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An expected vote to oust Baylor's controversial president, Robert Sloan, didn't happen during the university's board of regents' July 21-23 meeting. Instead, regents unanimously restated their support of Baylor 2012, the university's 10-year vision.

"The Regents of Baylor University reaffirm our commitment to Vision 2012 and recognize the positive impact it has made to our campus and in the lives of our students," read the board's resolution.

Baylor provost David Jeffrey said after the meeting, "It's a quasi-miracle. Nobody is cocky. Nobody can cease to be but prayerful."

Sloan left a late-morning press conference in the School of Business building and greeted applauding supporters who had gathered for a prayer vigil. That vigil was cut short by the abrupt end of the meeting that many expected to last possibly into the afternoon.

Regents took a secret vote on Sloan in their last meeting May 14, which reportedly tallied 18-17. That means Sloan was retained as president by a single vote. The May meeting emboldened Sloan's critics. One of their leaders, William Carden, recently said in media reports that a majority of regents was prepared to dismiss Sloan.

Carden has organized the opposition into the Committee to Restore Integrity at Baylor University. He and other critics believe that the Sloan administration has severely weakened Baylor financially and has alienated donors, alumni, and faculty.

During an interview with Christianity Today before the regents' announcement, Carden said, "The PR fiasco has gone on for nine years—bumbling, administrative missteps." About Sloan, Carden said, "He's as likeable a guy as I'd ever want to meet. That doesn't mean he's qualified as administrator of a university. He's just administratively incompetent."

Carden said the Sloan administration wants to "make this a battle between the Christians and the secularists, as if everybody opposed to Sloan and 2012 is ready to march hand-in-hand with the Devil." He said he and his committee members are "committed conservative Christians." He said, "There's nothing more we want than a vital Christian ethos to reverberate 24 hours a day across that campus."

'We're already healing'
Baylor is the world's largest Baptist university and Texas' oldest university. The Baylor controversy has echoed around not only Texas, but also in higher education circles nationwide. This past week, The Dallas Morning Newseditorialized that Sloan "has not displayed the leadership skills or conciliation needed to close the rift," but his critics have "played dirty."

During his press conference, Sloan said he was pleased with today's vote supporting Baylor 2012. "What's important is the direction of Baylor, and the regents have reaffirmed it. The 2012 program aims to advance Baylor into the nation's elite tier-one universities, while strengthening its profile as a Christian institution.

"I'm not resigning because there's too much going on that is good," Sloan said. "There's too much affirmation and too much that we're accomplishing."

Asked how to heal the division among regents and the campus split between pro- and anti-Sloan factions, Sloan told reporters, "There will always be those who disagree. I think we're already healing." He said he will continue to meet with critics both one-on-one as well as in smaller focus groups.

Texas lawyer Will Davis, a 1954 Baylor alumnus, was chairing his first session of a regents meeting. Davis said he has spent much time during the past five weeks talking with individual regents about their concerns.

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July (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48