By Tim Woods

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Baylor University officials, speaking with the Tribune-Herald Friday after a closed-door board of regents meeting, declined to reveal whether a vote had been taken on embattled President John Lilley’s future at Baylor.

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In a joint conference call involving Lilley, regent chairman Harold Cunningham and Baylor Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Barry, neither Lilley nor Cunningham would comment on the subject, even as questions about Lilley’s job security have swirled in recent weeks.

“We don’t talk about executive session matters, so we can’t comment on that,” Lilley said in response to a question specifically directed to Cunningham.

Another question for Cunningham — about whether a motion was brought to vote on Lilley’s job — was instead fielded by Barry, who referred to a Baylor press release issued early in the afternoon about board votes on other issues, including a $366 million budget for the 2008-09 school year.

“We’re not going to comment about anything that took place in executive session,” Barry said. “If you want to talk about the release, if you want to talk about the meeting, if you want to talk about the budget, any of those things we’re happy to talk to you about. But you know that this meeting, like every other meeting, contains an executive session element and we never talk about what happens in executive session.”

One regent source, who isn’t being identified because individual regents aren’t authorized to speak for the board, acknowledged there was much angst among regents Friday regarding a Wednesday Tribune-Herald article in which three regent sources said a vote on whether to fire Lilley would be taken.

On Friday, however, that regent declined to discuss what happened in executive session. Other regent sources weren’t immediately available.

The board’s two-day meeting came nearly two weeks after Baylor’s faculty senate approved a resolution critical of Lilley’s style of governance, one that faculty leaders say ignores faculty input. Faculty senate chairman Matt Cordon says faculty morale is low at Baylor.

The May 6 resolution came amid mounting concern over a dozen faculty members who were denied tenure this spring and charges that Lilley and Provost Randall O’Brien overstepped their bounds in such decisions. Seven of the 12 denials were overturned this week.

Asked Friday afternoon to describe the board’s general feelings about the administration’s current relationship with faculty, Cunningham said he didn’t have enough information to work with.

“I really can’t comment on what the board’s general feeling is because I have not had a discussion with the entire board that would give me the information to answer that,” Cunningham said.

In an e-mail to faculty this week, Lilley said he regretted tension over the tenure denials as Baylor worked to boost top-notch research among faculty: “This was a difficult year of transition as we dealt with the first class of 2012 faculty with reduced teaching responsibilities. Randall and I had a burden this year that we hope we never must bear again.”

Lilley also commented on Tribune-Herald reports about anxiety across campus regarding his administration, noting that he had “tried to keep us focused on a future, leaving behind all the disagreements of the past while building on the great inheritance that is Baylor.”

Controversy over Lilley’s administration comes nearly 2 1/2 years after he took office with a charge to lead Baylor out of years of infighting and intrigue that dominated the last half of Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr.’s 10-year tenure.

While members of the Baylor family — alumni, faculty, regents and students — haven’t seen the polarization that marked Sloan’s final years, Lilley has been under pressure to enlarge the university’s endowment to $2 billion. The university is already halfway there.

The lofty endowment goal is one of the key components in the so-called Baylor 2012 vision — a plan to catapult the world’s largest Baptist institution into the top tier of research-oriented universities nationwide.

The faculty senate resolution — which Cordon said was not intended to influence decisions regarding Lilley’s job status — was born of faculty concern that their recommendations were overlooked in this spring’s tenure-granting process.

During that faculty senate meeting, the senate also issued a statement saying it would be premature to participate in an administration-proposed summit before underlying concerns regarding shared governance are ironed out.

In his Friday afternoon interview with the Tribune-Herald, Lilley expressed hope that fences can be mended and he can proceed with a successful presidency.

“I am always hopeful,” he said. “The agenda at Baylor is huge, we’ve accomplished a lot over the last 2 1/2 years and we just have a ton of things on the agenda, things that we will be working hard toward that will substantially improve Baylor. And that’s a team effort (that will) involve a lot of people — regents, administration, faculty.”

twoods@wacotrib.com

757-5721