Wednesday, May 14, 2008
By Tim Woods
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Baylor University regents will vote Friday on whether to fire President John Lilley, just more than two years into his tenure, say three sources knowledgeable about the situation, at least two of them regents.
The vote’s outcome could leave the world’s largest Baptist university in a battle, yet again, for its top leadership position.
Slide show: Lilley retrospective
The sources, who aren’t being identified because they are not authorized to speak for the board, say complaints about Lilley range from his increasingly acrimonious relations with Baylor’s faculty — most recently over tenure guidelines and a dozen faculty members denied tenure this spring — to sagging efforts to boost Baylor’s endowment fund.
The regents’ vote comes less than halfway into a five-year contract for Lilley, originally charged with leading the university out of years of infighting and turmoil as well as advancing the school’s 10-year vision, Baylor 2012.
Baylor Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Barry, speaking for Lilley, said Lilley has “not had any conversations with any regents regarding this.”
Lilley, he said, “has no plans to step aside.”
Baylor’s president was unavailable to comment.
If a change in the presidency is made, Lilley would become the third president since January 2005 to leave the school. President Robert B. Sloan Jr. stepped down in January 2005 amid faculty unrest and sharp criticism of his implementation of Baylor 2012. Enacted in 2002, Baylor 2012 is a plan to vault the university into the top tier of national research universities.
Bill Underwood, a former law school professor, guided Baylor as interim president after Sloan’s exit until Lilley began his tenure Jan. 1, 2006. Underwood is now president at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.
Lilley is Baylor’s 13th president, not counting Underwood and including two tenures by Rufus Burleson. In Baylor’s 163-year history, only three presidents have had terms shorter than five years.
Lilley is mired in a battle with Baylor faculty after the controversial denial of tenure to 12 of 30 candidates this spring. Last week, Baylor’s faculty senate passed a “failure of shared governance” resolution, stating that Lilley and Provost Randall O’Brien should defer to faculty recommendations in making tenure decisions except in rare cases.
Significant events of the
John Lilley presidency
Faculty senate chairman Matt Cordon, a law school professor, said after last week’s meeting that faculty morale is low. He likened the atmosphere among Baylor faculty to that surrounding Sloan at the end of his 10-year tenure. Cordon pointed out that the reasons for the faculty’s displeasure differ in the two cases.
The end of Sloan’s tenure was marred by faculty criticism that his implementation of Baylor 2012 was heavy-handed and led the school too deeply into debt.
Now, Cordon said, the faculty’s chief concern is that Lilley’s administration doesn’t heed faculty recommendations about a number of issues, including tenure. He has termed it a “top-down administrative style.”
Cordon said Tuesday that he prefers not to comment on the possibility of regents’ voting on Lilley’s job.
“Right now, our focus has been on the decision-making here and the role we play in (Baylor’s) governance,” Cordon said. “It hasn’t been on those other types of issues. I’m not dumb to those issues, but our focus has been on present issues that affect faculty.”
Two regent sources told the Tribune-Herald that Lilley’s job performance is being questioned for several reasons, including the recent squabble with faculty and fundraising.
One of the Baylor 2012 goals is to increase the endowment to at least $2 billion. While the endowment surpassed the $1 billion mark last year, fundraising has lagged behind expectations, the sources say.
Lilley’s presidency also has seen continuing tension with the long-independent Baylor Alumni Association. Recently, association members criticized Lilley for not hosting and attending Heritage Club events for alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago.
Lilley was out of town on a fundraising trip when the event was held in early April. However, this year marked the first time since the event’s start in 1977 that the president’s office didn’t sponsor the banquet, the highlight of the multiday event.
Some BAA officials and members have said they feel some regents harbor a grudge against the alumni association stemming from the stormy final years of Sloan’s tenure. They say they believe Lilley has wedged himself between the board and the alumni association, preventing the two sides from coming together.
“It’s obvious that a majority of regents don’t like the alumni association,” BAA president Bill Nesbitt said in April.
BAA president Jeff Kilgore said Tuesday that Lilley may have prevented the BAA and regents from healing rifts.
“While there have been perceived differences of opinions in the past, I’m beginning to think, more and more as this unravels, that it had more to do with the fact that members of the respective boards simply were not allowed to talk to each other,” Kilgore said.
Kilgore said he asked to meet with regents on at least three occasions and that Nesbitt requested two meetings.
The requests were denied, and Kilgore said he later was told that regents were never informed of his requests, made through Lilley.
“All of my requests were made to (Lilley), and all of my requests were denied (by Lilley),” Kilgore said. “That’s who took my request, and that’s who gave me the denial. He never told me that, ‘I asked the regents, and they said no.’ ”
Barry said Lilley did present the requests to regent leadership.
“In fact, (Lilley) has communicated to the board chairman the interest of the association in meeting directly with the regents,” Barry said.
If regents take any action on Lilley at Friday’s meeting, it will happen behind closed doors, with the board in executive session. A simple majority is needed to oust Lilley or to quash the attempt. With 26 members on the board, 14 would have to vote in favor or against.
One possible reason for the urgency of the vote is the continued shrinking of Baylor’s board of regents. Board members Jay Allison, Jim Bowden, Randy Ferguson and Minette Pratt will rotate off the board following this meeting. Also, a regent source said Anne Graham-Lotz, who is finishing a three-year term and is eligible for re-election, will not run for another term. The departure of those five would leave the board at 21 members, with a plan in place to continue shrinking the board to 16 members by June 2009.
Not all regents attend every meeting, though the sources indicate they expect this meeting to be well-attended, at least in part because of the Lilley issue. In case of a tie, the board chairman would cast the decisive vote.
A regent told the Tribune-Herald this week that if action is taken against Lilley in Friday’s meeting, the board may try to keep the move quiet until after Saturday’s commencement proceedings.
twoods@wacotrib.com
757-5721
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Comments
By University of Nevada, Reno Grad
May 23, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this
You people in Waco are getting off light. UNR is the University of Nevada System's main campus. Yet while as President of UNR, Lilley was having hidden video camera recordings of professors he was at odds with, managed to secure the first no-confidence vote from the Faculty Senate since 1874, alienated himself from alumni/local community and being sued by university employees for alleged whistle-blower retaliation. I don't see/read about things like that happening in Waco.
We in Reno are glad to be rid of him.
UNR Grad
By wisconsin grad
May 15, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
these people are like a bunch of spoiled children. come to think of it, there were a lot of those around way back when...
By BU observer
May 15, 2008 3:06 PM | Link to this
Baylor is a university striving to become "Tier One" by hiring world class faculty at competitive salaries and teaching loads. But not one single BU administrator has any "Tier One" administrative experience. How do people not see this?
Baylor is akin to a bunch of major league players being managed by minor league folks. And we are surprised at the results?
By alumnus out of state
May 15, 2008 1:28 PM | Link to this
It is a shame that recent conflicts at Baylor always end up raising the stakes to trying to fire the President. I don't doubt presidents make some bad decisions. So do faculty. So do tenure committees. And so do regents. Sometimes faculty members who deserve tenure do not prepare a convincing portfolio.
Baylor's regents have made a reputation of factional fighting that spills over into public disgrace.
Faculty and administrators will argue and disagree, but when the faculty body makes a habit of public pronouncements against the president, provost, and others, they really don't show any understanding of how to make a joint enterprise move forward. Nothing is more important to a university than its faculty, but running a university through factional conflict can't work. Having worked for many years at a university that is administratively challenged, I understand that bad decisions need to be confronted. However, turning every conflict between faculty and administration into a battle of press conferences and a power struggle among regents will only bring the scrutiny of the accrediting agencies and the ridicule of the public.
Baylor faculty need to learn to organize and build relational power with the administration. Learn a little from the COPS organization in San Antonio. Build relationships that will turn your opponents into your allies.
Administrators need to constantly remind themselves to communicate with faculty, including listening, as they consider decisions. It may take more time and seem less efficient, but it is the only way to succeed. It is much more efficient in the long run because it prevents this kind of wasted effort in public animosity.
And regents need to resist overreacting and firing another president.
Come on, Baylor. Stop shaming your loyal alumni.
By Just an Alum
May 15, 2008 1:17 PM | Link to this
I've followed this ever since Robt. Sloan was leading the Board down his chosen path. (Yeah, I strongly support the BAA, positions of Herb R., Ann Miller, Ab's daughter, etc. etc. etc.)
Seems to me Baylor has lost sight of its original mission in an effort to force itself into the top tier. Does it belong there? Possibly, if it seeks to achieve it without losing sight of the students it has for so long elevated to positions of achievement, with a big helping of QUALITY instruction, BTW.
Had hoped Lilly would be an independent voice and a "healer". That's what we needed. Don't believe that's the case. See some of the Trustees as part of the issue in their attempt to "prove" that Sloan should have never been replaced.
Much like Washington, D.C., I would suggest a rather extensive housecleaning (as necessary - everywhere). We need to get back to what BU does best and that is prepare our young people to lead. If that chafes the SBC, so be it. If it displeases the Trustees, so be it. If the faculty can't get on board, So be it.
Our current leadership ain't getting the job done!
By Big Bear Grrrrr CPA 69
May 15, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this
Which one of those 4.0 students was out parting in the street and throwing beer on my local police officers or throwing trash on the court during the basketball game?
Baylor may be good for the local ecomony, however the vast majority of citizens are tired of Baylor. Tired of the constant drama, the daily news and sports coverage. Also tired of the national media attention brought on Waco because of scandal after scandal.
What makes headlines in Waco Texas? Changing the Baylor football helmet or the color of gold to yellow. Is there any wonder why BU gets no support from the average Joe in town?
It's a joke. Lets keep the bubble in the bubble.
By Realist and Christian
May 15, 2008 1:20 AM | Link to this
"Yes, there is a pattern. The Baylor faculty is never happy. They need to concentrate on teaching and research-stop trying to run the place".
Well, news for you, there are never any university faculty who are happy in a university enviroment. However, that's a good thing. Why? Because they are hired for their independent spirit and their need for independence while they are instilling the best possible education in their students.
Baylor does this better than most universities in this country, attacting primarily the 4.0+ honor students, who also possess outstanding moral and ethical upbringing. No Dispute.
All that having been said, as with any organization, to maintain excellence requires an administrative counterbalance that concentrates on the big picture. Big picture is not a faculty talent--if it was, they'd all be administrators.
The decisions of the Baylor Regents over the last 5-7 years has exacerbated this situation, and moved the pendulum extremely off balance, creating a condition whereby the Baylor faculty believes that they are the sum total of Baylor. If Dr Lilley, a devoted Christian, educator, and proven administrator (look at the Waco Trib listing of a short 1.5 years of accomplishments, published today) is sent away by the Board of Regents, then we would hope that the Waco Trib, the community leadership, and the Baptist Conference would take a very close look at this entire mess. In my humble opinion, supported by the facts, a vote of no confidence by the Regents would indicate a vote of no confidence by many others, alumni included, for the Regents themselves.
We need to get by this quickly. The regents need to instruct the faculty on the limits of their influence, and take up the real task of continuing to build Baylor, Waco and McLennan County, utilizing the Christian principles which the proponents on both sides of this awful dispute claim to believe.
Baylor can easily be the catylst and engine for economic growth in the central Texas region, while extending a world-wide reputatin as a shining moral,christian, educational and top tier research institution.
By Fred
May 14, 2008 11:05 PM | Link to this
Hey Yancy......I just had a drink with the Devil this evening. You're right; the Devil is laughing at Baylor....again. The Devil informed me that he(the Devil) does very little mischief over at Baylor. He (the Devil) said that Baylor is going stright to Hell all by themselves without any of the Devil's help.
By yancy
May 14, 2008 10:35 PM | Link to this
I'll bet the devil is laughing all the way to the Regent's meeting and rubbing his hands together in anticipation of the conflict to come.
This is just the juicy kind of controversy that unbelievers celebrate.
PRAY that those who have caused this atmosphere will step up and do what is BEST for Baylor, and the light we are all striving to be in this world.
By Scooter
May 14, 2008 10:28 PM | Link to this
I have no idea whether Lilley is a good president or not. But, does anyone else notice a pattern. The Baylor faculty is never happy. They need to concentrate on teaching and stop trying to run the place.
We tend to go through coaches, and presidents, before they've really had a chance to make their systems work. It does take a while to climb out of a deep cellar.
Meanwhile, Baylor should get back to their tradition of developing administrators from within the faculty ranks. Maybe then, they would have a better feel for getting along with the faculty.
And miss Herb? Please. If he hadn't stolen Baylor from Texas Baptists, maybe we wouldn't have some of these problems in the first place.
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