In the interest of keeping panic at a minimum...
(Specifically directed towards Shorter people, although those of you at other places might be interested as well.)
If you have anything to do with Shorter, you need to know that the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling on Shorter's status today that is mostly in the favor of the Georgia Baptist Convention, saying that the college's reogranization two years ago for the purposes of taking all control of seating trustees away from the GBC was improper.
Understand, before I got any further, that even though I get a paycheck from Shorter and are thrilled with my employment here, that these comments do not represent Shorter College. They are my own. Apart from liking my employers a great deal and wanting to keep my employment for as long as possible, I don't have much in the way of opinions in this fight.
I think the single most important thing I can tell anybody right now is not to panic - nothing that will change at Shorter is going to change overnight. Here's the key paragraph from the AP story:
The 4-3 ruling upheld an earlier decision by the Court of Appeals and directed the trial court to restore control of the college to its previous state.
The emphasis is mine, and the reason for that emphasis is (as best I understand matters) the Supreme Court has not permitted the GBC to take over Shorter now; they have returned the matter of how the college will be restored to its previous state as a decision for the district court (that orignally ruled in Shorter's favor, and has now been overruled) to make. Those decisions will not be made overnight. They will take time. I believe there is, even now, some possibility that the GBC and Shorter will come to a settlement that would end litigation (although if such negotiations go on, obviously the upper hand has now shifted to the GBC).
I found out the ruling was in, amazingly enough, during my first visit to the Shorter campus in Marietta. I had gone there for a users' group meeting for the classroom/registration management software we use, and I was getting a few tips on how to use SCHOLAR better when the guy directing our session noticed that he had e-mail in, and given that there were some of us in the room from Shorter, he was kind enough to put that e-mail on the projector screen.
We thought "well, that's not good", commisserated a bit, and then turned right back around and went back to our session on SCHOLAR.
That's the general sentiment around here, as much as I've seen. Bottom line, despite the fact that we now have a ruling, we still don't know what is going to happen next. None of the freshman orientation sessions have been cancelled, I'm still teaching physics starting in June, all the faculty I normally see on campus are still here today and going about their business - there is significant question about where we go from here, except that (for the immediate future) everything will continue as scheduled.
So please nobody say "oh no, the GBC won" and immediately start making arrangements to transfer. That time hasn't arrived yet, and I'm honestly not sure that time will arrive at all - frankly, the GBC has invested too much time and money into this fight to win and effectively shut down or destroy the school. It's very difficult for me to envision them not recognizing the accreditation issue that will now emerge, and taking useful step to make sure that SACS stays happy and the school remains accredited.
For my part, I'll do my best to keep information flowing, and keep misinformation to a minimum. But, most importantly, be patient, and make sure we have all the facts in before any of you decide to do anything rash.
Oh yes, there's one other thing you can do. And I say this with every measure of sincerity, without one iota of sarcasm or irony.
Pray.
At the end of the day, one of the major issues here is what Christian education means. I'm afraid a lot of us have a lot of different views on where we should be coming from in developing Christian world-views, or teaching based on Christian principles, or whatever. But - I dunno. Maybe it's my Methodist upbringing, maybe it's my idealism, whatever - but I just can't get around the idea that all of us who call ourselves Christians are on the same team, and all of us who believe in "Christian education" really want the same ultimate thing - an education for our students that is more meaningful and more profound than simply a smattering of facts, principles and techniques towards getting a job, that truly does point towards that God Himself wants for our lives.
What's going on here at Shorter affects how people, not just in Rome and Georgia, but around the country, view us as Christians. I just really feel moved to ask everyone to pray for a solution here, and not a court-imposed solution either that betrays our divisions but a positive solution that points to the unity of purpose we should have.
Because, no matter what side you're on, being divided sucks.
If you have anything to do with Shorter, you need to know that the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling on Shorter's status today that is mostly in the favor of the Georgia Baptist Convention, saying that the college's reogranization two years ago for the purposes of taking all control of seating trustees away from the GBC was improper.
Understand, before I got any further, that even though I get a paycheck from Shorter and are thrilled with my employment here, that these comments do not represent Shorter College. They are my own. Apart from liking my employers a great deal and wanting to keep my employment for as long as possible, I don't have much in the way of opinions in this fight.
I think the single most important thing I can tell anybody right now is not to panic - nothing that will change at Shorter is going to change overnight. Here's the key paragraph from the AP story:
The 4-3 ruling upheld an earlier decision by the Court of Appeals and directed the trial court to restore control of the college to its previous state.
The emphasis is mine, and the reason for that emphasis is (as best I understand matters) the Supreme Court has not permitted the GBC to take over Shorter now; they have returned the matter of how the college will be restored to its previous state as a decision for the district court (that orignally ruled in Shorter's favor, and has now been overruled) to make. Those decisions will not be made overnight. They will take time. I believe there is, even now, some possibility that the GBC and Shorter will come to a settlement that would end litigation (although if such negotiations go on, obviously the upper hand has now shifted to the GBC).
I found out the ruling was in, amazingly enough, during my first visit to the Shorter campus in Marietta. I had gone there for a users' group meeting for the classroom/registration management software we use, and I was getting a few tips on how to use SCHOLAR better when the guy directing our session noticed that he had e-mail in, and given that there were some of us in the room from Shorter, he was kind enough to put that e-mail on the projector screen.
We thought "well, that's not good", commisserated a bit, and then turned right back around and went back to our session on SCHOLAR.
That's the general sentiment around here, as much as I've seen. Bottom line, despite the fact that we now have a ruling, we still don't know what is going to happen next. None of the freshman orientation sessions have been cancelled, I'm still teaching physics starting in June, all the faculty I normally see on campus are still here today and going about their business - there is significant question about where we go from here, except that (for the immediate future) everything will continue as scheduled.
So please nobody say "oh no, the GBC won" and immediately start making arrangements to transfer. That time hasn't arrived yet, and I'm honestly not sure that time will arrive at all - frankly, the GBC has invested too much time and money into this fight to win and effectively shut down or destroy the school. It's very difficult for me to envision them not recognizing the accreditation issue that will now emerge, and taking useful step to make sure that SACS stays happy and the school remains accredited.
For my part, I'll do my best to keep information flowing, and keep misinformation to a minimum. But, most importantly, be patient, and make sure we have all the facts in before any of you decide to do anything rash.
Oh yes, there's one other thing you can do. And I say this with every measure of sincerity, without one iota of sarcasm or irony.
Pray.
At the end of the day, one of the major issues here is what Christian education means. I'm afraid a lot of us have a lot of different views on where we should be coming from in developing Christian world-views, or teaching based on Christian principles, or whatever. But - I dunno. Maybe it's my Methodist upbringing, maybe it's my idealism, whatever - but I just can't get around the idea that all of us who call ourselves Christians are on the same team, and all of us who believe in "Christian education" really want the same ultimate thing - an education for our students that is more meaningful and more profound than simply a smattering of facts, principles and techniques towards getting a job, that truly does point towards that God Himself wants for our lives.
What's going on here at Shorter affects how people, not just in Rome and Georgia, but around the country, view us as Christians. I just really feel moved to ask everyone to pray for a solution here, and not a court-imposed solution either that betrays our divisions but a positive solution that points to the unity of purpose we should have.
Because, no matter what side you're on, being divided sucks.