Shorter College

After nearly three years of court proceeding the Georgia Supreme Court returned Shorter College to its long standing relationship with Georgia Baptists. In the first meeting of the Board of Trustees I was elected Chairman of the Shorter Board.

Many falsehoods were cleverly shared during this time which frightened some persons at the thought of this action being taken. One by one these untruths are being proven to be baseless. One alarming untruth spread was if Trustees elected by the Georgia Baptist Convention were given the supervisory role they would have no regard for the academic standing of the school and would even turn it into a Bible college.

I have never heard any person say that other than those critical of Georgia Baptist. The opposite is true. I can assure any skeptic the ambition of the current Board is to expand and enhance the commendable academic standards for which the school has long been known. As an evidence of this a copy of my acceptance statement when elected chairman follows.

In light of this I invite students looking for a premier academic school with Christian emphasis to consider Shorter. Banners now greet visitors to the lovely campus heralding: “Shorter —- A Christian College.”

My acceptance speech follows:Thank you for the honor of serving our Lord, this esteemed school, and you my fellow trustees as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of this revered newly reconstituted Shorter College. Yet, even as we begin with this new Board of Trustees, we carry with us the history and heritage of this great institution – back to 1873 when Alfred Shorter and other dedicated individuals founded Cherokee Baptist Female College in Rome, Georgia.

As a board:
Let us aspire to maintain the academic integrity of the school in such a way as to make those associated proud of its scholarly standing. Let us perpetually maintain bold ambition to comply with requirements of SACS in order to maintain our accreditation which is so essential to our mission.

May we ever work to enable the school to provide an academic environment enhanced by Christian values where no student will have his or her faith devalued. In addition to leaving here with a prestigious degree may our students depart with their faith informed and strengthened.

Let us keep in mind that policy must always precede action. That is, every decision must be in keeping with a policy that supports it. Therefore good policies must be patiently forged in the foundry of wisdom after due deliberation.

Let us make a commitment to strive to achieve these and other worthy goals in such a way as to evidence to the academic family and the community in general, that we who comprise this body of trustees are exercising grace, integrity, wisdom, the best of business acumen, a heartfelt interest in the school’s academic standing, and Christian character. Let us so act that in time our actions will confirm these traits. Let us listen to the voices from various persuasions – and consider none to be evidence of undue outside influences, but as legitimate expressions of appreciated interest.

Neither should cause us to lose our insight or our focus – as the purpose of this body of trustees is to serve the best interests of this great institution to the best of our ability. Let us stand for academic freedom and plead for academic integrity and let our academicians voluntarily reflect academic integrity by supporting the tenants for which the institution stands. Let us establish and maintain fiscal integrity. Business acumen must be employed in order to keep our aspirations within our means and may both increase. In gratitude for those who have gone before us let us as legatees of all the giants on whose shoulders we stand avail ourselves of the opportunity this challenging hour affords.

May those who come after us find we have laid a foundation for the newly re-constituted Shorter College consisting of love for the truth, a commitment to academic excellence befitting the best the school has ever offered, and Christian concepts exercised in accord with Biblical ethics. What we do as a board of trustees will not be sub rosa and will be reflected in the public arena. May what we do here be birthed and blessed of our Lord and may it redound to the honor of His holy name.