What really happened at the Erskine College/Seminary board meeting last Friday afternoon?

It doesn’t take long to learn – whether in a journalism class or in the trenches – that every big news story has at least one back story. Something that is important, even crucial, that is not made public and, even more importantly, is frequently kept from the public.

Woodward and Bernstein were masters at finding the back story, as have many others who write the news. And it wasn’t just the Nixon White House staff who tried hard to keep the back story away from view, every succeeding White House staff gears up for the same efforts.

And, at the end of the day, readers always end up being more interested in the back story than they are of the press release headlines, or even of a little glimpse or two of some reality that fits with the press release.

I would be shocked if there aren’t a lot of readers of The Aquila Report who have read the news about the UNANIMOUS election of David Norman as the new President of Erskine College/Seminary last Friday morning who, like me, are looking and waiting for the back story from Due West.

I stress the word ‘unanimous’ because it is hard for me to believe that members of that Board of Directors, who are so opposed to each other that their issue has ended up in civil court (and that’s another story), came to a unanimous decision on the first ballot to approve Dr. Norman as the new president. What I am saying here is no reflecting on Dr. Norman – I’m afraid the issue is must bigger than that.

If immediately after the announcement of Dr. Norman’s election, a second press release had come forth saying that all sides had agreed to withdraw the civil actions, well, we would all be praising God for his divine intervention. And, perhaps, I’m wrong, and that’s what we all should be doing. But somehow I can’t settle on that view.

Like any other journalist would have done, I have spent a lot of time during the past 48 hours looking for that back story. I keep getting little, tiny glimpses (like a tent flap blowing up in the wind for a moment or two) but I can’t see inside that tent to make it all out.

Here’s what I do know from multiple sources. A lot of time on Friday afternoon was spent in discussions on maintaining confidentiality about what was being or what was going to be said in the that meeting. I heard that The Aqulia Report was mentioned quite clearly when it came to not revealing to anyone what happens in the Board meeting (we were, after all, the first journal to reveal the search committee’s recommended name). One source said, they tried to ‘triple lock’ the door of secrecy on Friday afternoon.

I also hear rumbles about a most unusual called meeting of the Board set for the Monday before Synod starts, to be held at Bonclarken.

Like I said, I just see these glimpses, but each one I see convinces me ever the more that there is a back story from Due West. And I, for one, want to know what it is.

Stay tuned.

DKC