Baylor University’s faculty, staff, alumni and students must get tired of the same, flawed assumptions about this fast-growing, 14,600-student institution. No doubt they’re pretty accustomed to old stereotypes about its alleged fundamentalism, even if its history in recent decades shows a decided groundswell against it.

The “Baylor family” and those of us with their best interests at heart here in Central Texas are by now also accustomed to such stereotypes coming from the ignorant and indolent. But we sure didn’t expect to see these stereotypes promulgated from the big-city ivory tower occupied by the Houston Chronicle editorial board.

Many of us have become aware of a Chronicle editorial last weekend that questioned the wisdom of the Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine’s strengthening its affiliation with Baylor University. The Chronicle referred to BU’s “fundamentalist reputation” (without citing evidence for this) and said this fundamentalism could compromise BCM’s “stellar scholastic standing.”

The editorial obviously seeks to bolster faculty members of the College of Medicine who petitioned against any notion of the financially troubled medical school partnering with Baylor University because, as one petitioner noted, it would “tarnish BCM’s image, lower BCM’s ranking nationwide and lead to the perception that BCM has ultraconservative values.”

Anyone who knows Baylor, who has strolled across its campus or looked into its growth the past quarter-century knows this is armchair poppycock. To indict Baylor for its “fundamentalist reputation” suggests a disregard for the facts. We thought news of Baylor’s famous machinations at the Baptist General Convention of Texas back in 1991 to forestall any fundamentalist takeover of the university would have reached Houston by now. Yes, Baptists here do spar with one another, more often than they should, but it’s often to ensure fundamentalism never infects its academic and research-oriented goals — which, by the way, are considerable.

Most recently, Baylor has shown an aggressive emphasis in hard scientific research, highlighted by its $103 million science building (“and with real science,” one official quipped for all the disbelievers) and its $30 million Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative, a research consortium that could elevate the Big 12 school into the top ranks of universities nationwide. No wonder Baylor College of Medicine is interested.

We could easily describe Houston as a smoggy, traffic-congested, crime-ridden metropolis that sums up the evils of big cities. But that would be beneath us. We’ll leave such reckless stereotyping to others, stick to facts and move on.