This article has been updated in two ways since its original publication: New information has been added about an interim provost, and the president of the Faculty Senate has issued a categorical denial of any plan to take a vote of no confidence in the president or provost.
Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse announced her retirement in a university-wide email Wednesday, April 15. Her last day as the university’s chief academic officer will be July 31.
While she knew this day would come eventually, the 65-year-old said she was not sure when would be the right time. That time is now, she told colleagues.
Her announcement comes as Baylor has racked up numerous academic successes but remains mired in culture war skirmishes over sexuality and politics and identity and faculty concerns about academic freedom.
Although Brickhouse is an active member of a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-affiliated church — Seventh and James Baptist — she reportedly has been part of the administration’s push to distance itself from anything perceived as liberal. How much of that work has been done of her own initiative and how much was demanded by more conservative regents is not clear.
The provost was a key player in last year’s demand that the School of Social Work return a $643,000 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation that was earmarked for academic study on loneliness experienced by gay Christians and women in churches. The sudden refusal of the grant — which was a renewal of an existing project — came after national far-right social media figures widely publicized the grant as a sign of Baylor being “woke.”
For years, Baylor administration has walked a fine line on seeking not to scare off gay students and faculty and staff while also not appearing to signal approval of same-sex relations.
“Brickhouse also played an essential role in the removal of Jon Singletary as dean of the School of Social Work.”
Brickhouse also played an essential role in the removal of Jon Singletary as dean of the School of Social Work — which was seen as retaliation for supportive statements he had made about the Baugh grant and LGBTQ inclusion.
The much-publicized grant rejection and removal of the dean — which was wrongly portrayed as voluntary — caused other Baylor faculty and administrators to worry about their own academic freedom. By insider accounts, this is a chief issue for faculty worried if the provost and president would support them.
And her retirement announcement — which insiders say is not a voluntary decision — comes just days after Baylor has been embroiled in another controversy over politics and sexuality. The university administration created a firestorm of protest by approving an April 22 on-campus event for Turning Point USA — a highly partisan, right-wing group of Christian nationalists. Faced with immense pressure, the administration last week approved the request of a coalition of student groups to host an on-campus counter-event that will include two high-profile gay Christians as speakers.
That, in turn, set off howls from conservatives, including the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which nominates 25% of the board of regents even though the state Baptist group provides less than one-tenth of 1% of the university’s income.
Seventh and James Church, which is located adjacent to the Baylor campus, no longer is affiliated with the BGCT because of being welcoming to gay Christians.
“What’s not clear to outsiders is just where Brickhouse fell in all these machinations.”
What’s not clear to outsiders is just where Brickhouse fell in all these machinations. To some, she has been a voice of reason seeking to keep the institution from harm from left or right. To others, she has been a wolf in sheep’s clothing, giving cover to a more conservative agenda preferred by some key players, including some regents. Is she being forced out by the right, the left or the center?
What is undeniably true at Baylor is that three of its most prominent academic areas differ significantly in their approaches to politics and sexuality.
Baylor’s George W. Truett Seminary — founded as an alternative to Southern Baptist fundamentalism — has taken a turn toward the right. Its current dean, Todd Still, has brought in the most conservative branch of Methodists as partners and opposes LGBTQ inclusion.
The Religion Department and the Garland School of Social Work have been more widely accepted by progressives because of more open stances to gay and lesbian Christians and women in ministry.
Baylor administration keeps in tension the pull of these academic areas while also seeking to please a board of regents that leans more conservative than the faculty and attracting a student body that today is only 17% Baptist.
To her credit, Brickhouse has presided over significant academic achievements.
“To her credit, Brickhouse has presided over significant academic achievements.”
During her seven-year tenure, Baylor has created 20 new endowed chairs and professorships. Research expenditures have grown by more than 30% each year, and research doctorates have grown by 17%. Baylor has earned the highest Carnegie designation for research. Also during her tenure, Baylor has tripled the number of students in professional graduate programs.
Yet in her retirement announcement, Brickhouse acknowledged: “Professionally, this year has been grueling at times. I need a respite.”
Other insider sources at Baylor list a number of problems swirling around the provost’s office as potential reasons for a change:
- Budget problems. Faced with financial challenges, the university just cut retirement benefits by 3% and school budgets by 10% and raised tuition again.
- Faculty Senate. According to some faculty, there has been discussion about taking a vote of no confidence in the president and provost, although Faculty Senate Chair Karenna Malavanti sent BNG an email asserting: “The statement that the Faculty Senate is considering a vote of no confidence in the president and provost is categorically false.”
- Music School. The dean was removed this spring after a faculty vote of no confidence.
Brickhouse is a Baylor graduate who came back in 2019 from a similar role at Saint Louis University. Prior to that, she spent 27 years in various faculty and administrative roles at the University of Delaware. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry and a doctorate in science education.
Later on Wednesday, President Livingstone announced the name of the person she has chosen to serve as interim vice president and provost, and here’s where the plot thickens again.
Lee Nordt (Baylor photo)
Lee Nordt will fill that interim role, having just been returned to the classroom after 20 years as dean of the College of Arts and Science — a demotion some faculty believe was orchestrated by Brickhouse.
Last August, Brickhouse announced Nordt would return to the classroom when his successor as dean was named, and that just happened in January. Nordt was scheduled to return to the Department of Geosciences at the conclusion of this semester. Now, instead, he will step into the interim provost’s role.
Put another way: The longest-serving dean in the university’s history was moved out of administration back to the classroom but instead now will be put in an even higher level of administration. The insider take on this is that Nordt’s interim appointment will gain confidence with faculty, who generally like Nordt and think he understands the school’s historical values. And remember: In light of the Baugh grant debacle, faculty are concerned about academic freedom.
Livingstone said she would name a provost search committee before the end of this semester. Such a search in a school of Baylor’s size typically takes about six months, which means a new provost could be installed by the start of spring semester 2027 if things run really fast.