Baylor University

Baylor University is an independent coeducational Baptist institution of higher learning located in Waco, Texas. It is the largest Baptist university in the world and oldest university chartered by the Republic of Texas (1845).

Controversy and Criticisms

As Baptist university whose constituency ranges from conservative to liberal, Baylor has seen its share of infighting and controversy, most recently evidenced in the university's decision in 2005 to transition Robert Sloan from president to chancellor.http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=22239 During his decade of leadership, Sloan sought to rejuvenate the university's conservative Christian identity while at the same time becoming a tier 1 research university. http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=6629 This effort also required a lavish spending campaign, embodied in the vision of "Baylor 2012." http://www.baylor.edu/vision

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Despite support from conservative factions, Sloan's policies invited widespread criticism of alumni, faculty, and students who feared that the policies were fiscally irresponsible or would damage academic credibility.http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=21526http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=19553 Additionally, Baylor had previously prided itself on being a teaching university that maintained high student access to premier faculty; whereas Sloan introduced a two-tier faculty system in which newer research faculty would have much lighter teaching loads, thus jeopardizing a certain aspect of Baylor culture. Sloan took interest in personally approving all tenure-track faculty hires and was rumored to have asked the two critical questions, "Tell me about your personal faith journey" and "With whom may I verify these facts?", or more benignly, how faith affected their teaching and research. http://tmatt.gospelcom.net/column/2005/02/09 (The alumni magazine The Baylor Line as well as the Houston Chronicle provided excellent coverage of the controversy, but neither maintains a free online archive.)

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Conservatives have criticised Baylor as a BINO (Baptist In Name Only) university. Tom DeLay was reported as responding to a parent:

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:?Don?t send your kids to Baylor. And don?t send your kids to A&M,? DeLay answered, to vigorous applause. ?There are still some Christian schools out there?good, solid schools. Now, they may be little, they may not be as prestigious as Stanford, but your kids will get a good, solid, godly education.?http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A18077-2002Apr19¬Found=true

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Baylor also came under fire from both sides of the evolution debate for the hiring of intelligent design advocate William Dembski and the subsequent decision not to renew his contract.http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2/4397news10-28-2000.asp

Related Topics:
Evolution - Intelligent design - William Dembski

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Conservatives are also concerned at the number of graduates who espouse liberal views, such as Ann Richards. Conversely, many moderate to liberal Baylor students and alumni have been baffled by the lack of courtesy that certain students have afforded to Ann Richards when she has spoken on campus, not to mention by the interesting idea that Baylor should only attract and produce conservative graduates.

Related Topics:
Conservatives - Liberal - Ann Richards

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