Remarks by Scott H. Moore

Good afternoon. My name is Scott Moore and I want to thank you all for coming and welcome you here. There are a lot of folks here today, and we are a very diverse group of people. We have differing opinions about matters political and theological and social, and yet we're here today to make three large claims.

The first is that we fundamentally disagree with the Senate action yesterday expressing no confidence in Dr. Sloan.

Number two: We want to work with the current administration to help Baylor be the very best that Baylor can be as we move forward to achieving the goals of 2012.

Number three: We're tired of all this hullabaloo. We want to work together with our colleagues throughout the university to bring reconciliation, progress and get on with the important business that we've got of teaching students, of writing books and articles, and doing the research that we're doing. We want to get back to business.

We have four statements and then I'll make some concluding remarks: Dr. Randall O'Brien, professor of religion. Then Dr. Charlie Tolbert, professor of sociology, Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray, Assistant Professor of Medieval Literature and French, and Mr. Randy Woodruff, Director of Internet Services for ITC.

(Four speeches)

I think it goes without saying that the presence of all of you today, the support that we see here is indicative of the broad and deep support that this president and this current administration has. From our students, last week the president received standing ovations in two different Chapel services and before more than 20,000 people at Bill Cosby's performance. Right now the students are circulating a petition showing their support for the president. Alumni support is absolutely booming. Alumni have raised close to $1.5 million to give to Baylor and in support of its mission and its causes, and there are more than 1,000 alumni who have joined the Friends of Baylor group. As you can see, the faculty and staff that are supported by the university are broad and diverse, and there are quite a few more than 26 people standing on these steps.

I want to be clear. The people on the Faculty Senate are our friends and our colleagues. We serve with them in departments and on university committees; we go to church with them, and our kids are on Little League teams together. They are our friends, but we respectfully disagree with their decision yesterday.

Choosing to take a secret ballot vote undermines the confidence that we have in Faculty Senate. Anonymity is no partner to representation. Representation requires accountability, and if we're to know how we can have confidence in the Faculty Senate, then we must know how they, with their courage, chose to pass those ballots. We've seen a lot of anonymous reports in the last few days. There's been a document that slurs the president and the administration and his academic credentials. There is no one on this campus who takes anonymous "scholarship" seriously.

The Faculty Senate has claimed that they had to take a secret ballot vote because of fear of reprisals. Friends, unfortunately, this runs in more than one way. More than six junior faculty have contacted me in the last two days telling me they would not be here today for fear of reprisals from senior faculty in their own departments. This has got to stop.

We have very important work to do, and I am eager to work with my colleagues -- those who agree with me and those who disagree with me -- on a variety of issues, and academic politics at the University is not the most important of these.

Today, Baylor stands with a great opportunity. The future is bright at Baylor University. Tomorrow, the Regents come to campus and I hope, it is my sincere hope and wish, that the Regents will give a strong vote of confidence to the President so that we can get back to work. In giving that strong vote of confidence, we can join together in reconciliation, in charity, in forgiveness -- and we all need forgiveness -- to go forward to be the very best place that Baylor can be while serving Christ and his kingdom.