MEDIA RELEASE

September 12, 2003

For immediate release

The Committee to Restore Integrity to Baylor:

Response to Today’s Meeting of the Baylor Board of Regents

This is a sad day for Baylor University. There are no winners in this controversy, only losers, and today’s action by the regents serves only to prolong the divisiveness that has plagued the Baylor family for a number of months. The current administration has driven a deep wedge among members of various constituencies, including alumni, faculty, students and other friends of Baylor. The damage has reached the point of being irreparable as long as the current leadership remains at the helm.

The Faculty Senate, a body elected by the faculty and representative of the various schools, voted 26-6 to send a message of no confidence in Robert Sloan to the regents. The faculty representatives asked the regents for their help in removing an oppressive administration, and the regents have responded by asking the faculty to give the administration more time. The argument that 26 elected Faculty Senators (over 80% of the total Faculty Senate) are not representative of 800 faculty is like saying that 80 elected U.S. Senators (80% of the total Senate) are not representative of almost 300 million Americans.

An institution the size of Baylor has many different constituencies with many different agendas, and the job of the leadership is to bring those different constituencies together to work toward a common goal. The current administration has failed in that regard, and the only way to remedy the situation is to bring in new leadership that can accomplish that task. Another sign of leadership is to bring out the best in people, and no one can deny that this administration has brought out the worst in people on both sides of the controversy.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the faculty as they try to fulfill their role as teachers while continuing to work under difficult conditions and circumstances. Our thoughts and prayers are with the students as they try to go about completing their Baylor education in an environment in which their teachers feel ignored at best and betrayed at worst. Our thoughts and prayers are with Baylor’s alumni and other friends as they try to overcome deep divisions with other alumni, friends and even family members. And finally, our thoughts and prayers are with the regents and the current administration as they seek to make decisions that are truly in the best interest of Baylor University.

May God bless Baylor University.

Committee to Restore Integrity to Baylor

Contacts:

Glenn Biggs, San Antonio 210-734-2218
Randy Fields, San Antonio 210-856-5123
Gale Galloway, Austin 512-458-3407
Gracie Hilton Arlington 817-467-4194
Bette McCall Miller, Dallas 972-222-2431
Ronnie Rogers, Dallas 214-676-5536
Joe Ross, Fort Worth 817-927-2721