Asbury Faculty and Administration Wonder #3

The third installment:

The flurry of reports and narratives dating from 1 September 2006 has shed light on and generated heat regarding the critical situation in which Asbury Theological Seminary now finds itself. We are left with a number of questions. This is the third.

We wonder why the Faculty, Student, and Staff Representatives to the Board have not been invited to the meeting of the Board of Trustees on October 17, 2006.

According to the Standards of Accreditation, The Association of Theological Schools, Commission on Accreditation, a seminary’s "governance is based on a bond of trust among boards, administration, faculty, students, and ecclesial bodies" (§8). Moreover, "shared governance follows from the collegial nature of theological education. Unique and overlapping roles and responsibilities of the governing board, faculty, administrators, students, and other identified delegated authorities should be defined in a way that allows all partners to exercise their mandated or delegated leadership" (§8.2.2). Even though we understand that the Board of Trustees may wish to move into executive session during its meeting on October 17, 2006, given

(1) the principle of shared governance;

(2) the provision for faculty, staff, and student representatives to the Board of Trustees, and particularly the mandate given them to "represent the viewpoint of their respective constituencies in Board discussions" (The By-Laws of Asbury Theological Seminary, rev. May 2002, Article III, Section H);

(3) the report to the administration, faculty, staff, and students from Board Chair Dr. Jim Smith and Board Vice-Chair Dr. Dan Johnson that the negative assessment of President Greenway’s presidency was due to his influence among these constituent groups of the Seminary community; and

(4) the significance for all constituents of the Seminary community of a decision regarding the disposition of President Greenway’s contract,

we wonder why the representative voices of faculty, students, and staff would be excluded from the entire meeting of the Board of Trustees.

Signed:
Kenneth A. Boyd, Ph.D., Professor of Instructional Design
Allan Coppedge, Ph.D., Ralph Waldo Beeson Professor of Christian Theology
Ronald K. Crandall, D.Th.P., McCreless Professor of Evangelism and Sundo Kim Professor of Evangelism and Practical Theology
Richard L. Gray, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Leadership and Christian Ministry
Joel B. Green, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament Interpretation
Chuck Gutenson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology
Virginia Todd Holeman, Ph.D., Professor of Counseling
Eunice L. Irwin, Ph.D., Associate Professor: Mission and Contextual Theology
C. Reginald Johnson, Ph.D., Roy and Weezie Anderson Professor of Prayer and Spiritual Formation
Hugo Magallanes, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Church in Society
Tapiwa Mucherera, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pastoral Counseling
Terry C. Muck, Ph.D., Professor of Missions and World Religions
M. Robert Mulholland Jr., Ph.D., Professor of New Testament
Christine Pohl, Ph.D., Professor of Church in Society
Ruth Anne Reese, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament
Lester Ruth, Ph.D., Lily May Jarvis Professor of Christian Worship
Michael A. Rynkiewich, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology
Daryl Smith, Ed.D., Associate Professor of Mentored Ministry and Christian Leadership
Catherine Stonehouse, Ph.D., Orlean Bullard Beeson Professor of Christian Discipleship
Thomas F. Tumblin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Christian Leadership
Robert G. Tuttle, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of World Christianity
Jerry L. Walls, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy of Religion
Ben Witherington III, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament
Laurence W. Wood, Ph.D., Frank Paul Morris Professor of Systematic Theology