July (Web-only) 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS

Find similar articles E-mail this page

Regents of Baylor University meet this week to discuss Baylor Vision 2012, President Robert Sloan's expansive plan to make the school into the world's premier evangelical research institution. But Texas newspapers are still focusing on whether the regents will take up another vote on Sloan's leadership.

Both the Houston Chronicle and the Waco Tribune-Herald report on a widely circulating rumor that Sloan will be made chancellor, which both papers characterize as more or less a demotion into a fundraising position. But the Chronicle reports that board chairman Will Davis denied that the group is considering the idea, and the Tribune-Herald reports that even if they did it, Sloan's critics wouldn't be any happier. In May, the regents voted 18-17 to retain Sloan as president.

Sloan supporter Dary Stone, part of Friends of Baylor, told the Tribune-Herald that the regents would destabilize the school by voting on Sloan's leadership every few months. "You can only do this so often, and they've done it plenty," he said.

So the regents probably won't vote on Sloan. But they'll likely take action on Vision 2012, though the newspapers don't report on what aspects are likely to be discussed. The Tribune-Herald does report, however, "Two large parts of that vision came to fruition last week. School officials gave a guided tour of the new $103 million sciences building and new North Village residential facility, designed to attract more students to living on campus."

The Chronicle, meanwhile, rehashes the story up to now:

The direction has divided alumni and faculty of the 14,000-student Waco university.

Critics say it's making the school too expensive for its traditional base of middle-class ...