April 21, 2003
Ouster of two Southwestern profs confirmed
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___FORT WORTH--Administrators at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have not confirmed that two popular faculty members are being forced out, but they have responded to student protests with a tacit acknowledgement.
___According to numerous faculty, staff and student reports, church history professors Karen Bullock and Stephen Stookey are being forced from their posts by the end of the next academic year. The administration reportedly did not recommend tenure for either professor, meaning they must leave the faculty.
___Under the seminary's governing documents, professors denied tenure may continue their posts through one additional academic year, which in this case would mean through the summer of 2004.
___Previously, seminary trustees and administrators declined to comment on the situation, explaining only that the two professors' tenure review cases were "in process."
___However, trustee Chairman David Allen of Irving confirmed to the Baptist Standard April 16 that "the tenure process has come to completion." He added: "There was no tenure recommendation from the administration to the board at this last meeting."
___After stories about the situation were published in the Baptist Standard and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, President Ken Hemphill read a prepared statement in chapel April 10.
___That statement said: "I know that many of you have conflicted feelings at the moment. Grief, anger and confusion may be just a few. Such feelings are not only related to my departure, but have been elicited by concern for Drs. Bullock and Stookey. I know both these professors have made a great investment in the lives of numerous students. ... We do have a process of tenure review that is prescribed by our documents. That process is being followed.
___"Any of us have the right to differ with the conclusion reached, but none of us should judge the motives of those involved. No man can see into the heart, and God's word prohibits such human speculation.
___"We cannot publicly discuss the specifics of any personnel matter. This serves both the interest of the individual and the institution. Drs. Bullock and Stookey have made a wonderful investment in Southwestern and will always be a part of our legacy. I know them well enough to know that they share my conviction that God works through every circumstance for good to those who love him and are the called according to his purpose. I know they will continue to serve God faithfully."
___Hemphill's statement also was posted on the seminary's website and could be heard in recorded form by callers to the seminary's main phone number.
___Neither Bullock nor Stookey could be reached for further comment.
___While the seminary has not given any public explanation for ousting the two popular professors, some students and faculty have charged the action appears motivated purely by politics and fundamentalist theology.
___At question-and-answer sessions on campus April 10 and 11, designed to discuss a change in student fees, Provost Craig Blaising found himself fielding questions about the two professors posed by angry students.
___Among the students strenuously objecting to the professors' ouster is Kermit Jones, who has taken a class with Bullock each of the last four semesters.
___In an interview, he echoed the testimony of other students by saying: "She is one of the most Christ-like people I've ever met. She has a genuine concern for all her students. She made me enjoy history. She really makes it come alive. She puts so much into it to help all her students. I probably learned more from her class than from any other class I've taken. She makes you want to learn."
___Jones said he's considering leaving Southwestern because of the way he perceives Bullock has been treated.
___"It's wrong," he said. "The motives behind it are wrong. The reasoning behind it is wrong. It's because she's teaching history, and you can't teach history separate from a theological context."
___More than that, he added, he fears it's because she's a female teaching in the School of Theology.
___Likewise, first-year student Brad Olin said Stookey has been a friend to students and a popular professor.
___"Dr. Stookey is a great man of God, very humble. Once you get to know him, he will do anything for you," Olin said. "I've sat in his office for hours talking when I needed him, asking him questions about theological issues I'm struggling with. His door is always open. He's one of those teachers who if you make the effort, he'll take you under his wing and be there for you."
___Most importantly, Olin said, Stookey is "not a cookie-cutter teacher like I guess they would want him to be."
___Olin, too, praised Bullock as a near-perfect model of the ideal seminary professor.
___"She is absolutely amazing," he explained. "She is your friend and at the same time your teacher. Even though she's one of the most-busy professors at the school, she takes time. ... She gets to school at 6:30 every morning to pray for her students and her classes."
___Both Bullock and Stookey, he said, "have taught me tons and have influenced my life, influenced my thinking about Christian values, about moral values. Because of these two professors and the experience I've had with them, I've learned what it is to walk more closely with my Savior." "
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