Dawson & Sodd, P.C.

A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

121 NORTH MAIN

P.O. BOX 837

CORSICANA, TX 75151-0837

MATT DAWSON 903-872-8181

903-872-3654 fax

September 9, 2003

Dear Baylor Regents,

First, may I express my appreciation for your dedicated service to our university. I personally know only three of you but I am aware that in the Baylor tradition we have a board composed of outstanding individuals who generously give of their time, money and business acumen to our university.

Since I know only three of you it is fair to assume you never heard of me. So let me briefly introduce myself and my relationship to Baylor. I was born and raised on the Baylor campus – literally. My father (for whom the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church State Studies is named) graduated at the top of the 1904 class after founding the Baylor Lariat and becoming its first editor. Thereafter his best friend, George W. Truitt introduced him to a very talented young lady in his church, they fell in love and a year later Dr. Truitt married them. They returned to Waco in 1914 when my father became pastor of the First Baptist Church which he served for 32 years. During this period, both my parents became deeply embedded in the life and affairs of Baylor, my father serving three decades as trustee and my mother (for whom Willie Dawson Hall is named) taking upon herself the task of raising money for a new dormitory for girls who were being stashed in “annexes”, 10 or 12 in an old one bathroom house around south Waco. Memorial Dormitory is the result of hundreds of visits and speeches all over Texas in four years during the Great Depression.

I certainly do not intend to boast of my contributions to Baylor, for indeed it would be unseemly for me to do so. But I can brag about the young men and women I was privileged to teach. We worked hard together, mostly one on one, and I am so very proud of these federal and state judges, congressmen and outstanding lawyers, the products of our Law School. Indeed it was an honor to be a part of their lives. I am also proud of being able to persuade others to make substantial gifts to Baylor. Following my parents’ example I have raised or helped raise about $16,000,000 for our endowment, so it is not my contribution that I am bragging about, but the generosity of these other folks – “that good ole Baylor line”.

I might add that in view of Dr. Sloan’s methods and policies I could not do so now.

It is this simple, as is illustrated by my affiliation with two foundations, each of which have given generously to our Law School and Baylor University in the past. My co-trustees read about Baylor’s fiscal policies – hundreds of millions for new buildings; $2.3 million for a jet plane that will get its president there 20 minutes earlier (but at a high operating cost); 2 million for a luxurious football locker room; $247 million borrowed and to be repaid by a giant hike in tuition; $9,000,000 deficit incurred to entertain Waco sports fans and perhaps a fourth of its students willing to attend. “Why”, they ask, “should we make a grant to an institution like that when there are so many more worthy causes?”

A lot of individuals are saying the same thing, and quite frankly, I am re-assessing my own comparatively small estate. One is disinclined to give hard earned money when he considers how that money is spent.

You undoubtedly have visited campuses that are in the very top of the “top tier” we seek to emulate. Gosh, those old buildings at University of Virginia, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins look downright shabby compared to the fine edifices at Baylor. And if they have a football team it couldn’t beat Kilgore College. But they do have superb faculties, great scholars and Nobel prize winners. It would probably cost the price of a jet airplane to get three or four like that for Baylor, but a great faculty is essential for “top tier”. However, they would never pass the religious litmus test – or even agree to submit to it. Anyway, it is a matter of priorities on how we use our resources.

Probably the greatest concern of our faculty involves the emphasis on religiosity placed by the administration in its hiring of new faculty members and granting of tenure. The Provost put the spin on this subject by claiming the inquiry only concerns the applicant’s involvement in community activities. Of course, I have not personally participated in any of these interviews but my information and belief is that the inquiry goes far beyond a simple exploration on one’s community service and activities, even to the extent of probing the applicant’s religious beliefs.

As I see it there are three things wrong about this:

(1) There are some, including me, who regard their religious faith as an intimate matter between themselves and their Maker. If I were an applicant for a teaching position I might have passed Dr. Sloan’s or the provost’s litmus test because I had taught Sunday School for 38 years, but I don’t believe I would have relished the job at Baylor enough to be cross examined about my religious beliefs by these men.

(2) By using religion as a criterion for employment, which the administration certainly does, it automatically excludes most of our greatest teachers and scholars.

Perhaps it is unfortunate, but the Albert Einsteins, the Rhodes scholars, the Nobel prize winners – those individuals who have contributed the most to humanity and the betterment of mankind are nearly all so absorbed in their work and subject that they seldom participate in church activities. These individuals love scholarship and teaching – to be masters in their discipline, to inspire students to learn and excel. Almost always they are fine men and women with high ideals and of great character, but not often religionists. Undoubtedly you have known such individuals – I surely have. This includes the two people who were recently honored by Baylor upon their retirement as “Master Teachers”. Indeed, they were most admired and beloved. Rarely can you have a professor who is both an exceptional teacher and a church activist. Of course, there are exceptions, and I have known two – Dr. Robert Baird and Judge Abner McCall. Yet Abner emphasized that in selecting a teacher he would choose competency over piety any day.

(3) The third down-side to Dr. Sloan’s formula is his insistence that a professor inject his Christian beliefs into the subject he is teaching.

If I might be excused for personalizing, when I accepted the Law School position, it was to teach law, and not Sunday School. Of course, we want to impart the highest ethical and moral standards but attempting to inject one’s religious beliefs creates problems.

Let me illustrate. Recently Dr. Sloan overruled the faculty’s recommendation and selected Dr. Francis Beckwith, an avowed believer in “intelligent design”, which scientists have viewed as “the latest variation of the creationist theory”.

Now, of course, Dr. Beckwith has a right to whatever he wants to believe, but his activism in this respect should have no place in the position he holds.

Lets be clear about it. Dr. Robert Sloan is a man of strong convictions. He is erudite, articulate and obviously has a burning desire that Baylor become marked among the “top tier” institutions. Of course, we all share the aspiration for a greater Baylor. But as you are aware, there exists in our faculty and among our alumni strong disagreement about Dr. Sloan’s methods and policies in getting there. I share this concern.

I might add that Dr. Sloan believes he has a well-spring of support in the ranks of the Baylor constituency. While I am unaware of any polls, I do know that insofar as the most important segment of the Baylor family is concerned, the faculty and alumni, he is badly mistaken.

It is true that the newer faculty members are supportive of the administration. Indeed, they would be fools to challenge those in whose hands their future tenure lies. Some have even gone further, perhaps to earn brownie points from the powers that be, and hurled invectives such as “rumor mongers”, “vicious confrontationalists”, and “slanderers” asserting we need to be “re-Christianized”. There are also those among the business community, including some very generous supporters, who empathize with Dr. Sloan and the travail he has endured because of the tragedies of the summer. We certainly appreciate their support of Baylor and the feelings expressed for Dr. Sloan, but we do not equate Sloan with Baylor. Unlike a small private corporation and its owner, Baylor and Sloan are not one and the same.

The Dallas News quoted Baylor’s financial officer asking where were these critics three years ago?

I do not know whether he was referring to the revelations in the news about apparent conflicts of interest among the regents *(which until now I had never heard) or the questions raised regarding Dr. Sloan’s methods and policies. With respect to the latter I did, in fact, at the beginning of the big building binge express my concerns to Dr. Sloan (on two occasions) that the focus was all wrong and should be upon the endowment. So the financial officer is right – I should have contacted a regent – which I did, but apparently too late.

It is these specifics, as well as the generality statements about “leadership” that I trust you will consider on next Friday.

Sincerely yours,

R. Matt Dawson /s/

*As a lawyer I would regard this as a very serious matter but I am certainly not raising the issue.