From Christianity Today's blog:
Baylor University's board of regents has fired president John Lilley, whose presidency began and ended with disputes over tenure.
In 2006, associate professor of church-state studies Francis Beckwith was denied tenure. His appeal became a cause celebre in some evangelical academic circles, and he eventually prevailed. Lilley, however, continued to be viewed with suspicion by some Christian observers.
But it was April's decision to deny tenure to 12 candidates that really set the drumbeats going. Most years, about 10 percent of faculty up for tenure are denied. This year, the 40 percent rejection rate sparked accusations of a "purge" and capricious standards. Seven of the ten faculty who appealed ended up receiving tenure.
A press release from Baylor says board member Harold Cunningham will be acting president until an interim president is named.
Updates to follow. The Waco Tribune-Herald will no doubt have coverage throughout the day.
Comments (4)
Frank, what's your take on this event? (Or would you prefer not to say?)
By the way, I've already e-mailed CT about this with their contact form: They need to make a change in their advertising agreement. The first time I went to the link an _incredibly_ inappropriate ad (esp. for a Christian site) popped up on the right-hand sidebar. If they have somebody telling them that the ads will be geared to the nature of the site, this is _not_ happening. Obviously, those things are switched around at random, and it wasn't there the next time I clicked, but this is a warning to you gentlemen that you might not wish to go to the CT link.
Posted by Lydia | July 25, 2008 10:34 AM
P.Z. Myers is attacking Baylor at his blog specifically citing this act, downgrading Baylor to nothing more now than a "bible college", using the latter term as if a pejorative.
Posted by aristocles | July 25, 2008 4:27 PM
Hmmm. I guess Myers didn't like the professors who were denied tenure. Sure puts me prima facie on their side!
Posted by Lydia | July 25, 2008 4:35 PM
Rather than provide a link to his insufferable blog, here's what he has to say (minus his diagram which meshes stupidity, fundamentalism, religion, the dark ages, politics, republicans into 'Intelligent Design'):
The president of Baylor, John M. Lilley, was fired abruptly yesterday. He demonstrated insufficient dedication to their "faith mission", so of course he had to go. I'm sure the ID crowd will be pleased — by encouraging a stronger "Christian vision", the next president of the university will probably encourage more Intelligent Design nonsense…which, of course, is an entirely secular concept that is not reliant on faith or Christian visions. Right.
I also have to say that this diagram accompanying the commentary is spot on.
Posted by aristocles | July 25, 2008 4:39 PM