Related articles and links |  1 of 6

Baylor's president keeps post, but barely
It seems that with each meeting of the Baylor University Board of Regents, Robert Sloan's presidency and plans to reinvigorate the school get more and more precarious. Last September, amid calls from some regents for Sloan's removal and a no-confidence vote by the faculty senate, the board voted 31-4 to retain him.

In February, regents again rejected calls for the president's ouster, but issued several cautions, and slowed Sloan's Vision 2012 plan beyond its original 10-year mission. At the center of that plan—and at the heart of many (though certainly not all) anti-Sloan complaints—is an effort to make the Waco, Texas, school into a leading research university with a strong Christian identity.

At that meeting, the regents voiced support for Vision 2012, but afterwards expressed anger with the spin that Sloan's administrators put on their reports, and the omission of key phrases from an early press release describing the board's actions and directives.

"The Regents are more upset today than they've ever been," one member told television station KWTX.

Last week, following yet another no-confidence vote from the Baylor faculty senate, the university's board of regents again voted on whether to retain Sloan as president. Again, he won the day. But this time, the vote was 18-17.

A Baylor press release doesn't mention the vote, but Sloan told the Waco Tribune-Herald that he's still moving forward. "Building and restoring relationships does not happen overnight, but I am confident that over time we will see some really positive results," he said. "Because I think most people are committed to that."

"I think what you're seeing is just frayed nerves," Dary Stone, one of the founders of the pro-Sloan group Friends of Baylor, told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. "The university allowed a public debate of all of our dirty laundry. It's just a culmination of a very long year. I think the vast majority of the Baylor family still supports Dr. Sloan very strongly."

The board also chose a new regents chairman, whom Associated Baptist Press says "is considered a strong Sloan supporter, as is at least one of the three regents elected at the meeting."

Outgoing chairman Drayton McLane was eligible for another year in the post, but wouldn't say whether he was nominated. Still, he's upbeat.

"We're seeing the buildings that are developing, the economy is getting better, our development is improving, our investments are certainly improving as the economy gets more robust so there are a lot of really good things," he told KWTX. ""I've been in business a long time. One of the most difficult things is leadership. … Change things, improve things, move them forward. Doing bold things certainly excites a lot of people but as change happens, it causes some difficulties. We certainly understand that but we are sensitive to every group." The regents, he says, are "confident" in Sloan, and (in the words of KWTX), "will continue to evaluate the longer term of Vision 2012 … and President Sloan's leadership."

The battle for Baylor will continue.

India elections:

• Jayalalitha backs off, withdraws controversial decisions | In a completely unexpected decision, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister took back an anti-conversion law that had been widely criticized (IANS, India)
  
  
• Prayers answered in India? | For India's tiny Christian minority, as for the Muslims, the surprising defeat of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party may bring the end of a long nightmare, in which fanatics massacred Muslims, murdered priests and pastors, razed churches and ancient mosques, burned holy books and broke up religious services (Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI)
  
  

next page... |  1 of 6

May (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48