1. The relationship of Southwestern Seminary to the BGCT.  This concern cites the termination of the former president.  We can only respond by saying that Southwestern's president and trustees had a tragic divorce that wounded many.  As is the case with most divorces, fault can be found with both parties.  On the part of the administration of Southwestern, initiatives have been made to bring healing.  We have worked through our grief with our campus family and are moving on to the future.  The report further charges that there have been few substantive attempts by current administration to mend the relationship between the BGCT and Southwestern or establish a new basis for cooperation.  Any query of our faculty would have discovered the open door to work in partnership with the BGCT.  We have consistently invited members from the BGCT to speak in chapel.  We have encouraged church planters to work in accord with the BGCT strategy.  Faculty members have been encouraged to speak for and participate in BGCT sponsored events.  No attempt has been made to flood the chapel with Southern Baptists of Texas speakers or those critical to the BGCT, and chapel is never used for political reasons.  A careful look at the fall 2000 chapel schedule will show one BGCT and one SBT speaker.  Further, it stands to reason that we would welcome SBC executives to speak whenever possible in our chapel.  Concerning the distribution of materials highly critical of BGCT leaders last year, Dr. Bill Tolar, acting dean at the time, responded to the issue and assured the committee that no one was pressured to hand out materials.  Materials were made available because of concern expressed by students that the actions of a Texas Baptist church had been presented in a negative light.  We agree that we could have handled the matter better.  To respond fairly to issues related to separation of church and state, we are providing an open forum with Brent Walker, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee, and Richard Land, president of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

2. The change to trustee management, leading to trustee abuses.  The revision of our bylaws, one part of our reaccreditation work, substituted the word "manage" for "operate" in an attempt to clarify that trustees do not "operate" the seminary.   The president and elected administration are charged with the daily operation of the seminary.  The choice not to hire a particular candidate was cited by the committee to indicate trustee intrusion.  For ethical reasons, it is inappropriate to comment on personnel matters.  However, the report gives the perception that a candidate was disqualified solely on the basis of a political position.  That is not accurate.  The president takes full responsibility for the decision to withdraw the candidate's name.  It was an administrative decision not a trustee decision.  In any case, it would have been entirely within the purview of the trustees to reject any candidate submitted by the president.  Any historian of Southwestern or any other Baptist institution in this state could tell you that there have been similar decisions by former presidents.  Our trustees in collaboration with the faculty council have been proactive in preventing abuse and inappropriate intrusion.  Dr. Michael Dean chairs an ad hoc committee that has been working in conjunction with the three deans and the vice president of Academic Administration and Institutional Planning in drafting a document that details appropriate avenues for response and dialogue for faculty, students, and trustees.  The report further indicates that only 50 percent of the trustees gave to the Seminary.  The actual percentage is 90 percent.  We apologize for the inaccuracy in our report.  Mid-year calculations can be misleading because of the constant change in the make up of the board.

3. Mistreatment of employees .  The report suggests that some younger faculty members were faced with the non-renewal of their contracts.  We do not have contracts and therefore could not employ such a mechanism to force faculty to leave.  Termination and resignation are sadly a part of any institution or church.  We can only say that anyone terminated by Southwestern during the tenure of our present president has been terminated for cause and has been dealt with according to the Seminary's adopted guidelines.  Further, we can assure Texas Baptists that the dismissed faculty members have been treated with fairness and kindness out of Christian concern for the individual and the family.

Several notations are cited from the Ombudsman Committee minutes.  The Ombudsman Committee was formed in early 1995 to improve communication between faculty, students, and trustees.  Minutes of that work are by their nature privileged and are thus secure in the safe.  No one has a copy of these minutes.  Any references to the Ombudsman Committee must be references from memory and are therefore likely to be partial and interpreted.  This fact was clarified in our meeting, but no mention of that was made in the written report.

4. Narrowing Requirements of Employees.  It is true that we require our faculty to teach, write, and abide by the current Baptist Faith and Message.  We do so unapologetically.  Our Bylaws are clear that our confessional statement shall be the Baptist Faith and Message as amended from time to time.  Both former presidents and the present president have operated with the clear understanding that Southwestern is a confessional institution. 

When any grievance or complaint is lodged against faculty, student, or trustee, the procedure for handling such a grievance is clearly articulated in our bylaws and involves due process that protects everyone involved.  It is simply inaccurate to say there is no due process.  Both our Christian values and our accreditation standing mandate a fair and impartial procedure.