Majority in Baylor faculty referendum vote against Sloan_120604

Posted: 12/10/04

Majority in Baylor faculty
referendum vote against Sloan

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—A majority of Baylor University faculty who voted in a nonbinding referendum on the leadership of President Robert Sloan believe he should be dismissed.

Sloan’s supporters already have pointed out the 418 voters calling for the president to be fired still is less than half of the faculty—but just barely.

Results posted on the faculty senate’s website showed 59 percent of 838 eligible faculty voted. Of the 490 votes cast, 85 percent were against retaining Sloan as president.

“The results of the referendum unequivocally confirm and reinforce the position that the Baylor faculty senate has taken in its two no-confidence votes against President Sloan in September 2003 and May 2004,” said a public statement from the faculty senate on its website.

“Over the course of the last 18 months, various Baylor administrators have continued to assert publicly and in private meetings that the opposition to President Sloan’s leadership was limited to a small, vocal group of faculty. The results of this referendum clearly refute that assertion.”

On the contrary, said Baylor Regents Chairman Will Davis of Austin, the referendum “sheds no new light on the fact that a segment of faculty do not agree with the current administration” at the Texas Baptist university.

“I would remind all Baylor constituents that the board of regents has the sole responsibility for determining who serves as president of the university,” Davis said. “I hope that the administration will continue to make progress in reaching out to faculty to address their concerns and that the faculty will reciprocate.”

The Baylor University administration offered no further comment.

Student Body President Jeff Leach called the referendum “divisive” and “ineffective in achieving reconciliation” at the university.

“The results of the referendum do nothing but to once again state what we already know—that there are debates and divisions that still remain amongst the faculty over President Robert Sloan and his administration,” Leach said. “All parties should realize that the ultimate responsibility in this dilemma lies with the board of regents. We call for divisive steps such as these to come to an end so that Baylor students can move forward, continuing to be proud of the university that we all love so dearly and so that true unity and reconciliation may be achieved.”

A public statement issued by 20 Baylor faculty—including Douglas Henry, director of the Institute for Faith & Learning, and Robert Kruschwitz, director of the Center for Christian Ethics—critiqued both the methodology and motivation for the faculty senate referendum.

“Debating ideas is the hallmark of academic life; taking polls is the province of politicians,” the group said. “Professors should be in the business of debating ideas. The Baylor faculty senate’s recent referendum was a political move that did not give any such opportunity, even as it was also a flawed and invalid means for assessing faculty opinion.”

The faculty said the regents “cannot possibly welcome the presumptuous rhetoric of some senators that the referendum has ‘established a precedent’ for the future conduct of the faculty.”

The group dismissed the votes calling for Sloan’s dismissal, pointing out that half of the eligible faculty either did not participate or voted in Sloan’s favor.

But the faculty senate applauded the “courage and integrity” of faculty members who cast ballots.

“We do know and appreciate that they did so in the face of semi-official calls for a boycott and in many cases placed their professional future in jeopardy,” said a statement on the faculty senate website.

Bill Carden, president of the Committee to Restore Integrity to Baylor, agreed, saying, “The results of the referendum speak for themselves, regardless of any spin that anyone might try to put on it.”

A little more than a year ago, Baylor University regents voted 31-4 to affirm Sloan. But by May, his support on the board had eroded to the point that he retained his job by one vote. A motion to ask for his resignation failed in an 18-17 secret-ballot vote.

In September, the regents voted to postpone indefinitely a call for Sloan’s resignation. At the same time, they unanimously rejected the faculty senate’s call for a facultywide referendum on Sloan’s presidency. The faculty senate proceeded with the vote anyway.

The McLennan County elections office conducted the referendum from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 at the faculty senate’s request.

The next regularly scheduled board of regents meeting is Feb. 4.