The Board of Trustees for Campbellsville University says it is moving forward with a plan to phase out of its existing relationship with the Kentucky Baptist Convention over the next four years.
The change will likely mean the loss of nearly $1 million dollars in funding per year. The Board of Trustees and the university wanted more control in the trustee selection process. Earlier this week, it was reported that part of the new plan was to have the ability to appoint a non-Baptist trustee.
But in a letterco-signed by board chairman Joseph Owens, the board said trustees would remain 100 percent Baptist. The letter also stressed Campbellsville University will remain a “strongly Christian, evangelical, Baptist-connected institution”.
“We are terribly saddened to learn that Campbellsville has adopted bylaws inconsistent with their Covenant Agreement with the churches of the Kentucky Baptist Convention,” said Chip Hutcheson, president of the KBC in a written statement. “The statement released by Campbellsville brings to mind the husband who wants to divorce his wife but still offers to live with her. The university has taken steps to remove itself from a covenant relationship yet still wants to claim it is ‘committed’ to the family."
A meeting of Kentucky Baptist Convention officers was previously scheduled for Thursday to discuss the latest developments.
