WAKE FOREST, N.C. (ABP) — Leaders of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary blame “disgruntled” and “disturbed” former employees for stirring up trouble on their North Carolina campus. But critics say the controversy that boiled over last week owes to the fact the seminary tolerates unethical spending and retaliates against whistleblowers.
For the school's administrators and trustees, the timing is unfortunate — on the eve of President Danny Akin's inauguration Oct. 27 as the sixth president of the conservative Southern Baptist Convention seminary.
The controversy began 17 months ago, when a seminary administrator gave a school-owned car to the personal aide of then-president Paige Patterson. In exchange, the aide's father-in-law later made a contribution to the seminary of $6,500 — about half the value of the car — and was told the gift was tax-deductible, according to receipts and letters from the seminary.
After the transaction was discovered by comptroller David Armstrong, the contribution was apparently changed to a purchase agreement and the tax deduction denied. But the father-in-law paid much less than fair market value for the six-month-old Pontiac Grand Prix, according to seminary documents.
Ryan Hutchinson, the Southeastern official who arranged the gift, and later sale, of the car, is still in his role as vice president of administration. Meanwhile, two of the employees who later questioned the transaction have been dismissed, though the administration says for other reasons.
Anonymous letters describing the transaction have been circulating among faculty, students and employees since the beginning of October. One letter, purportedly from an employee and obtained by Associated Baptist Press, alleges “pervasive corruption and dishonesty at the seminary.”
Akin, who became president in January, vehemently denied unethical or illegal activities at the seminary, saying the anonymous letters contain “enormous inaccuracies, untruths and lies” and are the work of “cowards.”
Among the accusations is that C. B. Scott, former director of special projects and housing who was fired in March, was terminated for exposing Hutchinson's role in the transaction.
Also history instructor Stephen Prescott, whose teaching contract recently was not renewed by Akin, was reportedly dismissed for questioning the seminary's handling of the controversy, several current and former employees told ABP.
The departure of the popular Prescott particularly has angered some students and fanned the controversy.
“It is starting to get out now, and it's getting out with Prescott's firing,” said Matt Crosland, a student and carpenter employed by the school. “Most of the students don't know about the whole thing. They know Prescott's been let go. So, understandably, they are extremely upset by it. But they are [also] extremely upset because of the immorality of it all.”
“I stand up for Dr. Prescott, and more importantly I stand up for truth,” added student Thomas Hudgins. “He's a godly man.” Hudgins said the truth will eventually get out. “Obviously, sin can't be covered up.”
Akin tried to quell the controversy by sending an e-mail to the entire seminary community Oct. 20, in which he said the “rumors” of unethical business practices and fraud were brought to his attention by Southeastern's auditors “some weeks ago.” He said he asked the auditors to “conduct a detailed and exhaustive investigation,” which he said proved the seminary innocent of any “financial fraud, dishonesty or mismanagement.” Prescott's departure after this semester has nothing to do with the accusations against the seminary, Akin added.
In a fiery speech in seminary chapel the next day, Akin chided as unethical any students who were spreading the accusations about seminary finances, which he blamed on disgruntled former employees. He said he heard that one student had threatened to punch him in the face “because of some of these issues.” Akin said he would wait down front after chapel, and “I will not defend myself,” if any student believed punching him would bring “glory and honor” to Jesus Christ.
In an interview later in the day, Akin said auditors McGladrey & Pullen had thoroughly investigated the financial allegations and found them groundless. “Our audit indicates this institution has conducted itself with integrity at every point.”
Akin declined to say why C. B. Scott and Stephen Prescott were terminated. “I don't speak to personnel issues,” he told ABP.
Some fellow employees say Scott and Prescott were victims of a seminary culture that spent money wastefully, ignored abuses and intimidated those who criticized the administration.
In May 2003, Scott, who was responsible for maintaining the seminary's vehicles, discovered the 2002 Pontiac was missing, according to a memo from comptroller Armstrong to a trustee.
“Two of my employees came to me and asked me where the Pontiac was,” Scott recently told ABP. The car, purchased six months earlier for $13,398, was found at the home of Jason Duesing, personal aide to then-president Patterson, apparently being used by his wife, Kalee. “I thought it was just one of those administrative breaches,” Scott recalled.
Hutchinson, vice president of administration, transferred the title to Duesing June 23. Ten days earlier, Duesing's father-in-law, Don Pearce of Dallas, made a $6,500 “unrestricted” contribution to Southeastern, according to seminary documents.
Scott recalled: “Pearce sends the money. Ryan [Hutchinson] walked that check through to a woman named Sandra Rice and told her this was a donation from this man. He didn't say it was Jason Duesing's father-in-law. … So it's all tax deductible. It's a perfect laundry.”
Pearce and Duesing did not respond to repeated calls from ABP to discuss the transaction.
When comptroller Armstrong and others objected, the contribution was later changed to a sale in seminary records and the tax deduction reversed. But the sale price was far less than the book value of the car at the time.
Concerned the transaction was illegal, Scott and Armstrong sought advice from a CPA and two faculty members with law degrees — Stephen Prescott and Greg Lawson, associate professor of Christian education.
The men met in August 2003, soon after Patterson left to become president of Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, taking Duesing with him. They decided not to go public but to let the seminary's auditors discover the transaction, according to Armstrong's memo.
The seminary's auditors reportedly were alerted, according to several employees. But no further action apparently was taken.
After Patterson left, Bart Neal, vice president for institutional advancement, became interim president. Meanwhile, word of the car gift-sale gradually spread to other employees and a few seminary trustees. Scott said he became frustrated when Hutchinson wasn't punished.
When he learned from seminary administrators that Paige Patterson knew about the handling of the car, he was “deflated,” said Scott, a former pastor and trustee of the SBC Sunday School Board. “I followed that guy through a war,” Scott said, referring to the conservative-moderate battle over inerrancy. “I said, 'I'm walking away from it if Patterson knew about it. For that matter, you can fire me right now.'”
Patterson declined to talk about the car transaction or to say when he found out about it. “I was not involved in it at all and I don't want to comment on it at all,” he told ABP. “That's for Dr. Akin and the auditors to deal with.”
Asked if he had any influence in the termination of Scott or Prescott, Patterson said: “Do I look like I just fell off a pumpkin truck? It would be inappropriate for me to comment. I'm not the president there.”
Ryan Hutchinson also declined to talk about Scott and Prescott. But he did confirm that Patterson knew the car was being given to Duesing.
Scott said he stopped trying to get Southeastern to discipline Hutchison. “But I knew Ryan, and I knew he wasn't going to let that go, because he's a vindictive snake.”
After Danny Akin became president in January, Scott said, “It took Ryan about six weeks to convince Danny that I was the devil.” Scott said he was fired by Akin on March 3, 2004.
Fellow employees were told Scott was fired for making a threat against administrators, according to numerous interviews.
Trustee chair Tim Lewis of Troy, Ill., called Scott “an incredibly disturbed employee.” “He had some major emotional– Let's just say major, major problems,” Lewis told ABP.
But Lori Stephens, one of the employees who supposedly heard Scott's threat, said the conversation was misinterpreted. “It was not a threat,” she said. “C. B. was just telling us a story. … I trust C. B. He's kind of a father [figure] for me. I don't think he's crazy.”
After Scott was fired in March, Stephens said, “We were told, 'Whoever is not on board from this point on is going to be fired.' I kept asking them, 'What do you mean “on board”?'”
Six months later, Stephen Prescott received a letter informing him his contract was not being renewed. Although he was “given no written reason” for being dropped, Prescott said, Akin told him he had received e-mailed complaints from unnamed students who said Prescott was “abrasive.”
Prescott is well regarded among students in Southeastern's undergraduate college, according to several who spoke to ABP. His evaluations by the dean and students are reportedly among the highest in the college faculty.
Trustee chair Lewis had another opinion. “There are some issues with Steve. The president lost confidence in Steve. … Steve has a history of interpersonal problems.” Since Prescott was teaching under a two-year contract, the trustee said, Akin decided not to renew it.
The car controversy “has nothing to do with it,” Lewis added. “There's some motivation to try to hurt Ryan [Hutchinson]. I'm certain that C.B. and Steve and some guys are going to try to use this.”
C. B. Scott, now director of development for the Middle Creek Bible Conference near Gettysburg, Penn., said he had resolved to forget about the car transaction. But then, in September, Southeastern's auditors started questioning his son, Ben, who still works in the seminary maintenance department.
When Prescott was forced out, Scott said he decided to tell what he knew because he felt responsible for bringing Prescott into the controversy.
“Stephen shouldn't have been fired,” Scott said. “Stephen didn't do anything wrong.… He was the most beloved faculty guy in the [undergraduate] college. It's just wrong, what's happened to him. That institution means everything to him.”
Meanwhile, seminary trustees are expected to hear the report from the auditors Oct. 25. Auditor Colby Daughtry of McGladrey & Pullen confirmed Akin had asked the firm to “look into a number of areas,” but he added: “We have not made our report to the audit committee. So it would be inappropriate, according to our professional standards, to discuss that before our report to the board.”
Daughtry would not say if the firm was investigating the car sale before asked to recently by Akin. “That's getting to a little bit of level of detail that is inappropriate for me to discuss, at least for a couple of days,” he said. “I did tell Dr. Akin that we will be presenting the seminary what is called a 'clean and unqualified opinion.'”
There apparently was no specific mention of the car or contribution in the earlier 2002-03 audit by McGladrey & Pullen. But the auditor's management letter, dated Sept. 23, 2003, noted the firm discovered — “through investigation of a check received during the year” — that the seminary's accounting department was not made aware of the “disposal” of more than five cars “until a significant period of time [had] elapsed.”
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