Baptist Waco Global | Mark Wingfield | July 28, 2025
The kerfuffle over Baylor University’s rejection of a $634,000 grant for academic research now has produced a third public letter of concern, this time focused on a perceived threat to academic freedom.
The two earlier letters, as reported by BNG, were from clergy and faith leaders who on the one hand praised President Linda Livingstone for showing “moral courage” to reject the grant to study loneliness among women and LGBTQ Christians sidelined in churches and the other criticized the decision with a plea for Baylor to “do better” on inclusion.
The third letter, which appeared online Monday afternoon, July 28, is now open for signatures. It is addressed to President Livingstone, Provost Nancy Brickhouse and the Baylor board of regents.
“The university’s handling of this matter raises grave concerns regarding the university’s commitment to academic freedom, rigorous inquiry and publication — concerns that drive at the heart of the very character and nature of what it means to be a university, in general, and what it means to be Baylor University, in particular,” the 3,000-word missive declares.
“The university’s handling of this matter raises grave concerns regarding the university’s commitment to academic freedom, rigorous inquiry and publication.”
The now-cancelled research — which already was under way — “is of paramount concern to churches across the theological spectrum,” the letter says.
“We are writing to express our opposition to the university’s decision to apply an ideological litmus test to the types of inquiry, ideas, teaching, research and publication that Baylor University and its faculty pursue. We believe the university’s handling of this matter is contrary to the university’s long-held policy on academic freedom and, if not corrected promptly, represents a dangerous development for the present and future of Baylor University.”
The letter asks Baylor administrators to “make a public statement re-affirming … commitment to the unfettered study, research, inquiry and publication of results regarding of ideas, topics and subject matters without regard to ideological bent, including specifically affirming that freedom regarding subjects that address the experiences of women and LGBTQ people in various social settings, including churches and houses of worship.”
It also asks the university to “make a public commitment that no faculty or administrator will be prohibited from conducting research, inquiry, teaching or publication on any subject, including subjects regarding the experiences of women and LBGTQ people in church settings.”
This letter also takes issue with Livingstone’s July 9 email to Baylor constituents explaining the decision to reject the grant. That explanation itself “undermines the freedom to publish.”
Livingstone said the administration’s concern “did not center on the research itself, but rather on the activities that followed” the research, which “extended into advocacy for perspectives on human sexuality that are inconsistent with Baylor’s institutional policies.”
“The university administration stating in its message to the Baylor family that it does not have a problem with ‘the research itself’ is not a statement of support of full academic freedom,” the letter contends. “On the contrary, it appears that university administrators do have concerns about the research being published to the world — the so-called ‘activities’ that follow the research.”
Among other concerns, the letter says Livingstone’s letter “creates a dangerous slippery slope that requires correction by the university.”
“A university environment that proves itself to be less than resilient in the face of external pressures and attacks on faculty members’ research chills the activities that universities are intended to engage in — the heart of why they exist. What may be outrage over research regarding women and LGBTQ people in religious communities could easily morph into outrage over a number of research projects other university professors are currently engaged in — from projects that seek to understand the meaning of biblical text through historical and contextual lenses, to scientific exploration of evolution, to the study of political and economic systems or belief structures that may offend a segment of society or a faction of the Baylor family.”
In closing, the letter calls on Livingstone and other administrators to admit they were wrong to cancel the research and the grant.
“Courage also requires, at times. that we admit that we are wrong,” the letter concludes. “We do believe that the university was wrong in its abrupt response to an incredibly concerning and no doubt taxing external pressure campaign. We … urge the university to publicly reaffirm its commitment to full academic freedom, including the teaching, research, study and publication regarding issues that concern women and LGBTQ people.”
https://baptistnews.com/article/a-third-letter-accuses-baylor-of-threatening-academic-freedom/
