#gary weier

[wutbju]

Well, here's another tell.

40% of the executive leadership have quit too.

[wutbju]

BJU's Chief Academic Officer, Gary Weier, has resigned.

Apparently the Board and Bob Jones III blamed Gary for not "right-sizing" the faculty sooner.

Gary was the only academic in the whole crew over there. He was it. He was the one that knew the standards and how BJU could meet them.

Marshall Franklin is gone.

John Matthews was demoted from CFO.

Sam Horn is gone.

Steve Pettit is gone.

And now Gary.

[wutbju]

You all.

This is a lot. Six top people have resigned or "been reduced" in a single semester?

Get out now.

[wutbju]

Friend of the Archive, Jonny Gamet, pipes up with a little nudge:

One of the primary motivators for today's parents and students is how their substantial investment in a college degree will pay off in a career or a job. People are already questioning the value of the traditional four-year educational model and when colleges tout categories mentioned in this article above or in some cases in place of expected results, it's no wonder their customer base turns to other educational options that are in some cases cheaper, more convenient, or have a better track record of yielding expected results. Putting it bluntly, if a student can't land a job after graduation, they likely are going to blame the institution and not care much about how that college taught them how to think (or other benefits that helped shape them).

He's not wrong. You gotta get a job! He's right.

And Gary misses the point slightly. He thinks its about marketing BJU's "outcomes."

[wutbju]

Gary Weier's LinkedIn post got much affirmation from his fellows. Retired Pastor Brad Lapiska agrees (of course) and states:

Making good citizens is subjective, particularly when all standards of citizenship are relative and can't offend any student. A Christian University ought to distinguish itself by helping a student nail down his or her world view (Biblical) as a basis for living a successful life and to teach them apologetics in a way that they can succeed in their careers out in the world without isolating themselves from the people they work and live with.

So "apologetics" is the way for a Christian to succeed in their careers rather than isolate themselves from their neighbors?

Apologetics was the big trend in the 1980s when Evangelicals -- and BJU too -- went nuts for defending their ideology. Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live? was the loudest iteration. Ken Ham is still banging that drum.

Have you ever had a conversation with a person trained in conservative evangelical apologetics? They are insufferable.

[wutbju]

Gary Weier doesn't let Beau Baez's pointed (and perhaps unwitting) critique of faculty wages bother him.

Our culture undervalues thinking as work, and we're paying the price! But there isn't an easy answer to create a financially viable model since education is seen increasingly as credentialing.

[wutbju]

Liberty Graduate and current Assistant Professor of Law, Beau Baez pipes up and ... well, you'll see it.

A university needs faculty that can inculcate critical thinking into the classroom. This means lighter teaching loads so faculty can assess students using essay exams, not short-answer and multiple choice. But how to do this without breaking a university's budget?

There's an idea! Pay BJU's faculty a living wage!

[wutbju]

There's a presumption in higher ed that if you want to (or need to) slash and burn your institution, do it while there's an interim at the helm. That way he can light the place on fire with no repercussions.

I went to go see if they had any job posting for a new School of Fine Arts Dean. They don't. But go look at the same search I saw.

Now you can see nearly every department is hiring -- even Music. Here are two depts in the School of Fine Arts that are hiring.

See which organization is the umbrella organization doing the hiring? The one you would expect: BJU, Inc. That's what BJU is legally called now. That's the nonprofit arm. EIN #57-1088101.

That's what you'd expect to see.

But keep going. Look at the Communication Studies department's posting and the Health Sciences posting:

BJU Education Group is the for-profit arm of the Bob Jones University. That's the Press!

Is this a signal of things to come? Is Bob Jones University reorganizing so that either Health Sciences and Communication Studies are going under the Press? Or is it the Graduate schools that are going for profit?

Is this a clue??