ARPTalk(E-Mail-1)
March 13, 2010
E-mail to the Readers of ARPTalk
Is it just the Editor of ARPTalk or have we all passed through the “Looking Glass” and found ourselves on the other side of the mirror in “Wonderland” and frolicking with the Queen of Hearts? The shrill voices of the so-called “loyal” Erskine alumni do not drown out the sobering realities of the report of the special commission on Erskine.
In its response to the report of the commission, did the General Synod of the ARPChurch act to hurt Erskine? No! Needful correction is not hurt!
Here is some of what was found by the commission along with other matters of which the Editor is aware:
1. A hopelessly divided Board;
2. A Board that was in open opposition to the directives of the General Synod of the ARPChurch;
3. The misappropriation of funds – an example of somewhere at or near $1,000,000 being given for one purpose and used for another, with President Ruble, astoundingly, calling the action an accounting error (and there are more examples of this if the reader wants to dig a little);
4. An Erskine administrator and employee forming a construction company to do work at Erskine on a “no bid” basis;
5. Year-after-year-after-year-after-year of recruiting over expenditures in recruiting students to the point of a small over expenditure of over $600,000 this past fall;
6. An Endowment that has not changed much in at least 15 years and, according to the report of the special commission on Erskine, the Endowment cannot sustain itself at current spending;
7. An Academic Dean who is openly opposed to the Erskine Mission and who blasts the General Synod of the ARP Church in the media;
8. An English professor who openly acknowledges that he stands in defiance of the Erskine Mission and evangelical Christian faith, who tells students to go to “hell” and other such disgraceful things, who publicly mocks the Christian faith of a colleague in the colleague’s classroom at Erskine, and then smugly denies that there is a “culture of intimidation” at Erskine;
9. A Board that has allowed the antics of the above professor to continue for 30 year without correction; and
10. A Board that has allowed the hiring of professors in disregard and contradistinction to the Erskine Mission and catalog requirement and the protocols of SACS and ATS.
Maybe it is just the Editor, but these are serious issues. In the real world, the financial irregularities alone are enough to get Boards and employees fired. Do these people really want a Judge to begin digging into the mess at Erskine College and Seminary? Do they want the commission to reveal everything that was found? Incredible!
These are my thoughts,
Charles W. Wilson
E-mail to the Readers of ARPTalk
Is it just the Editor of ARPTalk or have we all passed through the “Looking Glass” and found ourselves on the other side of the mirror in “Wonderland” and frolicking with the Queen of Hearts? The shrill voices of the so-called “loyal” Erskine alumni do not drown out the sobering realities of the report of the special commission on Erskine.
In its response to the report of the commission, did the General Synod of the ARPChurch act to hurt Erskine? No! Needful correction is not hurt!
Here is some of what was found by the commission along with other matters of which the Editor is aware:
1. A hopelessly divided Board;
2. A Board that was in open opposition to the directives of the General Synod of the ARPChurch;
3. The misappropriation of funds – an example of somewhere at or near $1,000,000 being given for one purpose and used for another, with President Ruble, astoundingly, calling the action an accounting error (and there are more examples of this if the reader wants to dig a little);
4. An Erskine administrator and employee forming a construction company to do work at Erskine on a “no bid” basis;
5. Year-after-year-after-year-after-year of recruiting over expenditures in recruiting students to the point of a small over expenditure of over $600,000 this past fall;
6. An Endowment that has not changed much in at least 15 years and, according to the report of the special commission on Erskine, the Endowment cannot sustain itself at current spending;
7. An Academic Dean who is openly opposed to the Erskine Mission and who blasts the General Synod of the ARP Church in the media;
8. An English professor who openly acknowledges that he stands in defiance of the Erskine Mission and evangelical Christian faith, who tells students to go to “hell” and other such disgraceful things, who publicly mocks the Christian faith of a colleague in the colleague’s classroom at Erskine, and then smugly denies that there is a “culture of intimidation” at Erskine;
9. A Board that has allowed the antics of the above professor to continue for 30 year without correction; and
10. A Board that has allowed the hiring of professors in disregard and contradistinction to the Erskine Mission and catalog requirement and the protocols of SACS and ATS.
Maybe it is just the Editor, but these are serious issues. In the real world, the financial irregularities alone are enough to get Boards and employees fired. Do these people really want a Judge to begin digging into the mess at Erskine College and Seminary? Do they want the commission to reveal everything that was found? Incredible!
These are my thoughts,
Charles W. Wilson