Baylor Faculty Votes Against Current President
Eighty-five percent of the faculty who took part in a Dec. 3 referendum said the incumbent Baylor president should be tossed; critics say the non-binding referendum was “divisive” and “statistically irrelevant”
Baylor University, the world’s largest Baptist university, has been constantly experiencing internal ruptures following the initiation of a vigorous 10-year plan to re-vamp, renew and renovate the campus and faculty. Swamped with a debt that is expected to climb to over $100 million by the decade’s end, rising tuition, and regulated faculty tests, scores of faculty and student body members have been rallying against the university’s administration for brainstorming and launching the expensive the Baylor 2012 initiative. However, it was not until Dec. 3 that the division was substantiated with a faculty-wide referendum on the leadership of President Robert Sloan.
According to a Dec. 6 announcement by the Baylor Faculty Senate, 85 percent of the faculty who voted in the non-binding referendum last week believes Sloan should be tossed. Results of the ballot showed 418 of 490 faculty members who took part in the referendum voted “no” to the simple question: “Should Robert Sloan remain as President of Baylor University?” 69 voted yes; 3 were left blank.
The overwhelming disapproval for Sloan came in part because of the high cost of implementing Baylor 2012. Under Baylor 2012, which launched in 2002, the university would dedicate $77 million to hire 230 new faculty positions, $51 million to hire staff, and spend $40 million to build new dorm rooms and lecture halls. The rocketed budget would be paid off by a tuition increase of 36 percent.
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The Baylor faculty senate has previously taken two no-confidence votes against Sloan. However, the Dec. 3 referendum was the first faculty-wide vote taken on the issue.
"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."
However, critics of the Faculty Senate noted that of the 838 eligible faculty, only 59 percent – or 490 – voted. A faculty group supportive of Sloan led a boycott against the referendum, which the group called “divisive” and “statistically invalid.”
“The referendum does suggest one thing clearly: the Baylor faculty as a whole does not mimic the lopsided pessimism evident in the Senate’s past votes of ‘no-confidence’ on President Sloan’s presidency,” the statement read from the anti-referendum group read. “Their previous votes nowhere near reflect the reality of Baylor’s faculty, of which 420 — half — did not participate in the divisive referendum at all or else voted in Dr. Sloan’s favor.”
The boycotting group also criticized the Senate Faculty for playing politics in an issue that should be debated in the “hallmark of the academic life.”
“Debating ideas is the hallmark of the academic life; taking polls is the province of politicians. 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 group said in a statement.
The group also took note that the referendum is non-binding and that only the Board of Regents has the authority to maintain or change leadership.
“By its own admission, the Senate’s referendum is not binding upon anyone. The Board of Regents is not obliged to do anything in response. Indeed, they unanimously declined the opportunity to conduct the referendum, and they cannot possibly welcome the presumptuous rhetoric of some Senators that the referendum has “established a precedent” for the future conduct of the faculty,” said the group.
Will Davis, chair of Baylor’s Board of Regents agreed, saying in a prepared statement: “I would remind all Baylor constituents that the Board of Regents has the sole responsibility for determining who serves as president of the University. 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.”
During their September meeting, the board of Regents rejected the Faculty Senate’s request to sponsor the referendum, and on Oct. 3, the Student Congress passed a resolution objecting the referendum.
Accordingly, Jeff Leach, student body president, expressed disappointment at the referendum, calling it “divisive” and “ineffective.”
“We believe that the recent faculty referendum was divisive and that it will prove ineffective in achieving reconciliation. The results of the referendum do nothing but to once again state what we already know,” said Leach. “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.”
Just over a year ago, the Regents voted 31-4 to affirm Sloan, but the support dropped significantly in the past months. During a secret ballot vote earlier this year, a motion to ask for Sloan’s resignation failed by only one vote: 18 to 17. In September, the regents voted to postpone “indefinitely” a call for Sloan’s resignation.
The next regularly scheduled board of regents meeting is Feb. 4.
