remade from the inside out in ways that threaten their reputations, their academic freedom and rigor, and even their accreditation.
If you are an OBU alum saddened by recent changes, a faculty member who knows that academic freedom and respectability were more secure before the current administration arrived, or a student who perceives that things at OBU are not as they should be, I hope you know you are not alone. In 2011, "The Norm" and the alumni petition showed how widespread the concern is. In 2012, Save OBU explored many of the problems. We examined the histories of a few Baptist colleges that managed to leave their state conventions rather than succumb to fundamentalism. We watched Georgia Baptist fundamentalists ruin Shorter University. But we're just beginning to make common cause with the students, faculty, and alumni of the dozens of other Baptist and evangelical colleges that are facing different versions of the same fight.
Next week, we'll closely analyze the case of Cedarville University in Ohio. Cedarville's plight has been widely discussed in the evangelical blogosphere. Today, the New York Times has a story on the school's recent changes:
Cedarville alumna Sarah Jones, a freelance journalists who recently completed a graduate degree in the U.K., accepted my invitation to write a series of blog posts. Cedarville has a different history than OBU and a different relationship with Baptists. As we hear of the administrative blunders, trustee politics, and attacks on academic freedom, we can hopefully learn from our friends' experience.
In the coming months, we'll examine the goings-on at Louisiana College, Union University, and other institutions. But for now, please join me in welcoming Sarah Jones to Save OBU!
If you are an OBU alum saddened by recent changes, a faculty member who knows that academic freedom and respectability were more secure before the current administration arrived, or a student who perceives that things at OBU are not as they should be, I hope you know you are not alone. In 2011, "The Norm" and the alumni petition showed how widespread the concern is. In 2012, Save OBU explored many of the problems. We examined the histories of a few Baptist colleges that managed to leave their state conventions rather than succumb to fundamentalism. We watched Georgia Baptist fundamentalists ruin Shorter University. But we're just beginning to make common cause with the students, faculty, and alumni of the dozens of other Baptist and evangelical colleges that are facing different versions of the same fight.
Next week, we'll closely analyze the case of Cedarville University in Ohio. Cedarville's plight has been widely discussed in the evangelical blogosphere. Today, the New York Times has a story on the school's recent changes:
Even by evangelical standards, nearly everyone at Cedarville is theologically conservative. But some conservatives have a greater willingness to hear dissident views. The departures of William Brown, the president, whose resignation is effective June 30, and of Dr. [Carl] Ruby, who left suddenly last month, are widely viewed as strengthening the hands of the most conservative trustees, fearful of a more open Cedarville.
Cedarville alumna Sarah Jones, a freelance journalists who recently completed a graduate degree in the U.K., accepted my invitation to write a series of blog posts. Cedarville has a different history than OBU and a different relationship with Baptists. As we hear of the administrative blunders, trustee politics, and attacks on academic freedom, we can hopefully learn from our friends' experience.
In the coming months, we'll examine the goings-on at Louisiana College, Union University, and other institutions. But for now, please join me in welcoming Sarah Jones to Save OBU!
Monday, April 16, 2012
The Downward Spiral: Louisiana College Forcibly Taken Over
This series began with a victory for academic freedom at OBU. Though this should go without saying, we now project that OBU will not carry out any ideologically-motivated dismissals this summer. In addition, we are hopeful that the faculty will be able to fill vacancies in the usual manner, rather than having a Stan Norman-led doctrinal inquisition designed to bring more fundamentalists to OBU.
As it turns out, this is no small feat. We need only look at other SBC-related colleges where fundamentalists wield even more control to see how bad things can get. On Saturday, we examined the case of Truett-McConnell College in Georgia, which recently purged all faculty who did not agree with every word of the Baptist Faith and Message (edited in 2000 to be explicitly sexist and to remove Christ as the lens through which the Bible should be interpreted). The Georgia Baptist Convention now boasts on its website that TMC has eroded academic freedom (not to mention Baptist freedoms like liberty of the conscience and soul competency).
Not to be outdone, Brewton-Parker College (also in Georgia) no longer even pretends to be a legitimate academic institution. Even in the face of devastating financial problems and likely loss of accreditation, BPC has elevated adherence to fundamentalist doctrines over responsibility to students and faculty.
We'll return to Georgia tomorrow. But first let us consider the case of Louisiana College in Pineville, LA -- yet another state convention-run college whose descent into fundamentalism and irrelevance is much more advanced than OBU's.
Louisiana College
LC is a little closer to OBU geographically, with more OBU faculty and administrators having cycled through LC over the years than any of the Georgia Baptist institutions. Like Oklahoma, Georgia, and every state except Texas and Virginia, fundamentalists have taken control of the Louisiana Baptist Convention over the past 20 years. LC was doing quite well under the presidential leadership of former OBU Interim President Robert G. Lynn. But things have deteriorated badly. We've already profiled Louisiana College in a blog post about the specter of schools choosing adherence to fundamentalist policies even when it may eventually lead to loss of accreditation.
In spite of having its application for reaccreditation rejected and being placed on warning by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, LC has buried its head in the sand, waging bizarre political and cultural battles rather than making sure the school does not lose its accreditation. LC has found time to cozy up to political activists within and beyond Baptist life, as well as sue the federal government over a requirement that certain religious schools offer contraceptive coverage in their employee health insurance plans. Right now, LC is basking in the glow of a favorable court ruling that it can be as fundamentalist as it wants. (Just because you can does not mean you should.)
In addition to massive physical plant and financial problems, LC has had a great deal of trouble attracting and retaining quality faculty and administrators. Even one avowedly conservative professor has said that LC has gone off the reservation.
Yet, in spite of the specter of losing its accreditation, it is difficult to find any evidence at all that Louisiana College cares anything at all about academic freedom, integrity, or respectability.
Louisiana College clearly belongs in our Downward Spiral series. As with the Georgia schools, OBU is in much better shape than LC. But just as we are tempted to say "This could never happen here," there was a time when Southern Baptists in Louisiana and elsewhere never would have believed this coud happen at LC. Yet here we are. This is the byproduct of a runaway fundamentalist state convention, trustees who care more about convention politics than the school's interest, administrators who badly overstep their bounds (sadly, that part is familiar to OBU), and students, faculty, and alumni who wait just a little too long to unite and raise their voices in protest. Let's learn from these disastrous situations and make sure we stand ready to defend academic freedom, integrity, and respectability against encroachment from the convention and administrators tempted to take our school over the cliff in order to stay in the convention's good graces.
As it turns out, this is no small feat. We need only look at other SBC-related colleges where fundamentalists wield even more control to see how bad things can get. On Saturday, we examined the case of Truett-McConnell College in Georgia, which recently purged all faculty who did not agree with every word of the Baptist Faith and Message (edited in 2000 to be explicitly sexist and to remove Christ as the lens through which the Bible should be interpreted). The Georgia Baptist Convention now boasts on its website that TMC has eroded academic freedom (not to mention Baptist freedoms like liberty of the conscience and soul competency).
Not to be outdone, Brewton-Parker College (also in Georgia) no longer even pretends to be a legitimate academic institution. Even in the face of devastating financial problems and likely loss of accreditation, BPC has elevated adherence to fundamentalist doctrines over responsibility to students and faculty.
We'll return to Georgia tomorrow. But first let us consider the case of Louisiana College in Pineville, LA -- yet another state convention-run college whose descent into fundamentalism and irrelevance is much more advanced than OBU's.
Louisiana College
LC is a little closer to OBU geographically, with more OBU faculty and administrators having cycled through LC over the years than any of the Georgia Baptist institutions. Like Oklahoma, Georgia, and every state except Texas and Virginia, fundamentalists have taken control of the Louisiana Baptist Convention over the past 20 years. LC was doing quite well under the presidential leadership of former OBU Interim President Robert G. Lynn. But things have deteriorated badly. We've already profiled Louisiana College in a blog post about the specter of schools choosing adherence to fundamentalist policies even when it may eventually lead to loss of accreditation.
In spite of having its application for reaccreditation rejected and being placed on warning by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, LC has buried its head in the sand, waging bizarre political and cultural battles rather than making sure the school does not lose its accreditation. LC has found time to cozy up to political activists within and beyond Baptist life, as well as sue the federal government over a requirement that certain religious schools offer contraceptive coverage in their employee health insurance plans. Right now, LC is basking in the glow of a favorable court ruling that it can be as fundamentalist as it wants. (Just because you can does not mean you should.)
In addition to massive physical plant and financial problems, LC has had a great deal of trouble attracting and retaining quality faculty and administrators. Even one avowedly conservative professor has said that LC has gone off the reservation.
Yet, in spite of the specter of losing its accreditation, it is difficult to find any evidence at all that Louisiana College cares anything at all about academic freedom, integrity, or respectability.
Louisiana College clearly belongs in our Downward Spiral series. As with the Georgia schools, OBU is in much better shape than LC. But just as we are tempted to say "This could never happen here," there was a time when Southern Baptists in Louisiana and elsewhere never would have believed this coud happen at LC. Yet here we are. This is the byproduct of a runaway fundamentalist state convention, trustees who care more about convention politics than the school's interest, administrators who badly overstep their bounds (sadly, that part is familiar to OBU), and students, faculty, and alumni who wait just a little too long to unite and raise their voices in protest. Let's learn from these disastrous situations and make sure we stand ready to defend academic freedom, integrity, and respectability against encroachment from the convention and administrators tempted to take our school over the cliff in order to stay in the convention's good graces.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Save OBU Outreach: Shawnee Community
After 3+ months of almost daily blogging, Save OBU decided to join OBU students, faculty, and staff in taking Spring Break off last week. We're back with gusto and have a packed schedule for the rest of March and beyond.
We have talked at length about how the dramatic and unprecedented changes at OBU in recent years have impacted students and faculty. We've heard from concerned alumni and friends who oppose the extremism and fundamentalism of today's SBC and BGCO. We've even talked about what prospective students and parents are doing in light of OBU's alarming new direction.
Save OBU will spend a few days focusing on some other stakeholders we want to invite into our coalition.
Town and Gown: A Delicate Dance
It's in everyone's best interests when the relationship between a university and its wider community is mutually reinforcing. This is especially true in small towns where the university (or universities) is a significant driver of economic and cultural activity. Fortunately, Shawnee and OBU have enjoyed a very good relationship over the years, all things considered. Not everyone in town stays current on OBU news and happenings, of course. Most people drive up and down Kickapoo Street, see a construction project every few years, and assume all is well. A lot of townies, aware of the university's conservative and traditional ethos, think of OBU as a throwback to an earlier time. But in general, the community supports the university and OBU's presence has a positive impact on the community.
Could it be that OBU administrators' dramatic and unprecedented turn away from a liberal arts college and toward a Bible academy ethos might ultimately change the town-gown dynamic and harm the community? I think so, and I invite Shawnee residents to learn about the negative changes over the past two years and join our growing coalition.
When Colleges Fail, College Towns Decline
OBU is a long way from failing, of course. We've already studied other colleges that are a lot further down the ugly path toward irrelevance, financial problems, and losing accreditation. But the seeds have already been planted, and if the current leaders continue to nurture them and have a deleterious effect on OBU's reputation, curriculum, and overall success, things could get ugly in a few years. Already, there is reason to fear that our next re-accreditation process will have to address concerns about some of the disastrous personnel and policy changes that have been unilaterally forced on OBU by senior administrators.
Since fundamentalists seized control of Louisiana College, a SBC school in Pineville, LA, in 2005 and began running it into the ground, the community of 13,000 has struggled. Like OBU, LC has dabbled in adding programs while neglecting its core mission of Christian liberal arts education. Its results are not promising, and offer a warning for where we may be headed if the president and provost get their way. Likewise, Shorter University in Rome, GA, is also in the throes of a fundamenatlist purge. The president has required all staff to sign a fundamentalist "lifestyle statement" and is prepared to fire everyone who doesn't sign it by next month. Shorter may offer a better parallel for OBU because its community is closer to Shawnee's size and it has two colleges. (The other, Berry College, is a highly-rated non-denominational Christian college that has sustained its commitment to liberal arts education.) So with one stable college and one very unstable one, the Rome community is dealing with the new reality of what a fundamentalist takeover can do to a once-great college.
Shawnee, America: Help Save OBU!
In addition to the faculty-specific abuses described in this post, here are some specific issues Save OBU is concerned about:
We have talked at length about how the dramatic and unprecedented changes at OBU in recent years have impacted students and faculty. We've heard from concerned alumni and friends who oppose the extremism and fundamentalism of today's SBC and BGCO. We've even talked about what prospective students and parents are doing in light of OBU's alarming new direction.
Town and Gown: A Delicate Dance
It's in everyone's best interests when the relationship between a university and its wider community is mutually reinforcing. This is especially true in small towns where the university (or universities) is a significant driver of economic and cultural activity. Fortunately, Shawnee and OBU have enjoyed a very good relationship over the years, all things considered. Not everyone in town stays current on OBU news and happenings, of course. Most people drive up and down Kickapoo Street, see a construction project every few years, and assume all is well. A lot of townies, aware of the university's conservative and traditional ethos, think of OBU as a throwback to an earlier time. But in general, the community supports the university and OBU's presence has a positive impact on the community.
Could it be that OBU administrators' dramatic and unprecedented turn away from a liberal arts college and toward a Bible academy ethos might ultimately change the town-gown dynamic and harm the community? I think so, and I invite Shawnee residents to learn about the negative changes over the past two years and join our growing coalition.
When Colleges Fail, College Towns Decline
OBU is a long way from failing, of course. We've already studied other colleges that are a lot further down the ugly path toward irrelevance, financial problems, and losing accreditation. But the seeds have already been planted, and if the current leaders continue to nurture them and have a deleterious effect on OBU's reputation, curriculum, and overall success, things could get ugly in a few years. Already, there is reason to fear that our next re-accreditation process will have to address concerns about some of the disastrous personnel and policy changes that have been unilaterally forced on OBU by senior administrators.
Since fundamentalists seized control of Louisiana College, a SBC school in Pineville, LA, in 2005 and began running it into the ground, the community of 13,000 has struggled. Like OBU, LC has dabbled in adding programs while neglecting its core mission of Christian liberal arts education. Its results are not promising, and offer a warning for where we may be headed if the president and provost get their way. Likewise, Shorter University in Rome, GA, is also in the throes of a fundamenatlist purge. The president has required all staff to sign a fundamentalist "lifestyle statement" and is prepared to fire everyone who doesn't sign it by next month. Shorter may offer a better parallel for OBU because its community is closer to Shawnee's size and it has two colleges. (The other, Berry College, is a highly-rated non-denominational Christian college that has sustained its commitment to liberal arts education.) So with one stable college and one very unstable one, the Rome community is dealing with the new reality of what a fundamentalist takeover can do to a once-great college.
Shawnee, America: Help Save OBU!
In addition to the faculty-specific abuses described in this post, here are some specific issues Save OBU is concerned about:
- While the president, Rev. Dr. David Whitlock, has done a great job of getting involved in the community (an area where President Agee had great success and President Brister struggled), he certainly has made decisions aimed at pleasing the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma rather than protecting the interests of students and faculty.
- The current provost, Rev. Dr. Stan Norman (who luckily avoided being thrust into the Louisiana College disaster in 2005), was passed over for the religion/ministry department deanship in favor of one of BGCO Executive Director Anthony Jordan's friends. Soon after, President Whitlock created the provost position for Norman (thereby issuing a de facto demotion of the woman who had served very capably as chief academic officer) and turned him loose to begin undermining academic freedom, interfering in curriculum decisions, and making OBU look more like a fundamentalist Bible academy than a respected Christian liberal arts university. Though many of our supporters would like to see both leaders leave OBU and the senior faculty very nearly held a no confidence vote last fall, Save OBU has not called for anyone's ouster. We hold fast to the hope that the provost, realizing he is a bad fit for OBU, will leave of his own accord and the president will be convinced that it is better to stand for students' and professors' interests than to be a BGCO lackey.
- Clearly, however, the BGCO enjoys unprecedented influence over OBU affairs even as its financial investment (especially as a percentage of OBU's budget) plummets.
- Sadly, the 33-member Board of Trustees includes only two Shawnee residents (that we know of).
- Whereas OBU until very recently welcomed new faculty from a variety of denominational families, senior leadership has now institutionalized a very clear hierarchy of Shawnee-area churches. Immanuel (where the minister has said that the truth of the gospel "depends on" a literal six day creation) and other fundamentalist Baptist churches stand alone at the top. Moderate Baptist congregations are tolerable but suspect. Judging by recent job postings, OBU's message to Christians who worship in mainline Protestant congregations (United Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran) is, quite simply: Don't bother. So far, we have not seen anyone fired for being a Presbyterian. But the provost has suggested that mainline Protestant faculty ought to defend or explain why they have remained in mainline Protestant denominations. This is a radical departure from precdent at OBU, where professors have for decades enriched the worship lives and leadership of a variety of local Protestant congregations.
- A few local educators who are aware of OBU's new direction have already reached out to us with concerns that they can no longer recommend OBU to their best students. This does not bode well for a community that prides itself on having a first-rate university.
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."
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Accreditation: What Fundamentalism Eventually Costs You
Lots of bad things happen at universities when fundamentalism is pervasive. Quality faculty members are dismissed. Core curriculum areas are gutted. Mainstream books are censored. All these things and more have happened at OBU just in the past few years. But take the long view. Imagine what OBU will look like in 10 or 20 years if these radical changes continue at their current pace. Since fundamentalists took over Southern Baptist institutional life in the 1980s, more than a few Baptist colleges have struggled to maintain their accreditation. (Though technically secular in nature, the accrediting bodies are exceedingly tolerant of the religious nature of Christian schools' mission.)
Accrediting bodies exist to establish and uphold some basic threshold of financial integrity, academic quality, managerial competence, and physical plant maintenance and repair. At good schools, these issues are never problems: there is significant institutional coordination to ensure that all these basic standards are met. At crumbling institutions, however, these standards are never a given. And fundamentalists are often so obsessed with making their institutions "pure" that they forget how to make them run smoothly and properly.
Take, for example, Louisiana College. For decades, Louisiana College was a fine Baptist liberal arts university. Former OBU Interim President Robert L. Lynn served as president from the mid-70s to the mid-90s. As recently as a decade ago, it was dreaming of one day building a medical school. Like so many others, though, it was hijacked by fundamentalists. I don't presume to know the whole history, but the death knell came in 2005 over a dispute about presidential selection. A president had recently retired and trustees had enacted fundamentalist policies restricting academic freedom. The search committee's first choice, an administrator at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, withdrew his name from consideration because the governance situation was so awful. The committee's second choice, Stan Norman, did not even get a chance because a reconstituted committee usurped the original committee's authority and elected Joe Aguillard, one of the school's most conservative professors, as president. (But let the record show that as early as 2005, Stan Norman wanted to be the president of a nominally accredited fundamentalist college.) The faculty voted overwhelmingly to oppose Aguillard's nomination, but he was installed anyway. Due to the disastrous governance problems, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put Louisiana College on probation.
What has happened at LC in the meantime? Nothing good. Dozens of faculty have resigned in protest. Academic freedom is nonexistent. One former professor laments, "Education has been replaced by indoctrination. They've made it clear that you will do nothing but advocate the fundamentalist position, or you're not welcome here." Even a former president of the stridently conservative Council for Christian Colleges and Universities said, "The state conventions in the Southern Baptist world own the colleges, and there's a sense of wanting them to adhere to the theological positions of the Baptist Church and not always understanding the meaning of liberal education."
Finally, in 2011, one professor courageously spoke out and sued the college over his termination. (OBU is lucky it has avoided such lawsuits -- not so much for substantive reasons but because of the tremendous amount of bad press it would have generated.) The wrongfully terminated Louisiana College professor's case is typical: under fundamentalist leadership, speaking out against restrictive academic policies will not be tolerated. Now, Louisiana College is once again in trouble with its accrediting body, as this letter details.
Their "Save Our LC" movement is a bit more in-your-face than Save OBU, but who can blame them? Their situation is even more dire.
I don't mean to sound alarmist. OBU is in no immediate danger of losing its accreditation. We're on relatively solid ground financially (even without the BGCO's subsidy, I'd argue). But I hope you can see the parallels with Louisiana College's story, which began with fundamentalists taking control of the Louisiana Baptist Convention and stacking the college's Board of Trustees with loyalists. If nothing changes, this is the road we're on, friends. Look around you -- some of the telltale signs are already evident: fundamentalism is now a litmus test in personnel decisions; academic freedom is being squelched; dissent among faculty is not tolerated; state convention elites drive the agenda. OBU is a long way from a Louisiana College-like implosion. But make no mistake: it's where we are headed, and it's happening faster than many people realize.
Sometimes when you create master's programs, add athletic teams, and launch capital campaigns, you forget the basics: a solid, balanced, moderate liberal arts education. From the outside, it looks like progress. But when appeasing fundamentalist power brokers is a constant duty of administrators, students and faculty suffer. At least now we have a presumably independent-minded Board of Trustees. But if they ever started exerting that independence, Anthony Jordan would just replace them with sworn fundamentalist loyalists. It's a difficult balancing act, but we simply must fight for an OBU free from BGCO governance. The OBU/BGCO partnership has long outlived its usefulness, and will eventually destroy the former and be a huge financial burden on the latter.
Accrediting bodies exist to establish and uphold some basic threshold of financial integrity, academic quality, managerial competence, and physical plant maintenance and repair. At good schools, these issues are never problems: there is significant institutional coordination to ensure that all these basic standards are met. At crumbling institutions, however, these standards are never a given. And fundamentalists are often so obsessed with making their institutions "pure" that they forget how to make them run smoothly and properly.
Take, for example, Louisiana College. For decades, Louisiana College was a fine Baptist liberal arts university. Former OBU Interim President Robert L. Lynn served as president from the mid-70s to the mid-90s. As recently as a decade ago, it was dreaming of one day building a medical school. Like so many others, though, it was hijacked by fundamentalists. I don't presume to know the whole history, but the death knell came in 2005 over a dispute about presidential selection. A president had recently retired and trustees had enacted fundamentalist policies restricting academic freedom. The search committee's first choice, an administrator at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, withdrew his name from consideration because the governance situation was so awful. The committee's second choice, Stan Norman, did not even get a chance because a reconstituted committee usurped the original committee's authority and elected Joe Aguillard, one of the school's most conservative professors, as president. (But let the record show that as early as 2005, Stan Norman wanted to be the president of a nominally accredited fundamentalist college.) The faculty voted overwhelmingly to oppose Aguillard's nomination, but he was installed anyway. Due to the disastrous governance problems, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put Louisiana College on probation.
What has happened at LC in the meantime? Nothing good. Dozens of faculty have resigned in protest. Academic freedom is nonexistent. One former professor laments, "Education has been replaced by indoctrination. They've made it clear that you will do nothing but advocate the fundamentalist position, or you're not welcome here." Even a former president of the stridently conservative Council for Christian Colleges and Universities said, "The state conventions in the Southern Baptist world own the colleges, and there's a sense of wanting them to adhere to the theological positions of the Baptist Church and not always understanding the meaning of liberal education."
Finally, in 2011, one professor courageously spoke out and sued the college over his termination. (OBU is lucky it has avoided such lawsuits -- not so much for substantive reasons but because of the tremendous amount of bad press it would have generated.) The wrongfully terminated Louisiana College professor's case is typical: under fundamentalist leadership, speaking out against restrictive academic policies will not be tolerated. Now, Louisiana College is once again in trouble with its accrediting body, as this letter details.
Their "Save Our LC" movement is a bit more in-your-face than Save OBU, but who can blame them? Their situation is even more dire.
I don't mean to sound alarmist. OBU is in no immediate danger of losing its accreditation. We're on relatively solid ground financially (even without the BGCO's subsidy, I'd argue). But I hope you can see the parallels with Louisiana College's story, which began with fundamentalists taking control of the Louisiana Baptist Convention and stacking the college's Board of Trustees with loyalists. If nothing changes, this is the road we're on, friends. Look around you -- some of the telltale signs are already evident: fundamentalism is now a litmus test in personnel decisions; academic freedom is being squelched; dissent among faculty is not tolerated; state convention elites drive the agenda. OBU is a long way from a Louisiana College-like implosion. But make no mistake: it's where we are headed, and it's happening faster than many people realize.
Sometimes when you create master's programs, add athletic teams, and launch capital campaigns, you forget the basics: a solid, balanced, moderate liberal arts education. From the outside, it looks like progress. But when appeasing fundamentalist power brokers is a constant duty of administrators, students and faculty suffer. At least now we have a presumably independent-minded Board of Trustees. But if they ever started exerting that independence, Anthony Jordan would just replace them with sworn fundamentalist loyalists. It's a difficult balancing act, but we simply must fight for an OBU free from BGCO governance. The OBU/BGCO partnership has long outlived its usefulness, and will eventually destroy the former and be a huge financial burden on the latter.
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