Ken Starr, the new President of Baylor University, was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos earlier today on Good Morning America. Here is the video
And here is a lengthy farewell tribute blog post from a California minister/lawyer/adjunct professor who once worked with Starr.
Marv Knox of the Baptist Standard has by far the best article on Starr and his faith titled Starr affirms Baylor’s Baptist heritage, plans to become Baptist.
Starr particularly affirmed twin doctrines championed by Baptists for four centuries — soul competency and the priesthood of all believers, he said.
“Our great mediator is Christ Jesus, our Lord,” he added, affirming the individual’s right and responsibility to relate directly to God, as well as Baptists’ non-hierarchical view of divine relationship that reflects those principles.
“We have been given gifts of reason to seek to discern biblical truth and then to exercise our conscience,” he said. And this manifestation of soul competency results in “the precious, almost quintessentially American but deeply Baptist, commitment to the separation of church and state.”
David Lowrie, President of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, met with Starr yesterday and has blogged about the meeting. From Lowrie:
I was particularly impressed by his grasp of the principles of Baptist life. Even though Starr was raised in the Church of Christ, he championed the historic Baptist values of separation of church and state and soul competency. I walked way from my brief encounter with President Starr impressed by the ease in which he spoke of his faith, his professional commitment to live out his faith in the public arena, and his passion for higher Christian education.
The Waco Tribune and Baylor University have posted short interviews with Starr.
See also: Some Baptists gaze at Starr with cautious optimism for Baylor
And for a different perspective, see this open letter to the Baylor University Board of Regents penned by Chris Seay. An alum of Baylor, Seay currently serves as pastor at Ecclesia Church in Houston. Along with David Crowder, Seay helped start University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas in the mid-90s. Here’s a snippet:
It seemed clear to all that the next President of our great University must be more Billy Graham than Karl Rove. We need someone who is able to remind us that our diverse views and experiences allow for the kind of educational environment that we can all be proud to offer our children. Instead of seeking a peacemaker, the Board of Regents has selected one of the most polarizing public figures in recent history, and in doing so, has injected partisan politics as one more reason to seek division rather than unity in the Baylor family.
Ken Starr will be introduced to the Baylor community today at 3pm. The gathering will be live-streamed and then archived online immediately following the event. You can watch here.
How close are you to finishing your Ph.D? I think Baylor may be a difficult place to be in the near future.
BDW is noticeably silent as to what his own opinion is on this matter.
Yea, you’re right. I have not said much here or elsewhere. I have on another blog commented on Starr’s non-Baptist status. Would I have liked the Board to hire a Baptist? Not sure that I can really answer YES to that question – depends on WHO that Baptist woulda been. I very much prefer a non-Baptist over a Southern Baptist educator aligned with the “Resurgence” crowd. Remember that John Lilley was a Presbyterian Elder – not exactly Mr. Baptist.
Here’s where I’m coming from:
I’m a graduate of the University of Georgia. In terms of politics, Athens has much more in common with Austin than Waco. However, our President was extremely close with the GOP and a strong supporter of President Bush. Ralph Reed was regularly on campus. Clarence Thomas was a graduation speaker. Michael Adams’ predilection for conservatism aside, UGA continued to climb in the rankings each year during my undergrad years. My degree – a degree which has opened doors and clearly opened the door for me to intern with Congressman John Lewis – is much more valuable thanks to the leadership of Michael Adams. I would heartily recommend UGA to anyone seeking a quality education at an institution that values academic freedom.
Look at Starr’s record while Dean of Pepperdine. Very impressive. To echo a sentiment already expressed by several folks online, I don’t have to have a President in lock-step with my politics. I want a President who can help Baylor succeed. That Mark Osler, a Baylor law prof who seems to share many of my same political and theological (Baptist) convictions, would endorse Starr is encouraging. Another good family friend who served on the Advisory Committee has also publicly endorsed the selection. Nadine Strossen’s words about Starr’s respect for academic freedom have to count for something as well.
So, no, I’m not outraged. You won’t find me pitching a Facebook fit. You won’t find my name attached to some anti-Starr Facebook group. I think it’s rather lousy to write-off an entire University in the way that some alums have on Facebook. I saw where one young alum -a person who very recently spoke at Truett – was calling for Baylor students to transfer schools. That’s just so over-the-top. I hope those alums who now think a Baylor education is more or less worthless will stop attending events at Baylor, stop accepting invitations to speak/preach/perform at Baylor, etc.
On the whole, I’ve had a great experience at Baylor under Robert Sloan, Bill Underwood, John Lilley and David Garland. I appreciate the emphasis on religion in the classroom. Coming out of UGA, I wanted to be a lawyer and I did law school for a year. Not for me. My family was in Waco so I enrolled in a M.A. program here in Church-State. It seemed like an interesting degree that complimented by internship at the Baptist Joint Committee. At the time, I had no intention of pursuing a career in this field at the intersection of religion and politics. My extremely positive experience at Baylor led me to pursue a doctoral work which I’m now finishing up (preparing for prelim exams, doing research for a dissertation prospectus). So, I have been thoroughly shaped by this experience at Baylor University. I see no reason to believe that the selection of a new president will inevitably change that experience for the worse.
As an aside, I was at the basketball game last night where the Baylor men blew out Texas Tech. During half-time, football coach Art Briles introduced Ken Starr. Starr was decked out in Baylor gear – jersey and hat. After waving to the crowd, he turned to the floor-side section of students and gave a big SIC EM BEARS. I thought it was kinda cool – Starr’s definitely not a stiff in a suit.
Hmm. I hope you’re right, Aaron, but your UGA president wasn’t a national byword for the culture wars. I still think it likely that this takes a pattern very similar to the one that happened with Larry Summers at Harvard. But I hope I’m wrong because I have too many friends on faculty and some with kids who are students for me not to worry. And my eldest was interested in Baylor’s Honors program–which I encouraged before now. So, I sincerely hope this blows over and Starr has a great presidency.
But I think it unlikely.