Baylor president overcomes ouster push by critics for third time

WACO, Texas (BP) — Despite reports that Baylor University President Robert Sloan would be fired, the university’s board of regents unanimously reaffirmed their commitment to Sloan’s ambitious “Vision 2012” 10-year plan during a July 23 meeting in Waco, Texas.

At the conclusion of the retreat-setting meeting, the board released a resolution stating: “The Regents of Baylor University reaffirm our commitment to Vision 2012, and recognize the positive impact it has made to our campus and in the lives of our students.”

The meeting marked the third time in less than a year that Sloan has survived ouster efforts by critics. Sloan, 55, former dean of Baylor’s theology school, has been the 14,000-student university’s president since 1995.

Former Baylor professor Bill Carden had predicted before the meeting that Sloan would be ousted.

No vote, however, was taken on Sloan during the regents’ meeting, and there was no discussion of Sloan’s status as president, chairman Will Davis told reporters after the meeting.

Carden, after the meeting, said, “I stand by my statement” predicting Sloan’s ouster, according to a report in the Waco Tribune-Herald. “There are more than half of the regents that are ready to remove Robert Sloan,” Carden, who was an assistant to one of Sloan’s predecessors, asserted.

Previous votes by regents to dismiss Sloan failed 18-17 in May and 31-4 last fall, according to news reports.