“On the one hand, it is certainly understandable why faith-based institutions might wish to have a president who genuinely embraces that faith.” But on the other hand, she said, while some colleges find qualified candidates who are also already active members of the denomination (as Davidson did), the requirement can make identifying presidential prospects even more difficult
At Davidson College, board members are preparing to spend the next several months studying a question of identity: whether a Presbyterian college needs a Presbyterian president.
Right now, Davidson requires its president to be an active member of a Presbyterian church — and recently hired a new president who is. During that search, the college agreed to study that requirement, in April appointing a committee of trustees to examine the college’s “church-relatedness” and make recommendations.
Administrators at the college, which faced a high-profile fight recently over allowing non-Christians to serve on its board, stress that the study may result in no policy change at all.
But if the requirement for presidents does change, aligning Davidson’s requirements with most other Presbyterian colleges, the college will confront a challenge common to church-affiliated but largely secular Protestant institutions: how to honor historical ties to a denomination, even if the denomination has little to do with the college’s day-to-day functions.
As Davidson was searching for a new president in 2010, students, faculty and alumni at meetings with stakeholders frequently asked one question, said Stacey Schmeidel, associate vice president of college communications: Does the president have to be Presbyterian? According to college bylaws, the president must be a member of a Presbyterian church, or willing to join one.
Davidson has little outward Christian affiliation otherwise — the college does not have a seminary or religious studies requirement, and admits students and hires faculty regardless of their religious beliefs. Presbyterians make up only 2 percent of the U.S. population, narrowing the pool of potential presidents drastically. Many colleges that are church-affiliated but otherwise secular abandoned religious requirements for their leadership decades ago.
The college eventually hired a Presbyterian, Carol Quillen, then a vice president at Rice University. But the board members also decided to study the question, Schmeidel said. The committee of 10 trustees has so far met only twice and plans to study other Presbyterian colleges, as well as meet with students and alumni, before coming to a decision, probably sometime next year.
“The trustees take the bylaws seriously and they don’t just change a bylaw at the drop of a hat,” Schmeidel said.
For Davidson, this bylaw is especially significant because it is one of two that require Presbyterian involvement with the college’s governance. The board is required to be 80 percent Christian, and 24 of the 44 members must also be Presbyterian. Until 2005, all board members were required to be Presbyterians — a requirement that changed in a contentious decision that led to two members’ resignations, including that of the college’s most generous donor.
Since the announcement of the panel to study the college’s relationship with the church, a battle over the requirement has played out on the pages of the campus newspaper, The Davidsonian.
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