September 24, 2001
Southwestern's theology school
experiencing faculty turnover
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___FORT WORTH--Retirements, resignations and forced terminations have taken a toll on the theology faculty at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
___Seminary President Ken Hemphill told the entire faculty before the start of school this fall that the seminary is in a "time of transition."
___He reiterated this message in the fall issue of Southwestern News, the seminary's alumni and donor magazine but implied that normal retirementsare a major cause of the current turnover.
See chart of faculty changes since 1994. It can be read with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
___"When I came to Southwestern a little more than seven years ago, Dr. John Newport, special adviser to the president, informed me that nearly half our faculty would reach retirement age during my first 10 years of service," Hemphill wrote. "His calculations are proving to be pretty accurate."
___Three longtime faculty members did retire from the School of Theology this year, although not all those could be classified as normal retirements.
___Harold Freeman, professor of preaching since 1974, said he retired earlier than planned because he refused to sign the amended Baptist Faith & Message.
___Bert Dominy, professor of theology since 1968, technically retired from Southwestern's faculty but actually moved to a new post on the faculty of Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary.
___Overall, the School of Theology lost nine of its 41 elected faculty members this fall. Two retired outright, two moved to faculty positions at Baylor, one became an administrator at another SBC seminary, one moved to the foreign mission field, one took a church position and two others were forced to resign because they would not sign the revised Baptist Faith & Message.
___Only one of these faculty members was replaced before the start of the fall term. In addition, Bill Tolar, former vice president for academic affairs, had announced his retirement from teaching this summer but later cancelled those plans after Tommy Brisco resigned to teach at Baylor. Had Tolar not postponed his retirement, the seminary would have had no elected faculty remaining in the biblical backgrounds department.
___Faculty losses impact not only class loads for remaining faculty but potentially could impact the seminary's accreditation with the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. ATS standards for the doctor of philosophy degree require "at least two faculty specialists in each field in which doctoral students may specialize."
___Currently, Southwestern's departments of biblical backgrounds, Christian ethics and pastoral ministry have only one elected faculty member.
___David Crutchley, dean of the School of Theology, said he hopes to present a faculty member to trustees for election this fall. But he acknowledged it will take some time to rebuild.
___"We've lost some key faculty," Crutchley said.
___However, Crutchley said he is not "rushing to the cliff" but is "looking very carefully for faculty who fit the criteria we need. This is a very significant time in the history of the seminary."
___The current losses come on the heels of a slow drain of key faculty over the eight years since trustees fired former President Russell Dilday in 1994. Of the 48 elected theology faculty members teaching in 1994, 33 have left the seminary.
___Of the 34 elected faculty teaching in the School of Theology this fall, only 15 were on the faculty prior to Dilday's firing.
___This rate of turnover during the period from 1994 to 2001 is double the rate of turnover between the eight years prior, 1986 to 1994. Of 48 elected faculty in the School of Theology in 1986, 32 remained in 1994.
___That is a 33 percent attrition rate between 1986 and 1994, compared to a 68 percent attrition rate between 1994 and 2001.
___Of the 33 departures since 1994, less than half could be classified as retirements at a normal retirement age. The 33 departures include at least eight whose leaving was in some way related to the seminary's new political and theological context, concerns about the revised Baptist Faith & Message or the use of the confession of faith as a creed.
___Those eight are Rick Johnson, Dan Kent, Alan Brehm, Jeff Pool, Keith Putt, Dilday, Freeman and Doug Dickens.
___Sources close to the seminary faculty have suggested privately that changes in the Baptist Faith & Message or other political pressures were a factor in other departures, but those former faculty members have not been willing to give such an explanation publicly.
___Crutchley said he could not say with certainty how many faculty members have left due to changes in the Baptist Faith & Message in 1998 and 2000. "One cannot determine the motivation for faculty movement," he said.
___However, he acknowledged changes to the doctrinal statement have been a factor for some people. Due to the confidential nature of personnel matters, he could not discuss specifics, he said.
___The Baptist Faith & Message became a controversial issue at the seminary in June 1998 after the Southern Baptist Convention amended the document for the first time in 35 years. That amendment inserted an article on the family that said wives should "submit graciously" to the leadership of their husbands.
___At the time the new article was added, the seminary's bylaws specifically stated that "the statement of faith of the seminary shall be the statement on the Baptist Faith & Message adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1963." That was the condition on which faculty to that point had been elected.
___Nevertheless, Southwestern faculty were told that summer that continued employment would be contingent upon their affirmation of the Baptist Faith & Message as revised in 1998 and they were required to sign it. However, the seminary's bylaws regarding faculty were not changed at that time.
___Faculty received no formal notification that the seminary's bylaws had been changed to require adherence to the revised Baptist Faith & Message until Oct. 19, 1999, 16 months later.
___The Baptist Standard obtained copies of two interim amendments to the bylaws apparently not distributed to faculty. Those versions--dated Oct. 20, 1998, and March 9, 1999--changed the seminary's statement of faith to be "the Baptist Faith & Message currently adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, as may be amended from time to time by the convention."
___The version of the revised seminary bylaws presented to faculty Oct. 19, 1999, said this about the statement of faith: "Predicated upon the authority, inspiration, inerrancy and the infallibility of the Bible, the statement of faith, also referred to otherwise as the articles of faith, of the seminary shall be the Baptist Faith & Message currently adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, as may be amended from time to time by the convention."
___The fact that the seminary was changing its requirements for employment to something different than faculty members had agreed to when hired drew the attention of the Texas Faculty Association, which sent Hemphill notice of its concern in October 1998.
___"The seminary is not acting in good faith when it asks faculty who have been with the seminary for many years, who have attained tenure which entitles them to indefinite faculty status, and have already signed the articles of faith, to sign a different article of faith," said the letter from Charles Zucker, executive director.
___"The issue concerns whether the seminary will honor its original commitment to the faculty," he added.
___At the time, Hemphill explained to the Standard that Southwestern had no choice in the matter but was mandated to follow the doctrinal directive of the SBC. "We are under the patronage, general direction and control of the SBC, which established the Baptist Faith & Message and amended it in 1998," he said in an Oct. 14, 1998, article in the Standard.
___The first round of changes in the faith statement prompted Kent, an Old Testament professor, to take early retirement, and Brehm, a New Testament professor, to resign.
___According to faculty sources, a small number of faculty members signed the revised Baptist Faith & Message with notations of their disagreement at certain points.
___Crutchley said he could not speak to the matter of faculty notations in the past but confirmed there are "no written notations on the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message documents as they stand today."
___According to faculty sources, this loophole eventually was closed by trustees, who insisted that beginning Aug. 1 of this year any person who teaches at Southwestern must have signed the revised Baptist Faith & Message without notation or disclaimer.
___By that point, the Baptist Faith & Message had been amended further, with a number of additions, deletions and changes adopted by the SBC in June 2000.
___The new requirement that all faculty must affirm the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message has impacted not only Southwestern's full-time faculty but the dozens of adjunct faculty who teach in Fort Worth and at Southwestern's off-campus centers in Houston; Little Rock, Ark.; Lubbock; Oklahoma City; San Antonio; Shawnee, Okla.; and Tulsa, Okla.
___This fall, for the first time, Southwestern is enforcing strict affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message among all adjunct faculty.
___That has caused some Texas Baptist pastors, among others, to discontinue their roles as adjunct faculty for Southwestern.
___No data is yet available about the scope of adjunct faculty turnover this fall, but individuals knowledgeable of faculty departures report losses.
___Although he could not cite specific numbers, Crutchley confirmed the trend. "We have lost a number of adjuncts," he said.
___Meanwhile, Crutchley said he is pleased with the qualifications and commitment of those professors he has recommended for election within the past year--Siegfried Schatzmann in New Testament, Paul Wolfe in New Testament and Larry Ashlock in pastoral ministry.
___In his back-to-school address to the faculty, Hemphill looked for positives in the current faculty turnover.
___"The churches are changing and in transition," he said. "The seminary cannot stay static but must stay a step ahead."
___Hemphill also said he sees this as an opportunity to build a faculty for the new era.
___"I want a faculty that is conservative, compassionate and courageous," he said. "They've got to be genuine and relational. We've got to have faculty who believe the Baptist Faith & Message 2000."
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