Baylor “Family Dialogue” resembled family feud_72803

Posted 7/21/03

Baylor “Family Dialogue” resembled family feud

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO–Billed as a "family dialogue," a summer afternoon debate between Baylor University leaders and alumni often resembled a family feud.

Partisan applause regularly interrupted the back-and-forth discussion between three administrators, the board chairman and four representatives of the Baylor Alumni Association, which sponsored the July 18 event.

Although the dialogue occasionally prompted overtures of reconciliation, the overall tone revealed deep divisions within what Baylor calls its "family."

Hundreds of alumni from across the state gathered in Baylor’s Ferrell Center, at least the fourth suggested venue for the dialogue, which kept changing as the size of the anticipated crowd kept growing.

Baylor president Robert Sloan (Baylortv.com images)

They traveled to Waco to address two primary issues: The implications for Baylor 2012, the university’s 10-year strategic plan, upon the student body, faculty, finances and the school’s essential culture. And the leadership style of President Robert Sloan.

Most of the university’s board of regents, who had spent the previous 48 hours discussing Baylor 2012, sat front and center throughout the dialogue, which lasted about two hours and 15 minutes.

The three Baylor topics that captured the greatest amount of public attention in the past year–a missing basketball player, a regent who had been cleared of charges that she tipped off students about a drug sting, and a weak football program–weren’t discussed.

"Let there be no confusing: This meeting is serious business," Os Chrisman, a Dallas attorney and interim executive vice president of the Alumni Association, said as he welcomed the crowd.

"The Alumni Association of Baylor University aims to have a voice in the governing of this university from this day forward," he said. "We’re tired of firings, we are tired of contract breakings, we are tired of losing on athletic fields and we are tired of apologizing for being Baylor alumni."

Regents Chairman Drayton McLane Jr. stressed: "Baylor University has been a great institution for over a hundred years. Times change."

Consequently, the regents had instructed the president to develop a strategic plan, "to boldly put a stake in the ground and declare what Baylor University is all about, and that is higher Christian education. … The vision statement is the roadmap that has been directed, but it is not mandatory. We can adjust as we go."

The format of the dialogue resembled a presidential debate, with each side given equal time to answer questions related to four topics:

Finances

How would you characterize Baylor’s current financial standing, and how will Baylor 2012 affect Baylor’s financial security?

David Brooks, the university’s chief financial officer, noted Baylor launched 2012 during a difficult time for financial markets and higher education. "Despite that, the university has continued to excel," he said. "Our revenue streams have increased substantially each year."

The university completed the 2002-03 fiscal year with a surplus of $1.3 million in its operating budget, he said, adding cash reserves are "adequate to meet all needs."

"In the short run and the long run, Baylor University, contrary to what some people are saying, is in very fine shape."

David R. Brooks, Baylor vice president for finance and administration.

Responding for the alumni, Kent Reynolds, a certified public accountant from Waco and son of retired Baylor President Herbert Reynolds, expressed concern about the university’s financial model.

That model was based upon a booming economy that "would encourage large donations and allow families to afford very large tuition increases," he said, noting the economic downturn reversed those expectations.

In order to meet enrollment expectations, Baylor has accepted hundreds of incoming students who do not meet the university’s admission standards, he charged.

"I am even more concerned that if the financial model for Vision 2012 were successful, it would completely change the complexion of the student body that Baylor attracts and the graduates that Baylor sends into the world for service," Reynolds said.

President Sloan responded that, in recent years, Baylor had dramatically reduced its percentage of "provisional students" who do not meet admission requirements. Last year, it was 4.7 percent, compared to more than 10 percent when he became president in 1995, he said. This year, the figure may be 12 percent to 13 percent, in part because the board of regents "asked us to bring that number up."

Did Baylor transfer $4 million from reserves in order to produce the $1.3 million surplus credited for 2002-03?

That is true, Brooks said, explaining the university’s various academic units previously had generated surpluses that were placed into a "quasi-endowment fund" that had totaled $20 million and could be used to make up for occasional shortfalls.

Such a procedure is not unprecedented, he added, noting the previous administration had utilized the university’s "rainy day fund" in 1990-95.

Reynolds countered the difference is in the cause of the shortfalls. In the early ’90s, the shortfall resulted when the Baptist General Convention of Texas reduced its allocation to Baylor after the university chose to select 75 percent of its regents. The current shortfall results in part from undergraduate enrollment income and room and board revenues falling below budget projections.

An audience member asks a question during the Baylor Family Dialogue.

The annual tuition rate has increased from $11,370 to $16,750 in two years. How can enough families of qualified students afford tuition costs?

"Baylor has always been a highly tuition-driven university," Brooks said. However, Baylor’s tuition had fallen far behind its peer universities, so that it was delivering the 60th or 70th best education in the country but charging the 200th-highest tuition, he added.

In order to improve the faculty and build needed buildings, the university had to generate more revenue, he said. "We needed a one-time shift to occur," and then subsequent increases should be in the 6 percent to 7 percent range.

"It sounds to me like Baylor was a tremendous bargain," Reynolds responded. "That was one of the unique things about Baylor through the years."

The amount students pay after scholarships have been awarded is expected to increase $34 million, or 24 percent, in two years, he said.

Brooks noted the new "flat tuition" model has enabled the university to double the amount of scholarship funding available. That has resulted in an actual decrease in the average family income of freshmen students last year and this year, he said. "The evidence shows we are reaching the middle-income families."

That means Baylor is "asking (full-tuition) students to pay (for) other students," Reynolds said. "And that’s wrong."

Does undergraduate tuition subsidize Baylor’s growing graduate program?

"At Baylor and every other major university, undergraduate education subsidizes graduate education," Brooks responded. Comparing implementation of that policy to the previous question about full-fare tuition subsidizing scholarships for students with financial need, he added, "You cannot compete for the best and brightest students in the country if you take the posture that you’re never going to offer a scholarship."

Sloan interjected: "I might add that we are still a great tuition value. … We still have a combined tuition and fees that are less than Trinity, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Rice, TCU and SMU. … We are still a great bargain."

Academics

A faculty survey revealed that only 5 percent of tenure-track male faculty cited an emphasis on quality teaching as a factor in their decision to come to Baylor, compared to 44 percent of tenured male faculty. Do these numbers contradict the administration’s assertion that quality teaching remains an institutional priority?

Speaking as an alumni representative, Jim Patton, chair-elect of Baylor’s Faculty Senate, said the same survey shows "even more compelling data perhaps we ought to consider."

Jim Patton, chair-elect of Baylor's Faculty Senate.

"Less than 30 percent of tenured faculty feel there is an atmosphere of trust at Baylor and agree with Baylor’s direction," he said. "There appears to be a deep division between tenured faculty and administration. Why is there such a significant division?"

Faculty feel their input regarding university governance has been ignored and legitimate concerns minimized, he claimed. They also feel their role in faculty hiring has been minimized and strong candidates have been rejected by the administration for obscure reasons. And longer-term faculty are concerned about discrepancies in the merit-pay evaluation process.

"I don’t know faculty who are not interested in improvement in both teaching and scholarship," he said, noting faculty concern focuses on the pace and implementation of Baylor 2012, not the vision itself.

"If tenured faculty felt they had input into the development and implementation of 2012 and had an impact on it, they would not be so disaffected," Patton added. "If tenured faculty felt they were valued and that their contributions were important, they would not feel so disaffected. If faculty felt they could speak about matters of concern to them, they would not feel that there is not trust."

Baylor Provost David Jeffrey acknowledged he shares Patton’s concerns. "The divides are considerable, and they represent here at Baylor a genuine occasion for concern," he said.

Jeffrey, who began as provost this summer, said he expects to work cordially with the Faculty Senate. He expressed concern for the sharp divide between older faculty and new faculty.

He reinterpreted the findings that seem to indicate the younger, untenured faculty are not as concerned about quality teaching as tenured faculty. That question in the survey asked faculty to choose from 11 possible questions, he explained, noting many younger faculty said they primarily came to Baylor because teaching there offered them "an opportunity to respond to my personal calling," a response he said includes strong commitment to teaching.

Student evaluations of classroom teaching reveal "Baylor teaching is extraordinarily good across (all) groups …, and it did not show the new, researching professors were poorer; they had the highest scores," he reported.

How can faculty trust be rekindled?

Sloan responded that the fact the university conducted the survey revealed the administration’s intent to respond to the issues. Administrators plan to analyze the data, conduct focus groups with various constituencies and then establish specific strategies to meet the needs, he said.

Panel and audience at the Baylor Family Dialogue July 18.

"The role of the Faculty Senate will be crucial here," Jeffrey said, noting he has been encouraged by early contacts with faculty leaders. He pledged to "spend a lot of time talking and listening to each other."

"What we need to do in the university is create a true Christian intellectual community in which the active practice of the Christian virtues of patience and kindness and attention to each other really become the lifeblood of how we approach the business of growing and getting ahead."

Patton affirmed Jeffrey’s intentions. "I look forward to those discussions. I hope they will, in fact, take place with a spirit of cooperation," he said. "There are a lot of ears here to hold you to your word."

What has been the response of potential professors to the 2012 vision?

"The new professors we are able to attract are of a quality and kind that any university would be proud to have," Jeffrey said. "We simply are getting people applying to Baylor now we couldn’t have gotten without 2012."

Some professors actually are taking a pay cut to teach at Baylor, he said.

"They are coming here because they are powerfully motivated by the idea of a Christian intellectual community. … Some very interesting folks are taking an interest in Baylor now."

Patton agreed. "We in fact have recruited some outstanding teachers," he said. However, "we have recruited some outstanding people for the past 40 years from top-notch universities."

So, 2012 has not made recruitment of superlative faculty a new event at Baylor, he added.

On the other hand, faculty are concerned about the lost opportunity to recruit some significant prospects, he said. "I’ve seen that happen in my own department. We’ve not handled faculty interviews with the kind of finesse that we should have. We’ve sent people away from a visit in our home here upset about the way they were treated. We cannot afford to do that in the future, because we don’t want folks from outside our home telling other people we were uncivil."

Bette McCall Miller, a teacher in Highland Park and daughter of former Baylor President Abner McCall, expressed concern about faculty salary and teaching loads.

"If you have new professors coming in, many at six-figure salaries teaching 17 or fewer students or working with one graduate student or teaching just a handful of kids, you’re going to have to pay a lot of teachers to teach if you divide the number of faculty by 17 students apiece," she said.

Bette McCall Miller, a teacher in Highland Park and daughter of former Baylor President Abner McCall.

Just the night before, she was told 66 percent of required freshman religion courses are being taught by graduate assistants "because there’s not enough money to hire enough professors with terminal degree to teach the kids when ones with terminal degrees … are teaching just a handful of students," she said.

"I don’t know where those figures came from, because they’re false," Jeffrey replied. "A significant number of first- and second-year religion students are taught by visiting lecturers … people who have retired from many, many years of ministry.

"Fewer than 5 percent of Baylor students in those first- and second-year classes are taught at all by graduate students. That, mostly, is in the department of English."

Leadership

In a recent letter about Baylor 2012 sent to all alumni, Sloan acknowledged, "We have undoubtedly made some missteps along the way." What were those missteps?

Sloan focused on communication. "It’s always important to communicate," he said. Among "communication issues" he cited are the low morale of older faculty, misunderstanding of emphases on teaching and research, and teaching evaluations of professors.

From the regents’ perspective, McLane cited two facts that were not taken into account when 2012 was launched.

"I don’t think any of us comprehended how bold it really was," he said. "And so the change has been pretty dramatic in a number of areas. That’s what’s great about a plan. … As we go into it, we can adjust."

Second, "the economy changed on us just as we were getting into this," he added. The financial plan of the vision was predicated on growing endowment, but a falling stock market undermined that premise, as well as it hit the finances of students’ families.

"These are two incidents that have made this somewhat more difficult than any of us anticipated, but we can adjust, and we are learning," he said.

Glenn Biggs, a San Antonio businessman and former regent chair, responded from the alumni side. He cited the danger of changing the university’s constituency after more than 150 years, as well as embarking upon a strategy without sufficient endowment.

But he reserved his focus for leadership.

Baylor Provost David Jeffrey

"There are serious flaws in this administration," Biggs said. "This is not personal, but there are serious flaws." He cited a string of at least a dozen leadership traits, implying Sloan is not proficient in them.

"In my judgment, that’s the big gap in this administration," he said.

"I accept that and will work very hard to improve as a leader," Sloan said.

Biggs’ point about constituency is important, he added. "Baylor’s historic constituency is people who, as one of our founding phrases says, want a ‘Christian university, fully susceptible of enlargement and development to meet the needs of all ages to come.’ So, you have a core and a flexibility, an adaptability.

"We must treasure the past. … We cannot forsake tradition. And at the same time, we must be willing to be bold and look forward. Baylor University has the opportunity to be the finest Christian university of academic excellence in this nation and in this world. …

"This will not forsake or alienate our constituency. It will cause us to expand our national and international constituency."

Returning to missteps, Sloan said: "There no doubt have been many missteps along the way. There will be many more tomorrow. But I have a single ambition for Baylor University: That we are a university that takes seriously the confession, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord.’ And when we make that confession, we seek to work out all the implications of that confession, for everything related to academic excellence and nurturing our students."

Given the difficult financial circumstances, would the administration and the regents adjust or reconsider 2012 priorities in handling fiscal affairs?

"Are we going to re-evaluate the program? Absolutely," McLane said. "The regents are responsible for seeing that we are fiscally sound."

Biggs noted: "The difficulty is being able to raise money in a controversial period. People do not give money in a controversy. The more you polarize … the friends of Baylor, the more difficult it is to raise money."

A significant problem with 2012 is "who’s paying for it," Reynolds added. "I don’t disagree with many of the things you’re saying, but we’re doing these things on the backs of the students and their families because we don’t have the financial base."

Brooks noted the endowment has begun to grow in the past three months. "We’ve actually gained $65 million in market value in the last three months alone. Endowment is back approaching $600 million," he said.

Drayton McLane Jr., chair, Baylor Board of Regents

"We will live within our means. As the CFO of this institution, you can take that to the bank."

The "emphasis on religiosity" of prospective faculty eliminates "some of the most outstanding scholars in America." For example, a strong candidate who also is a Jew "would not be permitted on the Baylor campus."

Jeffrey noted a Jew had been hired on the faculty this past year. About 50 percent of Baylor’s faculty hires are Baptist, he added, and others come from "all manner of denominations."

"We follow the (prospective faculty interview process) suggested and enunciated by President Herbert Reynolds, to the letter," which was spelled out in a memo to all academic units "from 1988 to the end of his presidency," Jeffrey added.

"We have interviewed these folks. We give them the most fair possible hearings," he said. "I have never been in such a wonderfully high-common-denominator ecumenical environment as I’ve experienced here at Baylor."

Patton, whose teaching career spans both the Reynolds and Sloan administrations, countered, "The type of questioning and tone of questioning has changed considerably in the last few years."

He called for changing the tone of the interview process, warning, "If we don’t redirect ourselves toward finessing this part of our interview process in a courteous fashion, we will pay our dues."

Since Baylor is a Christian university, are the regents ready to look at how people are treated at Baylor and listen to personnel concerns rather than letting administration take care of that entirely?

McLane explained that the board’s responsibility "is to help plan and execute a budget and the goals and objectives of the university … and hold the president and his staff accountable for the operation."

Regents try to be sensitive to the issues facing the university, he said. "We will continue to strive to hold Baylor University and its leadership accountable for Christian values."

Reynolds charged the current administration’s philosophy appears to be "immediate gratification," asserting, "Immediate gratification does not build character."

Sloan responded that he "would not want to say something that would attempt to defend myself."

"Baylor University should operate by the highest principles of Christian commitment and relationship," he said. "That’s the kind of thing that involves faculty, staff and students and prospective faculty and staff. That is a very deep commitment of my heart, and I believe it’s a commitment that’s heartfelt by every member of my administration.

"Have we made mistakes? Of course. Have there been people who would have claims that they have not been fairly treated? Of course. It’s a large and complex organization. It’s our job to listen and to respond."

Biggs insisted the key leadership issue is credibility. "An issue of this kind is not going to go away," he said. "There is a great and wide growing expansion of people who are concerned about the values of Baylor and how they are being implemented."

Institutional values

What is the primary motivating force behind Baylor 2012–an evolution or the revolution of Baylor’s mission?

A question is posed from the audience.

"It’s a revolution," Miller claimed, defining it as "a complete and forceful overthrow of an established system."

"The values of Baylor University have changed significantly in the last few years," she said, noting Sloan had not once used the word "Baptist" to describe the university.

"Robert is changing the definition of what Christianity means at Baylor," she said. "He is changing the way people are treated."

"I know Robert is not a fundamentalist," she added, but claimed his operation of the university, including creedalism is from "a page off the fundamentalist handbook."

She noted how, when fundamentalists such as Bob Jones, Jerry Falwell, Oral Roberts and W.A. Criswell wanted universities to match their visions, they went out and started them. "President Sloan, I just make a teacher’s salary, but I will be first to donate if you will go found one of your own and let us have Baylor back."

Jeffrey immediately insisted he answer on Sloan’s behalf, "because when a person has been effectively slandered, they should not be obliged to answer."

"People are using the word ‘fundamentalist’ in ways that I simply cannot comprehend," he said. "Fundamentalists do not hire Catholics and Jews and members of diverse mainline denominations. Fundamentalists do not embark upon a bold intellectual initiative of the caliber that Baylor has embarked upon. They are anti-intellectual. They are parochial. They want to close in around themselves and to resist change at all costs. That is not the Baylor that I recognize. It is not the Baylor that Robert Sloan represents. And it is not the Baylor that Robert Sloan has attracted so many fine people to admire."

McLane stressed: "The board does support Robert. Mistakes, errors were made. We recognize some of that. He certainly does. We continue to move forward. … This is the way any type of organization or church has to move forward. We have to have a bold plan, … but we adjust and face reality and honor Baylor University."

Are faculty and prospective faculty asked to list their religious activities?

Jeffrey explained Baylor’s tenure-review process includes an examination of a candidate’s service, which can include outside-class campus activities, involvement in the community and church. In fact, Baylor places a higher emphasis on service than any institution where he has worked, he added.

When prospective faculty are interviewed, they are asked about the nature of their calling and why they want to teach at Baylor, he said. These follow the questions stipulated by the Reynolds administration, he added.

Patton noted faculty are asked about their religious commitment. "And frankly, that’s a legitimate question," he said. "… Today, the questions are a bit more penetrating, and I don’t necessarily disagree with that, either. You need to get a sense of where folks are."

However, sometimes candidates are rejected even after faculty from their departments have spent "considerable time" getting to know them and evaluating their abilities.

"That’s troublesome to the faculty; it’s very troublesome," he said, adding some questions posed to prospective faculty are offensive, and their treatment hurts Baylor’s "good name."

When did Baylor have a deficient Christian intellectual environment, and why does Baylor need to look to other Catholic and evangelical schools for guidance?

Jeffrey observed that comparing Baylor to schools such as Wheaton "is like comparing apples to rutabagas."

Still, Baylor needs to maintain a rigorous focus on the integration of faith and life, including questioning prospective faculty about how faith and their academic disciplines intersect, Jeffrey said.

"In the present environment–which may not have always been true in the past, both in the Baptist church and in other churches–we live in a rather shallow time," he noted.

Some people, including possible faculty, may be passionate about their faith, but "have made no thoughtful engagement of their faith in any way, who exhibit in fact a kind of mindless piety," he said. "That kind of failure to think about things is a particular deficiency in university professors. … So, we try to have a conversation which allows people to show us that there’s a reflective dimension to their engagement of these things, on their terms, from within their religious context. …

"It is incumbent upon us to take great care to ensure that there’s an intellectual caliber to the expression of matters of Christian faith, consistent with Baylor’s historic commitment to these issues."

"I couldn’t agree with Dr. Jeffrey more," Patton said. However, some potential faculty may not have had the circumstances to articulate those issues but have tremendous potential to integrate those dimensions.

"We make a mistake when we turn away folks who have that kind of opportunity," Patton said.

Jeffrey leaned to the middle of the table, looked toward Patton and said, "Jim, I agree; I agree with you."