The American Spectator

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Waco Wars

7.23.04 @ 12:01AM

SHOWDOWN CITY
Re: Hunter Baker's Considering the Unthinkable:

As a direct descendant of Baylor's founder, Henry Lee Graves, I am shocked and saddened to see that this institution, which was founded on Christian theology, is facing this kind of tumult. Mr. Sloan has worked hard to bring this University back to it's roots, and in the process has increased it's place in academia.

I too hope that the Regents remember that they endorsed this vision for transforming Baylor, and continue to let Mr. Sloan do his job.
-- K. Stearns
Salt Lake City, Utah

Excellent, if depressing, report from inside the "Baylor bubble" by Hunter Baker.

People ask me, "What is the deal with Baylor?" My feeling is that most of the faculty senators are of an age where they'd like back the go-along, get-along days of Uncle Herb (Herbert Reynolds, the former president), with pretend controversies and tempests in teapots, instead of the current regime of research, national attention, and WORK. Of course, Waco tends to have stupor-inducing warmth and humidity, even worse than D.C., so perhaps an executive who really wants ideas and results is a bit too much anyway.

By firing Dr. Sloan, the "Baylor community" will demonstrate that what's most important is, if you'll allow the phrase, high-quality mediocrity. Let's be good -- just not too good. The "ethos of the Bubble," if you will. Baylor has long been a high-enough-quality liberal-arts school, so why go spoiling all that in pursuit so some unknown unknowable called "excellence"? Really.

Of course, Dr. Sloan, being both a student of holy writ and a cum laude graduate of Baylor, cannot be too surprised, as I'm sure he knows this scripture from John's Gospel, 4:44: For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
-- Meg Quinn
Baylor Class of 1993
Dallas, Texas

Well, Mr. Baker gives an interesting interpretation of what is happening at Baylor. The reality is that Robert Sloan's goal all along has been to turn Baylor into an extremely (extremist?)conservative, evangelical University. His hiring practices have been dubious to say the least, and some have suggested illegal. This is yet another battle in this country between old-style conservatives and the new evangelical conservatives that are trying to force a theocracy down everyone's throat. If you want a more accurate reading of what is going on at Baylor, grab a Texas Monthly from October 2003 and read it.
-- Ben Berry
Washington, D.C.

Hunter Baker replies:
This sort of response is one of the main problems at Baylor. Many Baptists have so badly warped the notion of separation of church and state, they now think that a private university should be prevented from hiring Christian scholars capable of applying their faith to research and classroom. If this gentleman had a clue what kind of scholars were being hired, he wouldn't spout these reprehensible talking points. I know many of these faculty and they can't be capsulized as right-wing, evangelical, or fundamentalist. Some are Catholic, some liberal Democrats, and at least one has been rather unorthodoxically Jewish.

I'm happy for this letter because it shows the world the kind of benighted, provincial, stereotyping that has been trotted out by men not fit to shine Robert Sloan's shoes.

Meg Quinn hits the nail on the head referring to the prophet without honor in his own country. Although Robert Sloan has a long history at Baylor and was long a beloved figure, many of his old friends and neighbors have turned on him with a viciousness that is difficult to understand. I'm reminded of a song by Morrissey: "We hate it when our friends become successful." (By the way, what sort of evangelical extremist quotes Morrissey?)

FROG-MARCHED
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s Marchons, Marchons:

The poor French! So many opportunities to joke about, yet so little time and energy.

Reportedly, Jay Leno said, "France has accused the U.S. of being rude and abusive to them and they're taking it personally. And remember, every time an American is rude and abusive, they're taking a job away from a Frenchman."

Not funny is the Sept. 2003 assessment -- "Our War With France" -- of New York Times foreign-affairs correspondent Thomas L. Friedman. In part, he said, "It's time we Americans came to terms with something: France is not just our annoying ally. It is not just our jealous rival. France is becoming our enemy…. France wants America to sink in a quagmire there [in Iraq] in the crazy hope that a weakened U.S. will pave the way for France to assume its 'rightful' place as America's equal, if not superior, in shaping world affairs."

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