Baylor University’s presidential search advisory committee held its final on-campus listening session Wednesday afternoon, hearing staff suggestions and concerns for the school’s 14th president.

As with the previous listening sessions — the advisory committee has held two faculty sessions and one student session — turnout was scant, with only about 30 of the more than 1,200 professional staff members at Baylor in attendance. Some staffers at the session expressed their disappointment with the turnout.

Those who were in attendance, though, weighed in with the advisory committee offering their hopes for Baylor’s next president. Wednesday’s committee members were regents Joe Armes, Wes Bailey and Ramiro Pena, staff representative Angela Funai, local Baylor backer Sue Getterman and Buckner International CEO and President Kenneth Hall, past president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

COMPLETE COVERAGE

» The search for Baylor's next president   /   Special section

BAYLOR AT A CROSSROADS

Perspectives on Baylor's new president from key constituencies

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• Coverage: Searching for Baylor's next president

Among the qualifications and characteristics staff members said they would like to see in Baylor’s next president include real-world experience, openness to communication, willingness to connect with the Waco community and a commitment to Baylor’s Christian mission.

Eric Abercrombie, director of university development, said the search must yield a president who brings calm to the campus, which will better enable the school to raise funds.

“Going out and meeting with (potential) donors, they’re sick and tired of this (infighting),” Abercrombie said, referring to the sometimes-bitter divisions that have plagued the Baylor community in recent years.

Staff members point to interim president David Garland as a peacekeeper, communicator and active presence among Baylor’s constituencies.

Armes, chair of the presidential search committee, said after the student listening session April 22 that he would not discuss individual candidates when asked if Garland would be considered for the permanent post.

As rumors abound in the Baylor community about potential presidential candidates — including current regent chairman Howard Batson, who rotates off the board in May — one staff member asked if the decision has already been made and the listening sessions are just for show.

Armes and Pena bristled at that notion, denying that any decisions have been made.

After Armes joked that they had offered the presidency to Funai and been rejected, Pena said fear mongering and rumor can take on lives of their own. He said advisory committee members were too busy to spend so much time listening to the Baylor community if they weren’t really considering the input.

“If (Armes, COO of Hicks Holdings in Dallas) were three people, he’d still be busy,” said Pena, pastor of Waco’s Christ the King Baptist Church. “I would like to say that if I had already made up my mind, or the board had, I am way too busy to waste time with a farce of all these listening sessions.”

After the session, Funai agreed with Pena, saying that input through the listening sessions and suggestions on the Baylor Web site is vital to the process.

“I know that they are investing a lot of time and effort and, like Mr. Pena said, they wouldn’t be going through the motions,” Funai said.

After the session, Armes said that he has been asked the question in a number of forums about whether or the next president has already been determined.

“I welcome the opportunity to clearly and definitively say that no decision (has been) made and that this is going to be a completely open process and we are truly searching for the best and will do so on a national basis,” Armes said.

He declined to summarize common themes and suggestions that the committee has heard throughout the listening sessions thus far, saying that he would prefer to do so after the committee has heard from alumni, as well.

An alumni and Baylor friends listening session is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Houston’s Tallowood Baptist Church. Armes said that similar sessions will follow in Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio and Waco, adding that others could also be scheduled.

twoods@wacotrib.com

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