Well, I wanted to
post about the content of the SACS letter, however, I think it is more
important to first post about the background regarding as to why and how this news
came to be a front page story this particular day.
I noted (here)
that the Board of Trustees have been told nothing about numerous significant
issues at LC which have come about since this past April. We’ve lost 4 Vice
Presidents, the Dean of Students, have been in the midst of a presidential
search of which we’ve been apprised of nothing (including even if there are
applicants) and we found out we have been placed on probation but had been
given nothing of substance (until today) about that probation and what it means
for us.
On September 5th,
Louisiana College
Dear Friends:
Dr. Smith is
sending out a copy of the SACS letter dated July 9, 2014 to each trustee
tomorrow, September 5th.
He will bring a
report to the board on how the college plans to respond to SACS so we fully
comply with the requirements for accreditation.
Thanks for your
service to LC as a trustee.
Tommy French, Chair
Trustees
Wasn’t that interesting timing? The following is an email to
the board chairman, sent to the whole board, from LC alum and tenured board
member Lonnie Scarborough…
Why are we just
now receiving this? We were told by you in an email dated June 25th (see
email and highlight below) that you would share this information when it
becomes available, and now we see that you have had it since mid-July?
What precipitated the sudden need to send this information out when others have
been requesting it for weeks? Please explain.
Respectfully,
Lonnie Scarborough
(phone number redacted)
Lonnie Scarborough
(phone number redacted)
I thought that was a great question. I actually had become
aware of the letter when the Town Talk contacted me for comment. By that point
I knew what was in the letter but promised not to say anything public about it
until after the first article ran. I keep my promises. So as much as I wanted to
give more info I simply replied to Lonnie’s inquiry (since experience with this
particular board leadership has assured me that we weren’t going to be given a
straight answer). Here is my response (with typos, bad grammar and all) (I have
also redacted a few things that took place in executive session)…
Friends,
If I may... allow
me to tell you why this information is only now being sent to us. This
morning Dr. French received word that the local media has a copy of the SACS
letter dated July 9th. Yes.... that's July 9th!!! Shortly after he received
that information is when we began getting emails from Dr. French. The Town Talk
will be publishing the letter and a lengthy story on Sunday. Once he found that
out, clearly (and withing minutes) he began to let us know that we would
receive the letter tomorrow.
Lonnie, you are
absolutely correct, Dr. French did indeed tell us that he would send us
information "as soon as it becomes available." They've had it since
mid July and we've not received it. Also, in the April meeting he similarly
told us, concerning the pre-April dated letter, "redacted due to
executive session." We never received that information. Further, he
told us, regarding the confidentiality motion most of you agreed too, "redacted
due to executive session." He went on to say, "redacted due to
executive session." Friends, that is a direct lie. SACS does not
require us to have a confidentiality motion. Further, and what might be the
most egregious fabrication to us was his inference in at least one meeting and
his direct false statement in an email to us where he said, "Demands by
individual trustees to circumvent board procedures and threats to take
independent actions with SACS, the press and blogs is improper and is part of
the reason we have been placed on probation." Friends, trustee action on
blogs and with SACS was not, and has never been "part of he reason we have
been placed on probation." Our current chairman has lied to us repeatedly
and has now, in the face of numerous and direct requests for information,
withheld another letter from us to the point that ONCE AGAIN the media has
information before we do. Not only will I be calling for his immediate
dismissal at our meeting in two weeks, I would argue that this his actions rise
to the level impeachment and a request to the LBC for his dismissal. That will
be up to the Board.
The letter is a
scathing report. It is embarrassing and validates each of the concernes that a
few of us have expressed on numerous occasions. The most heart breaking truth
is that this probation was absolutely unnecessary had the board heeded some of
the warnings of those of us who have dissented. It is time for the rest of the
board to, with integrity and leadership, do what is right and make sweeping and
serious changes so that we do not lose accreditation due to the continued
mismanagement of Louisianan
College
ps. By the way,
lest Dr. French says that the reason we did not receive the letter earlier is
due to there being a typo date in the letter understand that the date has
nothing to do with the content of the correspondence or its charges and
findings. The letter could have been disseminated to us with that one caveat.
Jay Adkins
I received no response from anyone until 7:33 Friday morning
when I opened up my email and read this…
September 5, 2014
To: Jay Atkins
Jay:
In your haste to
indict someone, in whatever righteous cause you are pursuing, you made some
false assumptions. These assumptions, not supported by facts,
then led you to make false accusations against me.
You called me a
liar. You attacked my character. You slandered me. In the spirit of our enemy,
you threatened to call for my dismissal at the next board meeting and suggested
that a request should be made to bring me before the Louisiana Baptist
Convention to ask for my impeachment and expulsion from the board without facts
or cause.
I am not afraid
of your threats and accusations. I serve at the pleasure of the Board of
Trustees and of the Messengers of the Louisiana Baptist Convention and by the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These false
accusations were not made in a personal and private letter to me. Had you done this we could have discussed the
facts in the matter to find the truth. Instead, you broadcasted your false
accusations to the full board of trustees and you are guilty of slander.
I have not lied
to anyone. I have not lied about
anything. I have not misled anyone. I have not deceived anyone. I have followed
proper procedure and protocol so that things might be done decently and in
order. My character and my reputation before the Lord Jesus Christ are fully
intact.
You have joined
with the one is “a liar and a murderer from the beginning” to bring a false
accusation against a brother in Christ. You have joined with the one who
slanderers the brethren to slander me.
I sought the Lord
and His counsel in this matter. Then I brought you and your name before His throne
and waited for His answer.
The Lord answered
me without delay and said,
“I am your
shield. As I have protected you in the past I will protect you in the future.
Leave Jay Atkins in my hands. The slander and lies that he has written about
you is now written for eternity and cannot be erased. Therefore, he will wear
his slanderous words as an albatross upon his character until I call him home.
Anyone who joins with him in his slander will share in his guilt and I will
hold them accountable.”
Deo Vindice,
Tommy French
I can’t say that I
have ever been “prophesied against” (at least that I know about) but this was
interesting for more than the neo-charismatic nature of the babblings of
spiritual gobbledygook from a seasoned Southern Baptist pastor. What was most
interesting to me is that I have been charged with being “a liar and a
murderer” and have “joined with Satan.” Now for those of us who have been
around LC for any length of time, this is nothing new. This is the modus operandi
when one dares to speak against “god’s anointed.” When someone challenges
leadership they are immediately chastised, charged with being in league with
the devil and summarily dismissed. Normally this is all done with
hyper-charismatic spirit speak (in this case, apparently coinciding with a
direct prophecy of a curse from god upon my head). Seriously, this is nothing
new.
However, the
following is what I find most fascinating. Conspicuously absent from the
chair’s reply to me is any refutation to my specific charges. He notes that I
am a slander, yet does not support that charge by telling me where I am
mistaken. That is because he cannot. The things that I have noted I only noted
because I have printed and/or audio proof of his obfuscation and
disinformation. Thus, I sent back the following final reply to the board…
Mr. French,
Slander is a
very serious word. To be slanderous is to make a false and damaging statement
about someone. I noticed that your pious bloviation in response to my
correspondence does nothing to address the particular “accusations” I have made
which you’ve said to be slanderous. You have not identified which of my
statements are a false characterization of your actions.
I will see you at
the meeting with documented evidence from both audio transcriptions and email
correspondence of your numerous lies to the Board. I will have printed copies
for each member and will be happy to play the audio recordings if necessary. At
this point it is not even an issue of taking my word for it… even SACS has
identified such action from your leadership noting, “a prevalent culture
demonstrated by administrative staff and the governing board of misstating,
ignoring or denying matters of documentable fact and generating an apparent
pattern of breaches in institutional integrity.”
P.S. I have also
been taught to be very cautious of any “special revelation” that is said to
come from the Lord. I understand the Canon to be closed, so you’ll excuse me
when I say I am not the least bit concerned about the prophesied albatross
hanging from my character.
Cum Recta Doctrina
Jay Adkins
Jay Adkins
I have much, much more to say on this subject. Remember that
I have not even published the LBC’s response to my lodging a concern with them
about the role of the Executive Director and their simplistic and deficient response
to me. Please pray for me that I will continue to seek the mind of Christ and
fulfill my role of seeing this through until its end. Until I post again please
be sure to check the follow-up Town Talk article that will come out sometime this
evening or tomorrow morning… AND, if you are a Louisiana Baptist, how about you
demand full coverage and reporting of this important story from our state
paper, the Baptist Message.
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