Louisiana College trustees focused on ensuring the schools
Christian character and ties to the state convention during their scheduled
meeting last week.
Trustees approved a motion for the school to join the Council
for Christian Colleges and Universities. Membership in the council will provide
the Pineville school with a valuable resource for faculty development from a
Christian worldview and for finding Christian professors, trustees explained.
Louisiana College trustees focused on ensuring the schools
Christian character and ties to the state convention during their scheduled
meeting last week.
Trustees approved a motion for the school to join the Council
for Christian Colleges and Universities. Membership in the council will provide
the Pineville school with a valuable resource for faculty development from a
Christian worldview and for finding Christian professors, trustees explained.
After about an hour of executive session discussion, trustees
also approved a resolution reaffirming the ties between the college and the
Louisiana Baptist Convention.
They also heard reports on various areas of the college and
elected board officers for the new year. (See accompanying article)
The recommendation for the Louisiana Baptist school to join
the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities came from a special four-person
committee studying policies on hiring and tenure.
The council was established in 1976 “to advance the cause
of Christ-centered higher education and to help our institutions transform lives
by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.”
It focuses on professional development and research, student
programs, leadership initiatives and public advocacy. It currently has more
than 100 four-year colleges as members, including more than a dozen Baptist
schools. These include such schools as Oklahoma Baptist University, Union University
and Wayland Baptist University.
In making the recommendation, committee member Fred Malone
of Clinton set forth a goal of ensuring the college maintains a “consistently
Christian posture in all academic instruction.”
Malone presented a seven-point delineation of what committee
members believe such a posture entails.
For instance, the statement affirms the priority of the Christian
faith above others. It also cites the Christian call to challenge the “supposed
wisdom” of the world and the importance of rejecting “those ideologies
and practices that are inconsistent with the revelation of Gods will in
the Scriptures.”
The statement also affirms the “unchanged standard of
the moral law of God found in the … Ten Commandments.”
It affirms Christ as fully human and fully God and as the only
savior of sinners. It insists “all of our instruction should be tested
against the truth revealed in Christ and should serve to advance the kingdom
of God.”
Finally, it calls on Louisiana Baptists to pray “for the
future integrity of the witness of Louisiana College to the Lord Jesus Christ
and to generously provide for the financial needs of the college.”
Malone said the statement simply is intended as an outlining
of the committees view that the uniqueness of the Christian faith is an
issue in hiring faculty members.
In order to ensure that such committed faculty members are
found and that they have ongoing access to resources for grounding themselves
in the Christian worldview and challenging the “supposed wisdom” of
the world, Malone asked trustees to approve having the school join the Council
for Christian Colleges and Universities.
Since membership runs at least $8,000 a year, Malone moved
it be sought within the upcoming year, allowing the college time to locate the
needed funds.
Ed Tarpley of Pineville supported the move, noting he had some
experience with the council. In addition to serving as a faculty resource, membership
also could help the college become a leader in promoting the Christian worldview
on a national level, he said.
In turn, Tom Arnold of Shreveport said his only concern was
that membership did not tie the hands of the president to hire someone to fill
a teaching post on an emergency or interim basis. For instance, it may be necessary
to hire a stopgap person simply to keep a pre-med program going for a semester,
he noted.
“I dont see this interfering at all with Dr. (Rory)
Lees freedom to be able to do what he needs to do,” Malone responded.
Lee agreed, saying the administration had no reservations about
joining the council. He also agreed with the recommendation that full membership
be sought within the next year, noting that should be able to be accomplished.
Trustees then voted without opposition to seek full membership
in the council.
Following the vote, Wayne DuBose of Minden urged fellow trustees
to build bridges with current faculty members and get to know them in order
to affirm their work and dispel the suspicion that sometimes exists between
the two groups.
“Were not bad people, …” he insisted. “Were
not trying to turn this school into a Bible college. We want it to be a sharp
liberal arts college second to none.”
Later in their meeting, trustees moved to executive session
in order to discuss the resolution on college-state convention ties.
They then voted in a subsequent open session to affirm the
one-and-a-half page resolution unanimously. The statement had been worked out
by college leaders with the assistance of the Louisiana Baptist Convention attorney.
The statement cites the desire of the school and the college
“to forever lay to rest and negate the validity of any contention by anyone
that Louisiana College, by action of its board of trustees, without the consent
and permission of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, may withdraw from its historic
relationship with the Louisiana Baptist Convention and become an independent
corporation with a self-perpetuating board of trustees.”
The statement then affirms the actions of 1920-21 in which
the state convention disbanded its education commission and formally established
ties with Louisiana College. As part of that process, the college agreed its
charter could not be changed or amended without convention approval.
Based on those facts, the approved resolution affirms Louisiana
College “may not, without the approval of the Louisiana Baptist Convention,
change or amend its charter, elect its own trustees or disaffiliate itself from
the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
“The board of trustees must be answerable to the Louisiana
Baptist Convention for the proper handling of its funds and the proper conduct
of its affairs,” it adds.
The statement concludes with an agreement between the college
and the state convention that any subsequent laws or court decisions that would
seem to override the arrangement “are acknowledged … to have no force
or effect.”
The resolution was scheduled to be introduced to the LBC Executive Board for
approval this week. If approved there, it will go to the full convention in
November for final adoption.