February 24, 2003
Study warns seminary trustees face learning curve
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___NEW YORK--Trustees of the nation's theological schools, including Baptist seminaries, may be unprepared to meet the biggest challenges of the future, a new study warns.
___Barbara Wheeler, president of Auburn Seminary in New York City, surveyed 1,611 trustees of 193 theological schools to get a picture of how they perceive their roles as trustees and what abilities they believe they bring to the task. She also gleaned information on the operation of trustee boards from 208 theological school administrators.
___These trustee boards, she reports, do not reflect the ethnic or gender diversity of the nation and more often than not are staffed with people who are loyal to the institutions but may not have the means or the commitment to support them financially.
___Across the board, Wheeler discovered theological school trustees are predominantly white, male and older than 60.
___The overall percentage of female trustees is raised by the greater diversity found among mainline Protestant institutions. Among evangelical Christian schools, where Baptist seminaries are classified, women account for only 16 percent of trustees on average.
___Less than 15 percent of trustees serving the nation's theological schools are non-white. The boards of evangelical denominational schools, on average, include less than 10 percent of members who are non-white.
___Independent seminaries, those whose board members are not named by a larger denominational body, are more likely than other schools to have non-white board members.
___More than half the nation's theological school trustees are older than 60, and one-fourth are older than 67.
___Three-fourths of the trustees earned graduate degrees themselves, many from the institutions they now serve as trustees. Nearly half of theological school trustees have at least attended such a school in the past.
___Religious professionals exert a strong influence on most trustee boards, accounting for 42 percent of trustees on average. About one-fourth of trustees come from the field of business, and 10 percent are educators.
___"The makeup of theological school boards is very different from those of other educational institutions and non-profits, which are much more likely to include leaders from business, non-religious professions and non-religious education," Wheeler notes.
___She asked trustees why they believe they were selected to serve on their school's board. The largest block, 35 percent, cited their expertise in church, ministry, denominational or theological matters. The second-largest block, 29 percent, cited their knowledge of business or finance.
___Trustees also strongly indicated they believe their selection was tied to their religious position.
___The least-important factor in their selection, the trustees reported, was their ability to make a financial gift to the school.
___Among trustees of evangelical schools, almost equal weight was given to three areas as important institutional goals for the future. About 20 percent named increasing student enrollment, establishing financial security and maintaining the school's theological tradition.
___Overall, trustees tend to look with favor on the schools they serve. More than 90 percent rate their experience as a trustee as either "good" or "excellent."
___The problem, Wheeler notes in her analysis, is that while theological schools may have trustees who are happy to be serving, they may not have the trustees they actually need.
___The agedness of most trustee boards should be of concern, she says, because younger board members tend to bring stronger networks of contacts that can help the schools. Further, she adds, "younger people of talent and means should be invited to consider joining the boards of theological schools before their loyalties are completely absorbed by other organizations."
___More troubling, Wheeler says, is the presence of board members who are motivated to promote the school and able to make significant financial gifts to the school.
___Trustees appear to be more competent in protecting image and orthodoxy than in helping with long-range planning or giving financially, two of the most pressing needs most schools face, she says.
___"Data on giving are especially worrisome. ... Giving by trustees, whatever the actual amounts, is a sign of their commitment to and zeal for the institution.
___Yet only 32 percent of trustees have made provision for their schools in their wills, and nearly every board includes some members who give nothing financially to their schools. Only 15 percent of the nation's theological schools report a 100 percent commitment to giving among trustees.
___This may be due, in part, to low expectations expressed to the trustees, Wheeler reports. "The expectations set and reinforced by boards are more likely than any other factor to determine the amount of money (and probably also time and interest) board members give."
___Wheeler and her coauthor, graduate student Suzanne Nakasian, recommend that theological school boards should focus on their ability to meet the most pressing needs for the future.
___"Our data suggest that the greatest competencies of most theological school boards are in management and matters that have to do with ministry, church and denominational relations. Both are important areas, but theological boards, by their own members' accounts, often are not prepared to deal with even more acute needs of the school, especially the need to forge relations with the broader public and to find new support."
___Schools, the authors suggest, should establish performance standards for trustees and conduct annual evaluations of individual members and of the board as a whole.
___The complete text of the study, "In Whose Hands," is available at www.auburnsem.org.
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