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Tuesday, 27 March 2007 14:00 |
RALEIGH ó Mars Hill College, as well as the four other remaining colleges and universities with ties to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, are planning to cut their ties with the organization.
The split could cost each school about $1.2 million per year, officials said.
Some of the schools reportedly fear that the conservative direction of the denomination might limit their academic freedom. For instance, the convention voted last year to ban gay-friendly churches from the organization.
Proponents of the split also said the schools increasingly are attracting students without a background in the Baptist church.
Meanwhile, MCH
President Dan Lunsford said last Friday that the college ìis committed
to continuing a relationship with the Baptist churches of North
Carolina, regardless of the formal structure with the Baptist State
Convention of North Carolina.
ìThe (college)
leadership is further committed to the direction of the institution
being guided by its board of trustees in the manner in which they deem
most appropriate.î
Besides MHC,
based in Madison County, just north of Asheville, the others schools
include Campbell University in Buies Creek, Chowan University in
Murfreesboro, Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs and Wingate
University in Wingate.
In the last 20
years, about a dozen Baptist-affiliated schools have left their Baptist
state convention, including Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem and
Meredith College in Raleigh.
The conventionís
executive committee unanimously approved a plan this month allowing the
five North Carolina schools to start choosing their own trustees in
2009. In turn, the convention would end its monetary contributions by
2013.
The separation
still must be approved by the conventionís board of directors and the
convention, which must pass it at two consecutive annual meetings.
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