Patrick Henry College's New Leader Laments Lost Faculty's Exit
by Jim Brown
June 5, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The new president of Patrick Henry College in Virginia is speaking out about the recent resignation of nearly a third of the evangelical school's full-time professors. The five instructors recently quit PHC, accusing Mike Farris of limiting their academic freedom and disparaging their Calvinist beliefs. Replacing Farris as president next month is Dr. Graham Walker, Ph.D., former vice president for academic affairs and dean of Oklahoma Wesleyan University. The new president says he is troubled over some of the actions of the five professors that resigned and is, in particular, "a little grieved that some of the dissatisfactions felt by the departing faculty members were, with some students, pretty thoroughly aired and discussed."
Walker says he would have no objections to theological disputes, discussions, or debates taking place among members of the academic community. "The problem was that this was not primarily a theological issue," he says. "Ultimately it didn't pivot on that at all. It was a personnel issue."
The incoming PHC president insists that, despite what the departing professors may claim, Patrick Henry College is committed to being a complex fellowship of evangelical people with different theological points of view. He says he wishes the professors who resigned "had persisted in the dialogue that President Mike Farris sought to undertake with them."
Walker says the five professors published a few statements that "seemed, at least on the surface, to be a little bit at odds with the statement of faith of the college," and so President Farris "sought clarification and was looking for an exchange of views."
However, Walker contends, instead of responding to Farris the disgruntled professors quit. The college's new chief administrator says the five resigned before Farris could draw any conclusions and, in fact, resigned even "before he could take any actions whatsoever."
But in spite of what has occurred, Walker stresses that faculty members of all evangelical perspectives are welcome on Patrick Henry College's campus, whether they be Pentecostal, non-Pentecostal, Reformed, or non-Reformed in their theology. He says he was drawn to the school because it "exemplifies sacrifice and bringing your best to the Lord."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
