How Tight to Draw the Circle

Marjorie J. Cooper, Professor of Marketing

Excerpt

... To protect academic freedom, to ensure that faculty members are free to develop their individual interests and expertise, and to continue to value intellectual inquiry requires tolerance for a diversity of opinions. At the same time, the desire for community and the need for a synergistic marshalling of resources and messages calls for unity. As we struggle with such tensions, it seems logical to ask, on what core beliefs and values must we have consensus in order to realize our mission? That is, how large a circle should we draw within which we designate the minimally necessary criteria for inclusion in the community at Baylor? For example, in our hiring, are those who reject the virgin birth of Christ outside that circle? What if a candidate prefers to allegorize the resurrection rather than to accept a literal, bodily resurrection? Do we place church traditions on a par with the Scriptures? Do we hire from denominations that are not considered mainstream? But more importantly, we must ask ourselves whether it is possible not to draw a circle. And will there ever be a circle that is not criticized by some as too restrictive and by others as too inclusive?