WACO, Texas (ABP) — Early Baptist reaction to the surprise choice of a controversial national political figure to serve as president of Baylor University has ranged from enthusiastic to skeptical to outraged.
Kenneth Starr
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The Feb. 15 news that former Whitewater special prosecutor and current Pepperdine University Law School Dean Kenneth Starr would lead the world’s largest Baptist educational institution took virtually all observers by surprise. Leaders officially connected to the school, its independent alumni association and the Baptist General Convention of Texas generally expressed support.
BGCT president David Lowrie acknowledged that, when he first heard the news, “It caught me off guard.” But after meeting Starr at a gathering of Texas Baptist leaders, Lowrie said, “He impressed me as a genuine Christian gentleman, a scholar, very articulate and very committed to applying Christian values to the challenges faced in Christian higher education.”
Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, Texas, acknowledged Starr’s religious background as a non-Baptist who was baptized in the Churches of Christ and who more recently has been an active member of a non-denominational evangelical congregation could mean he has “two strikes against him” in the eyes of some Baptists.
“But I believe him to be a genuine follower of our Lord and Savior, and in regard to principles, he seems to espouse the Baptist beliefs we hold onto,” he said.
At the same time, he acknowledged Starr’s role as the independent counsel whose investigation led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton also could be an obstacle to unity. But, he insisted, based on first impressions, he was surprised by Starr’s lack of overt political partisanship. “He wasn’t the man I anticipated meeting,” he said, noting he left the meeting with Starr convinced the prosecutor’s “relentless pursuit [during the Clinton investigation] was driven by a commitment to principle rather than by partisan politics.”
Lowrie noted Starr’s personal involvement in ministries to the disadvantaged and his advocacy for death-row prisoners as evidence of principles that transcend political labels.
“He didn’t strike me as wanting to position Baylor as a Republican school,” he said.
Testimonial tributes of Starr presented by the search committee included representatives of the Baylor faculty and the independent Baylor Alumni Association, as well as the board of regents, Lowrie noted, offering cautious optimism about Starr’s ability to unite the divided Baylor family.
Major endorsements noted
Material provided by the search committee to the media included an endorsement by President George H.W. Bush, who characterized Starr as “one of the very finest public servants with whom I had the privilege to work as President of the United States.”
Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, described Starr as “not only a zealous, brilliant advocate on the biggest issues of the day, but also someone who is deeply concerned about and kind to every individual he encounters.”
“From the students for whom he is impressively available, to the death row inmates whose legal appeals he has handled on a pro bono basis, he is unstintingly generous with his time, expertise and wisdom,” Strossen said. “Ken Starr is deeply committed to academic freedom and to the robust exchange of ideas, including ideas with which he personally disagrees. He will be a superb leader of Baylor University and a wonderful mentor and role model for all of Baylor’s students.”
Duane Brooks
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Advisory committee, regents offer perspective
Ken Hall, chief executive officer of the Texas-based Baptist social-service agency Buckner International, chaired the advisory committee named to work alongside the search committee, which was composed entirely of regents. Hall insisted Starr brings to the university “an uncommon understanding of Baylor’s unique and distinct mission as a national Christian university with historic Baptist ties.”
Regent Duane Brooks, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, praised Starr as “a brilliant thinker” who “listens carefully to others and deliberates before making decisions.”
“Starr is Baptistic in his theology,” Brooks continued. “He greatly treasures and convictionally contends for the Baptist distinctives which we Baptists have long held dear.”
Open letters to regents posted
But other Baptist Baylor supporters were more skeptical of Starr’s non-partisanship, his commitment to Baptist principles or his ability to unite the school’s fractured constituency. Baylor alumni and friends, in recent years, have divided over multiple controversies involving such things as the school’s direction under previous presidents, its commitment to a historic Baptist identity, its embrace of standard science rather than creationism and its devotion to a strong view of church-state separation.
Chris Seay, pastor of Ecclesia, a Baptist church in Houston, posted an open letter to the regents voicing his concerns on Facebook shortly after the announcement became news Feb. 15. He pointed to “intense bickering, verbal assaults and entrenched separation” that has divided the larger Baylor family since the late 1990s.
“It seemed clear to all that the next president of our great university must be more Billy Graham than Karl Rove. We need someone who is able to remind us that our diverse views and experiences allow for the kind of educational environment that we can all be proud to offer our children. Instead of seeking a peacemaker, the board of regents has selected one of the most polarizing public figures in recent history, and in doing so, has injected partisan politics as one more reason to seek division rather than unity in the Baylor family,” Seay wrote.
“I know and respect many who serve as regents of Baylor University. In the end, I must trust their judgment. But I do not understand a selection that increases division and on the surface makes the work of healing much more difficult. I am choosing to be supportive of this new President; primarily because I have seen the way that resentment distracts us all from our mission.
“But I encourage the board of regents to take significant steps toward bringing all of Baylor together. If this is to happen they must begin to give influence to a new generation of leaders that will move Baylor into the future, instead of fighting the battles of our divisive past.”
Matt Cook
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Matt Cook, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., said in a similar open letter that, while Starr might not be the hard-bitten conservative ideologue that his popular “caricature” would suggest, the onus is on him and Baylor regents to prove it.
“I hope that none of us are naive enough to believe that the sound-bite oriented news cycle provided in our current political environment is adequate to portray something as complex as a human life. I do not doubt that the caricatures offered us of Judge Starr were shallow,” Cook, who holds master’s and doctoral degrees from Baylor, said.
Nonetheless, “his hiring seems to indicate either a startling lack of awareness upon the part of everyone involved, or worse, a lack of concern about how Judge Starr's appointment would be received in the context of such division.”
Cook suggested that the regents and Starr should be completely transparent about the questions asked during the search process regarding his involvement in Whitewater and whether he had regrets about his behavior.
He also said Starr should be transparent about his political intentions, because he believes “that this moment in Baylor's history requires a president who will concentrate on building consensus first and foremost. That means we can reasonably expect that President Starr would either restrain himself in certain ways as Baylor president, or perhaps find ways to create a breadth of political engagement at Baylor, or more likely, a combination of these two approaches.”
Cook advised a similar commitment on Starr’s part to a diversity of political and theological viewpoints in Baylor leadership under the new president’s administration. He said that required more than — as Starr has been praised for doing at Pepperdine — inviting campus speakers representing a broad array of viewpoints.
“Listening to outsiders is helpful, but building consensus in the midst of diversity is far more so, though certainly more difficult (and more rewarding),” Cook wrote. “Candidly, such work was only made more difficult by the appointment of President Starr.”
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Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief of Associated Baptist Press. Ken Camp is managing editor of the Texas Baptist Standard.
Previous ABP stories:
Starr affirms Baylor's Baptist heritage, plans to become Baptist (2/16)