SOUTHERN SEMINARY INFORMED ATS NOT IMPOSING PROBATION
by Pat Cole Vol. IX, No. 3, March 1996
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will not be placed on probation by its primary accrediting agency, according to information received by the school Feb. 26.
The Louisville, Ky., seminary has been under review by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. The accrediting agency was responding to faculty concerns related to new procedures for hiring faculty, new policies for granting tenure, and the March 1995 dismissal of the dean of the Carver School of Church Social Work, Diana R. Garland. Representatives from the accrediting agencies visited the seminary in November.
Michael Gilligan, assistant director of accrediting at ATS, did not include mention of probation in a letter to seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. dated Feb. 21. The letter, however, notified the seminary of several actions the school must take to keep its accreditation in good standing, and it informed the seminary of a "notation" on its accreditation. The requested actions and the notation, all of which were imposed by the ATS Commission on Accrediting, include the submission of four reports regarding:
1. the status of all contract and tenure-track faculty employed before the seminary changed its hiring procedures in April 1995.
2. the status of the Carver School of Church Social Work and the future of its students and faculty. (Trustees have voted to close the school at the conclusion of the 1996-97 academic year.)
3. the "process and content" of the faculty's response to the current hiring policy.
4. actions taken to address concerns expressed by the visiting committee's report about communications among the administration, faculty and trustees.
Reports on the first three matters must be submitted by April 16, The seminary must report to ATS on the final action by Nov, 15.
The notation, which used standard ATS language for accreditation reporting, said: "General tone of the school impairs the capacity to provide significant theological education and ministerial training."
The Commission on Accrediting also authorized another focused visit in the spring of 1997 to monitor progress the institution has achieved in addressing concerns about "academic freedom, status of contract and tenure-track faculty, the faculty's role in shared governance and communication among the board, administration and faculty."
"I am very pleased to receive the action report from the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools," Mohler said Feb, 26. "From the onset, we have indicated our commitment to work with all appropriate accrediting agencies through this period of institutional transition,"
He said the ATS commission has been helpful in addressing several issues of concern. "My intention is to work through these issues in a manner which respects the concerns of the ATS, the concerns of the faculty and is consistent with the commitments which undergird Southern Seminary and frame her future," he said.
Mohler said he "takes seriously" the imposition of the notation, and he expressed confidence "this notation will be removed as quickly as possible." In the letter from ATS, Gilligan listed several matters the visiting committee believed in need of "remediation," These include a lack of faculty counsel in the changing of qualifications for new faculty, insufficient faculty input in developing hiring procedures, not enough consultation with faculty in setting forth disciplinary procedures and inadequate faculty consultation in the decision to disband the Carver school. The committee also cited the overall need for improved communication among faculty, administration and trustees,
However, the visiting committee also noted four strengths of the seminary that were determined by interviews with faculty and administration. The strengths were "an unusual degree of unanimity and support" for the seminary's mission, a commitment to the seminary's work and place in the Southern Baptist Convention, a desire for the institution to prosper and a "constructive spirit among the faculty interviewed as well as strong and appreciative collegiality across the ranks."
"We will continue to cooperate with the ATS Commission on Accrediting and other appropriate agencies," Mohler said. "We will also stand proudly before the Southern Baptist Convention and its churches, Southern Baptists should know that Southern Seminary is moving forward with confidence, faithfulness and eagerness."
Controversy over Southern's social work school erupted in March 1995 when Mohler dismissed Garland as the school's dean for breaching administrative processes by releasing a document criticizing his refusal to approve a social work faculty nominee who had been recommended by faculty and student committees. Mohler cited the nominee's stance allowing for the role of women as church pastors in refusing to recommend him to Southern's trustees for final approval.
Also at the time, the seminary's vice president for academic administration, David S. Dockery, who has since been named president of Union University in Tennessee, acknowledged in an interview that the seminary is operating on four requirements for faculty nomination that reflect a strong consensus among trustees: 1) affirming women in ministry and their giftedness but restricting the role of women in the church from the office of senior pastor; 2) affirming the exclusiveness of salvation in Jesus Christ alone; 3) being clear that the Bible teaches that all homosexual behavior is sinful; and 4) acknowledging that the sanctity of human life is pro-life and against abortion except in the most extreme circumstances. [BP]