Racial Reconciliation & Promoting Women into Leadership at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary?

Since 2018, the new administration of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary decimated the number of minority and women faculty and quickly hired ten white males, many with ties to Al Mohler’s Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

According to publicly available information, these minority and female faculty members no longer work at Southwestern. Some were fired, some resigned, some retired, some had their programs eliminated, and some were re-assigned/demoted from leadership positions.

Dr. Tamra Hernandez

Dr. Gerardo Alfaro

Dr. Dongsun Cho

Dr. Candi Finch

Dr. Rudy Gonzalez

Dr. Dorothy Patterson

Dr. John Yeo

Dr. Patricia Ennis

Dr. Patricia Nason

Dr. Yu Wen Grace Lee

Dr. Yoon-Mi Lim

Dr. Robert Lopez* (Lopez has not formally been fired, but he is not listed on the schedule to teach any classes next term. He revealed this in a post at American Greatness.)

Dr. Leo Day (Dr. Day was SWBTS highest ranking black man and dean before being re-assigned to director of musical arts program.)

Of interest, four of the five Latino professors teaching at SWBTS in 2018 no longer teach full time at the seminary. Similarly, the Korean heritage professors were substantially reduced.

And the new administration hired many white men. 10 new faculty were hired during the time that SWBTS reduced minorities and women faculty.  All 10 new faculty hires are white males. Additionally, at least four high-level staff positions came directly from Southern and consist of white males. Of those 10, six came directly from Al Mohler’s Southern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty (Adam Greenway, Randy Stinson, Colby Adams (VP), Greg Wills, Joseph Crider, Chuck Lewis) and one other received his PhD from SBTS (Travis Kerns). UPDATE: As we continue to review information, we can add the new dean of the Terry School to the list. Michael Wilder was named dean and is a white male who was hired from Southern.

According to a post from Dr. Robert Lopez, SWBTS eliminated a total of about 26 faculty positions during a restructuring last year. However, the actual number let go is difficult to ascertain because of secrecy. As is now common practice in the Southern Baptist Convention, many who were downsized were enticed (or intimidated) to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). This was a highly controversial practice when the International Mission Board downsized its missionary force under the leadership of David Platt. DEVELOPING. MORE TO FOLLOW…