Baylor regents unanimously select law professor as interim president

WACO, Texas (BP) - Baylor University's board of regents unanimously chose William D. Underwood, one of the school's law professors, to serve as interim president, effective June 1.

Underwood, 48, will succeed outgoing President Robert B. Sloan Jr., who announced in January his intentions to become chancellor after a long battle with opposing factions over the future of the university, which is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Will Davis, chairman of the board of regents, told the Waco Tribune-Herald that Underwood was one of 20 candidates for interim president the board considered when it met April 29.

Also during the session, regents added one of Billy Graham's daughters, author and speaker Anne Graham Lotz, to the board.

The son of a Baptist minister, Underwood is a member of Seventh & James Baptist Church, which is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Underwood also was among the 2004 underwriters of a Planned Parenthood conference for youth entering the fifth through ninth grades. The half-day "Nobody's Fool" summertime session, begun in Waco 15 years ago, has been opposed by local conservative groups. Seventh and James Baptist Church was among several co-sponsoring churches in 2004.