WACO, Texas (ABP) — Baylor University regents elected law professor Bill Underwood interim president unanimously on a first ballot, said newly re-elected chairman Will Davis of Austin, who predicted the university could have a permanent president by Sept. 1.
The presidential search committee is ahead of schedule and ready to “start paring the field down” in looking at candidates, Davis said. The regents placed “no limitations” on whether Underwood could be considered as a candidate for permanent president, Davis added.
When Underwood was asked at a news conference if he would be a “caretaker” interim, Davis quickly interrupted to say he is “president of Baylor University until we elect a new one. He is not caretaker of anything.”
Underwood, former general counsel for the university, represented the school in proceedings before the NCAA committee on infractions. He was spokesman for a committee that spearheaded investigations of misconduct surrounding the death of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy.
Last October, Underwood publicly debated Baylor Provost David Lyle Jeffrey on the proper role of academic freedom at a religious university. At that time, Underwood spoke against the evils of “autocratic dictates,” leading some Baylor faculty to see him as a champion of academic freedom on the campus.
Underwood, a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and the University of Illinois College of Law, practiced civil trial law in Dallas before joining the Baylor faculty in 1990.
He and his wife, Leslie, are the parents of two children — Jessica, 16, and William, 11. They are members of Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco.
Underwood will fill the post Robert Sloan vacates June 1 when he assumes the chancellor's role at the university. After about two years of turmoil – including repeated Faculty Senate no-confidence votes – Sloan announced Jan. 21 that he and the regents had agreed to the transition, later approved by the regents.
Much of the criticism directed toward Sloan centered around the Baylor 2012 long-range plan and Sloan's implementation of it.
Supporters praised Baylor 2012 – and Sloan's vision – for blending strong Christian faith and the highest academic standards. Opponents accused Sloan of pulling Baylor away from its Texas Baptist roots. They claimed Baylor 2012 sacrificed classroom teaching for research and that capital expansion created unbearable debt for the university. They also said tuition increases had priced Baylor out of the range of typical Texas Baptist families.
In other action, the board elected three new regents – Dary Stone, vice chairman of Cousins Properties in Dallas and co-chair of the Friends of Baylor organization; Christian author and speaker Anne Graham Lotz of Raleigh, N.C., a member of the Friends of Baylor steering committee; and Ramiro Pena Jr., pastor of Christ the King Baptist Church in Waco. Waco businessman Clifton Robinson launched Friends of Baylor in August 2003 to defend the university, its leadership team – particularly Sloan – and Vision 2012 through an extensive public-relations initiative.
Regents re-elected six members to three-year terms — Stan Allcorn, pastor of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas; Jay Allison of Frisco, Texas; James Bowden of Waco; Stephen Carmack of Edmond, Okla.; Harold Cunningham of Crawford, Texas; and Minette Pratt of Fort Worth, Texas.
In addition to re-electing Davis as chair, the regents re-elected Jim Turner of Dallas vice chair and named him chair-elect.
They also approved a $296 million budget for 2005-2006, a 4 percent increase over the current operating budget. It includes a $12.1 million increase in scholarships and fellowships.