Baylor President Attacks Student Editorial

Recently the editorial board of Baylor University's student newspaper voted to run an editorial supporting gay marriage. Baylor is a conservative Southern Baptist university, so the editorial was met with a great deal of controversy. The editorial was condemned by Baylor President Robert Sloan and even ruled a violation of school policy by the university’s Student Publications Board.

The Baptist Standard explains:

“We have already heard from a number of students, alumni and parents who are, as am I, justifiably outraged over this editorial,” he said. Sloan sought to draw a line between free expression and inappropriate advocacy. “While we respect the rights of students to hold and express divergent viewpoints, we do not support the use of publications such as the Lariat, which is published by the university, to advocate positions that undermine the foundational Christian principles upon which this institution was founded and currently operates.”

The Student Publications Board, comprised of Baylor administrators and faculty who oversee three professional staff members who supervise the Lariat’s student staff, concurred with Sloan. The board “has determined that the editorial published in the Lariat on Feb. 27 … violates university policy as defined in the student handbook, as well as student publications policy,” the board reported in a statement released after it met March 1.

“The student publications policy states that ‘since Baylor University was established and is still supported by Texas Baptists to conduct a program of higher education in a Christian context, no editorial stance of student publications should attack the basic tenets of Christian theology or Christian morality,’” the statement continued. “Clearly, the editorial published on Feb. 27 is inconsistent with this policy. The guidelines have been reviewed with the Lariat staff, so that they will be able to avoid this error in the future.”

Free expression is pretty meaningless if there are limits on "inappropriate advocacy." I think that Sloan should simply admit that there is no genuine freedom of expression with the newspaper, merely the "freedom" to express those opinions which meet with the approval of Baylor's administration. As a private university, they have the right to set such restrictions on the newspaper - it's a bad idea, in my opinion, but still legal. Being disingenuous about the existence of free expression, however, crosses an inappropriate line. If Baylor is going to profess to be a Christian university founded on Christian principles, the administration should at least have the decency to be honest about what they are doing when it comes to censorship.

Read More:

• Ethics of Gay Marriage
• Recent Books on Free Speech
• Court Decisions on Free Speech and Censorship
• Religious Right
• Southern Baptists
• Evangelical Christianity & Homosexuality