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One Bear Place #97116
Waco, Texas 76798
1-888-710-1859
Phone: (254) 710-1121
Fax: (254) 710-1096 |
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Guest Column: Marie Brown '92
President, Baylor Black Alumni Club
At Baylor University, we sing the following as our school song: "That good old Baylor line! That good old Baylor line! We'll march forever down the years, as long as stars shall shine. We'll fling our green and gold afar to light the ways of time, and guide us as we onward go; that good old Baylor line!"
 Judging from the proposal that Baylor's interim administration and Board of Regents made to the Baylor Alumni Association (BAA) in early September—which invited the BAA to cease operation as a self-governing organization, terminate the editorial independence of the Baylor Line magazine, and hand over all of its assets and staff members to Baylor—it appears that Baylor's administration has lost sight of the good old Baylor line. It also appears that these administrators and regents have forgotten what it means to "fling our green and gold afar." Founded in 1859, the BAA has been flinging its green and gold afar for 150 years. What an amazing accomplishment!
Baylor's administration continues to promote how Baylor is different from most private institutions of higher learning. The administration also continues to promote Baylor as a Christian university that fosters unity, morality, and strong Christian values in order to produce well-rounded graduates who will be prepared to accept any challenge life has to offer. However, it is evident that in the past several years, the administration, as well as members of the Board of Regents, have lost sight of Baylor's mission and core values in their campaign to dismantle the BAA.
Several years ago, in a controversial decision whose repercussions continue to be felt, the Baylor administration made a unilateral, divisive move away from its historic partnership with the BAA and created an in-house alumni group called the Baylor Network. The plan for this network was actually part of the BAA's long-range plan at the time, and the university simply took it for itself and hired away the BAA's director and other staff members to implement it. This Baylor Network continues to exist today, and its existence is the reason for Baylor's confusing landscape of alumni relations.
However, the Baylor administration's antagonism toward the BAA did not end there. It has been going on for seven years now, off and on, driven first by a controversy-prone president and then by a band of regents who continue to push this former Baylor president's agenda. This antagonism continues today and underlies the superficially positive tone of the recent proposal to the BAA.
It seems to me that the interim administration and the Board of Regents have numerous issues that need to be addressed as priorities other than a takeover of the BAA. The issues of attracting and retaining a stable administration, after a period of great turbulence in the president's office, should be the main focus of the Board of Regents.
And what about the racial tensions that continue to plague the university every year? What about your the realization of the Baylor 2012 ten-year vision that is quickly approaching? What about increasing Baylor's endowment so that students and their parents can afford to attend an increasingly expensive Baylor? What about creating a competitive salary package to attract more minority faculty and staff to campus?
Baylor University is different than other schools, and that is why students choose to attend Baylor. However, if the Board of Regents as well as the interim administration continues their campaign to be in total control of the one organization that represents all alumni, then you will also lose a part of what makes the university so unique.
I have been a member of the BAA's Board of Directors, and I am the current president of the Baylor Black Alumni Club and a member of the BAA's Alumni Council. As the leader of an organization the university refused to support in its initial efforts to foster alumni relations for minority students, I am saddened by all this conflict. The BAA prides itself on fostering alumni relationships for all past, present, and future Baylor students.
Without the assistance of the BAA, the Baylor Black Alumni Club would not have been able to award more than $15,000 in scholarships over the past nine years to deserving minority students. Without the assistance of the BAA, the Baylor Black Alumni Club would not have been able to host eleven scholarship luncheons to secure funds for its endowment. Without the BAA, the Baylor Black Alumni Club would not have been able to support student initiatives such as the Association of Black Students, Baylor NAACP, Hispanic Student Association, and other student organizations.
There is an appropriate time and place for everything. This is not the time for us to begin casting stones at one another. However, it is time for the interim administration and the Board of Regents to put aside personal agendas, personal feelings, political agendas, and political preferences and focus on what is in the best interests of Baylor, which is to remain focused on the core values and principles the university was founded upon.
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