Thursday, May 17, 2001 about 7:00 am
An Announcement: One Last Plea
...
Because of the years of
refusal of
Southwest Baptist University
officials to act appropriately
concerning the unethical, immoral,
and potentially illegal conduct of its employees, faculty,
staff,
and associates, this week, Marie has been working with
various
agencies and individuals to develop and initiate a systematic
series of complaints that will address these
issues.
Regrettably, in spite of our best efforts, we have
not been able
to devise a response that will
not generate
adverse publicity,
additional litigation, the probability
of any number of professional
or criminal investigations, and, consequently,
years of unnecessary controversy, trauma, and
suffering for all those affiliated with
Southwest Baptist
University.
Tomorrow (Friday, May 18,
2001), before mailing these signed
complaints, Marie will make
one last plea
to Jim
Hill, the Executive
Director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, and to
Bob
Collins,
this year's President of the Missouri Baptist Convention for
their
intervention and assistance.
If Marie has received no positive reply
from either one of
them
by 10:00 am on Saturday, May 19,
2001 (before the
SBU's
Spring graduation ceremony is scheduled to begin), we will
assume that the progressively and distressingly evident
abandonment
of Christian principles, values, ethics, morality, and common
sense demonstrated by the
Missouri Baptist Convention and
Southwest Baptist University is
now irreversible and
complete.
We will then proceed as we
must.
Friday, May 18, 2001 about 1:30
pm
You've Got to Be Kidding!? ...
Again!
Upon contacting Mr. Jim
Hill's office yesterday afternoon a source
was informed that --
no, we are
not kidding! ---
Mr. Hill was
again
out of town and would
not
be available either
yesterday (Thursday,
May 17, 2001) or
today (Friday, May 18,
2001)!
Coincidentally,
Bob Collins, the current president
of the Missouri
Baptist Convention, was
also unavailable yesterday
-- though he
may be available briefly today. (He is also
apparently unavailable
on both Mondays and Wednesdays of each week.)
Further, we have heard that a number
of the SBU Trustees will
be meeting informally again this weekend (both before and after
the SBU graduation
ceremony) to discuss these issues and --
hopefully -- reach some
consensus.
For these reasons, Marie
has decided that, although her letter
to Mr. Hill and
Pastor Bob Collins
will be
posted
this weekend,
she will not ask for an response
to her request until early next
week.
In her
letter, Marie outlines
a simple and direct proposal to
encourage and facilitate the settlement of this dispute and asks
that Missouri Baptist Convention
officials intervene to mediate
and assist in the situation.
However,
as a stipulation to any
negotiation, Marie has required
that all concerned parties
agree to a timetable which is
likely to
result in the resolution of this situation
before the students return
for summer classes on Wednesday, June 6, 2001
-- please note
the year, that is
2001,
not
2002!
Additionally, we would like to
direct the attention of the
Missouri
Baptist Convention officials and the
Southwest Baptist University
Trustees
to the editorial in this week's issue of the
Word and Way
(the weekly publication of the Missouri Baptist
Convention) which
is entitled,
Lying Carries
a Price.
Please
consider the repercussions for all involved if you
fail to
act responsibly -- and
immediately.
Marie's letters (and several other items)
will be posted this weekend.
~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~
We would like to wish the best to each of
the SBU
graduates!
Prayers for safe travel homeward
and
a happy summer
season for
all.
