Updated: Baylor presidential search committee named

WACO—Baylor University Regents Chairman Howie Batson named 14 current members of the school’s governing board to a committee charged with searching for the university’s next president and 10 representatives of various Baylor constituencies to a nonvoting advisory committee.

Last fall, the Baylor Faculty Senate, the Baylor Alumni Association and Baylor Student Government each passed resolutions urging regents to include as voting members of the presidential search committee representatives from Baylor’s constituent bodies, but Batson chose an all-regent search committee.

“We’ve been respectful of the spirit of the resolutions,” Batson told reporters in a March 5 conference call. “They wanted to be included. They wanted to be heard.”

But ultimately, according to accrediting agencies and Baylor’s governing documents, regents alone hold responsibility for selecting the university’s chief executive officer, he concluded.

Faculty, alumni, students respond to announcement

“It’s not the process we would have preferred. That’s obvious from the resolution we passed. But it is the process we have,” said Georgia Green, chair of the Baylor Faculty Senate, who was named to the advisory committee.

Green pledged to do her best to provide input into the search process on behalf of faculty, adding, “No president at any university can be successful without the support of the faculty, and that’s certainly true at Baylor.”

Baylor’s presidential search is the “number one issue” on the minds of alumni and donors—particularly the need to have “a process that is as inclusive and transparent as possible,” Baylor Alumni Association President David Lacy of Waco said. “This is what alumni and donors want, and it’s paramount to the future of Baylor in finding the most-qualified leader.”

The Baylor Alumni Association wants what is best for the university—including finding the most-qualified president to lead the school, Lacy stressed.

“Although it was our request that all constituents would be given a voting role in the final selection, … (the Alumni Association) is committed to continue working toward finding the most qualified leader,” he said. “We know from talking to alumni, that Baylor’s alumni desire inclusiveness, transparency and increased communication in this search process. These are the top priorities for alumni and donors for a successful process, …(the Alumni Association) will remain vigilant in advocating for these priorities.”

“We believe strongly that the best outcome for Baylor is achieved if the voices of all the stakeholders are formally voiced and factored into the process of finding the most-qualified president. The board of regents could have furthered its commitment to an inclusive process by giving all stakeholders an official, voting role in the process. The historically supportive Baylor alumni donor base that we represent clearly remains supportive of the most open and inclusive search process possible. This process has been proven to be effective in many other higher education institutions, and significantly enhances the communication and trust between all the stakeholder groups.”

A Baylor Student Government leader expressed disapproval regarding the lack of student voting representation on the search committee.

“We are disappointed with both our selection to an advisory role and the level of student representation on the advisory committee. The board has signaled—through its selections—which constituencies it considers priority, and the committee’s composition appears to suggest that students are not at the top of that list.  Students have proven both the ability and desire to contribute input in the presidential search and were handed a significantly diminished role,” Student Body President Bryan Fonville said.

“Communication between the board and Student Government was minimal in the lead-up to this decision.  Throughout this process, we were fully cooperative, hoping that we might be met with the same level of cooperation and consideration.  That was not the case.

“The board was provided with the opportunity to select both an undergraduate and a graduate student, which has become the norm at top-tier universities.  With the selection of two students—undergraduate and graduate—the concerns of both student constituencies would be more fully represented.”

“As the representative organization for Baylor’s student body, we simply want what’s best for Baylor.  And, what’s best for Baylor is what’s best for students.  Today’s announcement is not in the best interest of both Baylor and its students.”

Batson noted he researched the presidential search policies of at least 20 universities, but determined there is no single procedure followed across-the-board.

But Lynn Tatum, immediate past-president of the American Association of University Professors, took issue with the process the regents are following.

“The Baylor process does not conform with best practices at the nation’s top universities,” said Tatum, senior lecturer in religion and associate director of Middle Eastern studies at Baylor.

“The usual process is to have a search committee composed of a rough parity between regents and faculty, with a few other representatives such as students and/or staff,” he said, citing as examples Yale, Rice, Duke, Cornell, Stamford and Princeton universities.

“A few schools will have a committee made up entirely of faculty, working in tandem with a regents’ committee,” Tatum added, pointing to MIT, Cal Tech and Harvard as examples.

At the Baylor board’s February meeting, regents charged Batson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Amarillo, to establish the committees. He issued an invitation to all regents not rotating off the board after its May meeting to participate in the presidential search, and 14 accepted an appointment to the committee. Tommy Bowman of Waco was the lone returning regent who declined a seat on the search committee.

Bowman “did not believe that his work schedule would permit the time that this effort is likely to require,” said John Barry, Baylor’s vice president for marketing and communciations.  “As a board member, he will still have a vote on the final candidate, but Tommy felt that he shouldn’t agree to serve on the presidential search committee if he couldn’t guarantee full participation.”

Committee chairs outline goals

Joe Armes, chief operating officer of Hicks Holdings in Dallas, will chair the search committee, and Ken Hall, president of Buckner International, will chair the advisory committee.

Batson praised Armes as “an accomplished senior executive who is very committed to Baylor’s 2012 vision and (who) has served in many leadership roles during his eight years on the board of regents.” He praised Hall for his “long and distinguished record of accomplishment in Baptist life” as a pastor, agency head and denominational leader.

“Both have demonstrated over a long period of time a commitment to Baylor and a desire to see her prosper,” he said.
As chair of the search committee, Armes said his goals are to “conduct a search that is rigorous, collaborative and inclusive, seeking the benefit of the collective wisdom of the entire Baylor family.”

While the search committee has not scheduled its organizational meeting yet to determine specific operating procedures, he anticipated working closely with the advisory committee—holding some meetings jointly and some individually.

The committee enters the process with no predetermined candidate, he stressed.

“We want to identify, recruit and hire the best man or woman to lead Baylor forward,” said Armes, a layman at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.

Hall said he expects the presidential search process will be inclusive and will promote unity within the Baylor family.

“My hope and prayer will be that this search will show how the constituents of Baylor can work together to find the best and brightest candidates,” he said.

Members of the advisory committee have been promised the selection process will be open, both in terms of potential presidents and in communication with Baylor’s constituents, Hall said.

“I’ve been assured there’s not a secret candidate” for president, he noted. “And I’ve been assured I will be able to talk to Texas Baptists.”

Search committee named

The search committee includes four Texas Baptist pastors—Stan Allcorn from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene, Duane Brooks from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, Bobby Dagnel from First Baptist Church in Lubbock and Ramiro Peña from Christ the King Baptist Church in Waco.
Other members of the search committee are Wes Bailey, an insurance executive from Waco; Albert Black, president of On-Target Supplies and Logistics in Dallas; Stephen Carmack, chair and chief executive officer of Legacy Bank in Hinton, Okla.; Harold Cunningham, a retired Baylor administrator from Crawford; Gary Elliston, an attorney in Dallas; Sue Holt Getterman, a philanthropist from Waco; Neal “Buddy” Jones, owner of HillCo Partners in  Austin; John Reimers, a dentist from Beaumont; and Dary Stone, vice chairman of Cousin Properties in Dallas.

Batson named the search committee more than seven months after regents fired John Lilley as president—halfway through his contract—for “failing to bring the Baylor family together.”

Lack of togetherness in the “Baylor family” has plagued the university at least six years. Robert Sloan stepped down as Baylor’s president in 2005 after two tumultuous years in which the Faculty Senate twice gave him “no confidence” votes, and the regents voted three times on his continuing employment.

The regents unanimously elected Lilley about nine months after Sloan and the board agreed to the terms of his departure, but they fired him after a little more than two and a half years.

Last August, regents approved Batson’s appointment of David Garland, dean of Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary, as the university’s interim president.

Batson, who rotates off the regents board after May, is not a member of the search committee. When asked if he would be considered as a presidential candidate, he replied the board needs to conduct “a national, comprehensive search,” and he is “very, very happy at First Baptist Church of Amarillo.”

Garland “expressed no interest in the permanent job,” Batson noted, but added he is “doing an outstanding job” as interim.

While regents haven’t precluded anyone from consideration, Batson said he questioned the wisdom of an interim ever being considered among a field of candidates for a permanent post.

Advisory committee named

With the exception of at-large members named by the regents chair, members of the advisory committee were selected by the groups they represent, Batson said. He characterized the advisory committee as “very ecumenical” and “very eclectic.”

In addition to Hall, a past president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, other members of the advisory committee include Baylor faculty, staff, student government and alumni.

Faculty Senate representatives are Green, associate dean of the Baylor  School of Music, and Jaime Diaz-Granados, chair of the psychology and neuroscience department. Thomas Hibbs, dean of the Honors College, represents the Council of Deans, and Batson named religion professor Mikeal Parsons as at-large faculty representative.

Angela Funai, director of foundation and corporate development at Baylor, represents the Staff Council, which she chairs.
Thomas Phillips, retired Texas Supreme Court chief justice, represents the Baylor Alumni Association. Also named as alumnus-at-large was Randy Lee Pullin, a life member of the Baylor Alumni Association.

Clifton Robinson, chairman of Specialty Property, was named to represent the Waco community, and Chelsea Saylors, a senior University Scholar from Rowlett, represents Baylor Student Government.

“The presidential search committee has the responsibility to recommend the best finalist for the board’s consideration in selecting Baylor’s next president, and it will do so having been informed by a steady flow of very good information from the presidential search advisory committee,” Batson said. “We’re grateful that all these members of the Baylor family have stepped forward to assist in this very important process that is so critical to our university’s future.”

The presidential search committee has established a website at www.baylor.edu/president/search/ that will be updated with the latest news as the presidential search process unfolds. Through an online form on the website, individuals are invited to provide input regarding the university’s next chief executive, Batson stressed.
 

With additional reporting Bob Allen of Associated Baptist Press and Editor Marv Knox