Baptist Briefs: Poll shows concern about Louisiana College

Survey reveals concern about Louisiana College. An online survey of Louisiana Baptist clergy and college trustees revealed high levels of concern about Louisiana College, a Baptist school founded in 1906. Friends of the College said two-thirds of respondents to a survey of 240 pastors and directors of missions, as well as members of the Louisiana College board of trustees, expressed “concern to extreme concern” about the Louisiana Baptist Convention-affiliated school in Pineville. Some critics questioned the accuracy of the survey results, citing its methodology and small sample size—62 respondents, representing a return rate of 25 percent. While respondents voiced differing opinions about the most serious problems facing the school, 70 percent cited leadership of the current administration. Two-thirds said possible loss of accreditation and condition of the physical plant. Six in 10 worried about stewardship of funds, and more than half about financial status. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which reviews accreditation of member schools every 10 years, refused to renew Louisiana College’s accreditation in 2011, finding the school out of compliance in 11 standards. Last year, SACS extended the warning another 12 months, while reducing the number of deficiencies to six. A SACS warning lasts a maximum of two years, meaning that absent satisfactory progress for compliance, Louisiana College could be placed on probation, a more serious sanction that represents the final step before accreditation is revoked.

American Baptist to chair BJC. Curtis Ramsey-Lucas, managing director of resource development for American Baptist Home Mission Societies, has been elected chair of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty’s board of directors. Curtis Ramsey-LucasRamsey-Lucas, who oversees resource development for the Valley Forge, Pa.,-based agency formerly known as National Ministries, previously worked as national coordinator of public and social advocacy in the agency’s governmental relations office. Ramsey-Lucas succeeds past chair Mitch Randall, pastor of NorthHaven Church, a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated congregation in Norman, Okla., and a representative of the Religious Liberty Council, the BJC’s individual donor organization formed after the Southern Baptist Convention pulled out of the religious-liberty coalition and opened its own Washington office in 1994.

BWA accepts nominations. The Baptist World Alliance will accept nominations for the 2014 Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award through Dec. 20. Any Baptist individual, church or organization may submit a nomination, and any Baptist is eligible for nomination. The award recognizes men and women who have done outstanding work in defending and promoting human rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Individuals may not make nominations on their own behalf. The award recipient will be announced at the March BWA Executive Committee meeting, and the award will be presented during the BWA annual gathering next July in Izmir, Turkey. Additional information and nomination forms are available here.