April 24, 2000
Arizona messengers vote to sever
ties to Grand Canyon College
___By Elizabeth Young
___Portraits Magazine
___PHOENIX (BP)--Messengers to a special-called session of the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention voted March 23 to accept the severing of formal convention ties with Grand Canyon University.
___ During the special session, the 355 messengers were asked to ratify two resolutions unanimously adopted by the ASBC executive board Feb. 1. The first expressed "great disappointment" but allowed Grand Canyon to sever its ties with the state convention. The second affirmed placing Grand Canyon's Cooperative Program allocation in escrow for eventual reallocation, except for funds for ministerial scholarships.
___Messengers' comments and questions indicated a deeply divided constituency. Some expressed sorrow and anger at the university's action and questioned its motives. Others voiced understanding and support.
___ University President Gil Stafford, meanwhile, told messengers that some facets of the trustees' action to separate the university from the convention cannot be divulged due to "attorney-client privilege."
___ The standing votes for each resolution nevertheless were "very overwhelming," as described by ASBC President Paul Kinnison.
___ During the almost two-hour meeting, Steve Bass, ASBC executive director-treasurer, and Stafford provided background about the decisions made by their respective boards and answered questions.
___ Stafford said the school will remain true to its heritage. "We have always been and we will always be a Southern Baptist college," he said. "We choose cooperatively to work with this convention."
___ Many of the details about why university trustees took the action to break formal ties with the state convention were left unanswered, however.
___ "On Jan. 11, it became apparent there could be unrelated issues that could affect the institution's ability to exercise all of its options to protect itself," Stafford said.
___ These unrelated, unnamed issues caused the trustees to vote 21-3 in a Jan. 13 meeting to transfer the university's assets to a new entity--Christian Universities Acquisitions Inc.--and to become a self-perpetuating board, he said. The vote came "after hours of deliberation, discussion, prayers and tears," he said.
___ Asked why the trustees couldn't wait for the executive board's input, Stafford explained the "unrelated issues" caused the trustees to believe "we were under tremendous time constraint ... and had to act expeditiously."
___ Despite repeated questioning by messengers, Stafford declined to identify the issues, stating they were discussed by trustees "under the confidence of lawyer-client privilege."
___ Asked if the Baptist Foundation of Arizona bankruptcy had anything to do with the trustees' actions, Stafford replied, "I'm sorry, but I cannot respond to anything that is related to attorney-client privilege."
___ With a budget of $24.4 million, Grand Canyon was to receive $295,611 (or 9.29 percent) of the state's $3.2 million in Cooperative Program funds in 2000.
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