http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/2697693 Baylor president holds on to job WACO -- Baylor University's embattled president held on to his job today as regents declined to vote on his future amid calls by critics for his ouster. No one called for a vote on Robert Sloan Jr.'s job during the three-day regents meeting on the Waco campus of the world's largest Baptist university, regents chairman Will D. Davis said today. "No discussion means no discussion," Davis said. Sloan had been criticized for his ambitious 10-year reform plan at Baylor, the school's $250 million debt, tuition increases and enrollment decline. He nearly lost his job in May after regents voted 18-17 to retain him -- a much closer margin than last fall's 31-4 vote. Sloan said today that he was encouraged because the regents unanimously reaffirmed the school's commitment to Vision 2012, his reform plan that calls for several building projects on campus. Sloan said he felt the rifts were already starting to heal. "I'm not resigning because there's too much that's good and too much affirmation," said Sloan, 55, who was named president in 1995. Sloan has had support from some regents, professors, alumni and groups, including Friends of Baylor and the school's chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas. Clifton Robinson, founder of Friends of Baylor, said his 4,000-member group supports Sloan because of his leadership and building plan. Robinson said he hopes critics will stop pushing for Sloan's removal. "They only harm Baylor to continue to try to oust someone who obviously isn't going to be ousted by the board of regents," he said. Calls for Sloan's firing have been loudest from the Committee to Restore Integrity to Baylor, a nonprofit organization with about 1,000 members, including alumni and former regents. Earlier this week, members said more than half of the 36 regents were ready to fire Sloan. It was the third time the group predicted Sloan's downfall. Bill Carden, president of the group, declined comment other than to say he stands by his prediction. "The votes are there," he said. Critics said Baylor's moving to a flat tuition rate in the fall of 2002 caused enrollment to drop. The current rate -- $16,750 per school year -- is much higher and hurts middle-class students, critics say. Enrollment dipped to below 14,000 students in the fall of 2003, down from more than 14,150 in the fall of 2002. This spring, officials said lower-than-expected spring enrollment caused a $1.9 million shortfall that led to a freeze on hiring and equipment purchases. But school officials say enrollment is rebounding. A record number of freshmen -- 11,000 -- applied this fall, and 2,800 are expected to be enrolled, officials said. Fewer than 2,700 freshman were at Baylor last fall and about 2,600 in the fall of 2002. Also, some faculty leaders claim Sloan has threatened the university's academic reputation by stressing religious beliefs over qualifications when hiring new professors and by requiring the inclusion of religious doctrine in teaching. The faculty senate had two no-confidence votes in Sloan in less than a year. Sloan also has been criticized for being unaware of major NCAA violations in the men's basketball program, which were uncovered after a player was killed last summer. Coach Dave Bliss and athletic director Tom Stanton later resigned. Baylor, founded in 1845, is the state's oldest institution of higher learning and is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Sloan was named president after leaving his two-year position as founding dean of Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary. A 1970 Baylor graduate, Sloan became religion professor there in 1983. Sloan has been a pastor or interim pastor at more than 20 churches in Texas, Oklahoma, New Jersey and in Germany.
I question his vision and the direction he wants to take the school. The school is well in debt and barely (in fact probably not) affordable for the middle class... The good news however is the woman at the school are still hot as hell.
