WACO, Texas (ABP) – Baylor University's interim president steered the rudder of Baptists' flagship university during his first day at the helm.
Bill Underwood announced three high-level administrative appointments, most pointedly replacing the university's top academic officer, David Lyle Jeffrey, with whom he previously debated academic freedom.
Randall O'Brien, professor and chair of Baylor's religion department, takes Jeffrey's place, becoming interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. Michael Morrison, a professor in the Baylor School of Law, succeeds Tommye Lou Davis as Underwood's chief of staff. And Paul Powell, dean of Baylor's Truett Theological Seminary, is special assistant to the president for denomination relations, a position that has been vacant.
Underwood became interim president at Baylor June 1, after Robert Sloan left the post he held exactly 10 years.
The “Baylor family” squabbled publicly the last two years of Sloan's administration. Tension swirled around the university's long-range vision, called Baylor 2012, and more particularly Sloan's implementation of it.
Supporters said Sloan was ensuring Baylor's place among the “top tier” of American universities by integrating strong Christian faith and high academic standards. Critics claimed he was leading Baylor from its Texas Baptist roots, undermining classroom teaching, pricing the school out of range of middle-class families and amassing monumental debt.
The division spilled into the boardroom, where Baylor regents voted on Sloan's future at least three times, once reportedly coming within one vote of removing him.
Division also spread across campus. The faculty senate twice voted “no confidence” in Sloan. And in a faculty referendum, 418 of 838 eligible teachers – 85 percent of the votes cast – called for his dismissal.
Finally, this winter, Sloan and regents Chairman Will Davis announced the president would step down at the end of the spring semester. The regents named him chancellor, and he is to focus on fund raising, student recruitment and promoting the university.
In late April, regents elected Underwood, a Baylor law professor and former general counsel for the university, as interim president.
At the time, a reporter asked if Underwood would be a “caretaker president.” Chairman Davis immediately debunked that notion. Underwood will be “president of Baylor University until we elect a new one,” he said. “He is not ‘caretaker' of anything.”
He apparently took Davis at his word. Most regents learned about his appointments when they received an e-mailed press release that afternoon, Davis said.
Underwood told Davis in advance about the provost and chief-of-staff appointments. “I was consulted, but I did not concur,” Davis said.
“I have great respect for the provost, David Lyle Jeffrey. I thought he did a good job,” he added. “But I don't question the authority of Dr. Underwood to make the decisions he made.”
Underwood said he made the changes on his first day in office in order to strengthen Baylor.
“These changes signify one of the central themes of this period – my desire to bring about healing in the Baylor community,” he explained. “That includes the academic community in Waco, as well as our alumni, and healing among some of the organizations we've been associated with.”
So, Underwood made the specific changes in light of that desire, he said.
“Regarding the provost, Dr. Jeffrey and I are friends. I am a great admirer of Dr. Jeffrey,” he noted. “But what I wanted at this critical juncture in the university's life is a different skill set. Dr. O'Brien is a reconciler and a healer, and he has a track record of taking on difficult situations like this. That made him a perfect fit.
“This change is not a reflection of Dr. Jeffrey as much as it reflects my respect for Dr. O'Brien's skills as a healer and reconciler.”
As he made the transition back to full-time teaching, Jeffrey said: “Mr. Underwood is endeavoring to do something he thinks will achieve greater unity at Baylor. Dr. O'Brien has spoken movingly to the faculty and invited folks to move into that process.”
Jeffrey added he doesn't have the proper perspective to predict if Underwood's moves will achieve that unity.
“Time alone will tell. There are a lot of things happening at Baylor. … It would be fair to say there are a lot of things I haven't understood well,” he said, specifically citing the university's politics. “I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet. (But) Baylor needs them – Bill and Randall – to succeed very badly, and I wish them well.”
Underwood did not intend to change his chief of staff, he said, noting he asked Tommye Lou Davis to stay on. But she chose to remain Sloan's chief of staff and move into the chancellor's office for the sake of continuity and a smooth transition, he said.
Consequently, Underwood looked to his law school colleague, Morris. “Mike is about the most talented person I know,” he said. “He is a bright and capable man, a former mayor of Waco. He has the right skills for this task.”
Powell, a former Baptist General Convention of Texas president and longtime pastor in the state, will strengthen Baylor's ties to the BGCT, Underwood surmised, adding, “We'll be looking for ways to work with the BGCT in common projects.”
Underwood predicted the leadership team will help him accomplish three major goals of his administration.
“One of my priorities is to restore trust within the Baylor family,” he said. “I'd like to bring us together and bridge the divide that's existed among the faculty and our alumni and, really, our governing board.”
Acknowledging his administrative shakeup, particularly Jeffrey's removal, has been viewed by some in the Baylor community as divisive, Underwood said: “Sometimes, in the course of rebuilding relationships and unity, there are tough decisions that have to be made. … This gave us the best opportunity to pull things together in the long run, and that's what I'm looking for.”
Focusing on his second priority, he noted: “Another goal is to make sure the university is running smoothly. It looks like we may have our largest freshman class in history this fall. We want to make sure they are welcomed and everything goes smoothly for them.”
And Underwood stressed he wants to help Baylor “advance toward the goals set out in 2012.” Asked if he embraces the university's vision statement, which was a focal point of controversy during Sloan's latter years, he said, “Absolutely.”
Baylor 2012 is the school's “statement of aspiration,” he said. “We're trying to go where no one's ever been. In the process of getting there, you're going to make some mistakes. The important thing is to learn from those mistakes and not repeat them.”
The replacement of Jeffrey does not mean Underwood intends to change the direction of the faculty, he said. “The Christian faculty is how you maintain the Christian character of the university. So, preserving the Christian character of our faculty is essential to preserving the Christian character of our university. ..
“I am very excited about the future of Baylor University. We have tremendous opportunities ahead of us. People who love Baylor should be excited about the future of the university.”
Regent Chairman Davis declined to speculate on how Underwood's administrative changes will impact Baylor.
“I can't predict the future,” he said. “These are important positions at the university, and I trust they will work out to the best interest of the university. I have no reason to expect these people will not perform at high levels. … I know them all, and they're all very competent.”
In addition to the three changes, another top administrator said she will leave Baylor at the end of the month.
Eileen Hulme announced she would resign as Baylor's vice president for student life, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. Underwood said he will name Hulme's successor soon.