UPDATE: Apparently the BoT will vote Friday, May 21 on the appointment of Dr. Norman as President.
It appears David Norman is the pick for next president of Erskine College (read the confidential letter discussing him here). He is relatively young and inexperienced. He is unknown to a great many of us. And he graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary, a fact which strikes fear into many of those who oppose the Commission’s actions. We all have reason to be wary.
Let me be perfectly frank: we don’t know how this will turn out. This could be an excellent candidate, or a terrible one. We just don’t know enough yet. We should have no reservations against men from RTS – or do we really believe all men are equally bad, or good, if they go to the same school? We cannot hold his age against him, for old age is not a prerequisite for intelligence and charisma. Nor is his relative lack of experience necessarily a setback – Erskine is an unusual place that attracts people who would not want to work anywhere else. Perhaps David Norman is attracted to small schools and excels there.
The point is: we just don’t know!
(I believe) Erskine’s president will be appointed in the following way: the search committee, consisting of members of the Board, Erskine faculty, and other ex officio members, chose a candidate (David Norman). His name will then be debated and ultimately voted on by the whole Board of Trustees, at which point he will be made president.
Wait… Hold on a second… There’s something about the “Board of Trustees” that sounds familiar.
Oh yea. Synod reconstituted it!
Had the injunction been overturned the new, Synod-approved Board would be in power now. Presumably, the new picks would support whatever candidate Synod wanted (or equivalently, they would propose a candidate exactly in line with what Synod desires). The vote would be taken sometime this summer and Shazam! New President of EC. Commissioner Mulner wrote: “If the [Presidential Search Committee] is able to select a candidate before the new Board is installed in June, the interim Board could receive their recommendation on a candidate and vote to extend an offer to that candidate.” This has indeed occurred.
We have no idea whether Norman was Synod’s “first pick” or not. It might very well be that he was a back-up plan when Synod realized their first few picks would never get through the full Board. But what we do know beyond a shadow of a doubt is this: had the lawsuit not been brought forward, had the injunction not been extended, and had the alumni, faculty, and administration of Erskine College not stood up to defend their college against an action of sufficiently nebulous legality to warrant a full trial, well, then we’d have whoever Synod wants as President.
Whether Norman is good or bad is irrelevant right now. The Alumni have won the first battle.
What we need is visibility – we need all the faculty to see him, talk to him. We need the alumni to talk with him. We need him on Facebook and sending emails. We need to find out about him, what he believes, and his vision of Erskine College and Seminary. If his vetting and appointment are done behind closed doors with a few carefully-chosen witnesses, his presidency will be compromised from the very start.
Watch out though: this guy’s a regular Bill Crenshaw! Here is what he wrote back in 2006. I thought we didn’t agree with Devil’s Advocates… (emphasis added)
Our first day of class [at Trinity Forum Academy], red-eyed and grumpy from the previous evening’s fundraising trip that kept me out past 3 A.M., I conducted a little experiment. I tried to stump each Fellow in turn by asking questions related to their stated career ambitions. I specifically asked questions that I knew were controversial and had no easy answers. The results of this little experiment restored my hope not only for this year at the Academy, but for the hearts and minds of this generation. Without exception, each Fellow met my openly cynical challenges with a calm, confident, honesty that made me want to listen as they explained both why the questions were difficult and the difference their faith makes in the search for answers.
This is part of what makes Erskine excellent, and I am encouraged by these words at least.
No satire is needed here. David Norman, congratulations on your nomination to be president of my favorite college in America, and we all look forward to meeting you! Let’s make it happen.
I also agree that we should reserve judgment until we can hear more about and from Dr. Norman. I certainly am not going to dismiss him out-of-hand, especially in light of the current situation Erskine finds herself in. What I would like, however, is exactly what Temperance is asking for - a dialog so that we can get to know Dr. Norman better and an open process for vetting him prior to his hiring. Such a process would be a welcomed change!
ReplyDeleteI have some reservations about Dr. Norman's relative youth, but youth can be a positive as well as a negative. What I would love to read, but have not been able to find, are the "numerous" scholarly works that Dr. Norman has published. If either of you, or anyone else can point me to such documents, then please do so! We have much to learn about Dr. Norman and Dr. Norman has much to learn about us. Let's hope that a mutually respectful path can be found to educating ALL of us about the history of and future vision for Erskine College and Seminary!