“For the unity, peace, purity, and prosperity of the church we are instructing the chairman to withdraw the legal action that was brought to determine who constituted the legally appointed and responsible Board of Trustees of Erskine College. We do not intend to bring further legal action”

Several sources, including a press release from Erskine College, have given a clearer picture as to the events leading up to the dropping of one lawsuit and the filing of another.

The Aquila Report has learned that the Executive Committee of the current Board of Trustees met on Thursday of last week to discuss the general situation, but in particular to discuss the lawsuit that had been filed earlier in the week by their chairman, Scott Mitchell. Mitchell had said that his purpose in filing the suit was to determine the legal aspects of who has the right to remove trustees – the ARP Synod or the Trustees themselves.

At the meeting the Executive Committee voted to declare that they believed the actions of the ARP Synod early in the month had been unjustified and violated South Carolina state law, as well as the Bylaw of the college. Additionally, they agreed that there was a need to resolve the legal issues which are in contention.

But at the same the Executive Committee also voted the following: “for the unity, peace, purity, and prosperity of the church we are instructing the chairman to withdraw the legal action that was brought to determine who constituted the legally appointed and responsible Board of Trustees of Erskine College. We do not intend to bring further legal action.”

Informal reports of these discussion indicated that there was a strong feeling that the Biblical injunctions of 1st Corinthians 6 had application to this course of action.

This appeared to leave the way clear for the Synod’s plan to be put in place. An announcement went out to members of the so-called “Interim Board” to meet on Wednesday, March 17. However, that was not to be the end of the story.

Another lawsuit was filed on Monday at the Abbeville Court House. The Aquila Report has not been able to obtain a copy of this suit, however reports are that the same basic issues of the legality of the issue of which party has the right to remove trustees is at the heart of this suit. As previously reported, the Plaintiffs I this suit include the Board of Directors of the Erskine Alumni Association, and as many as 3 of the members of the current Board of Trustees.

In filing the lawsuit, the Plaintiffs also sought and received a Temporary Restraining Order which keeps the Synod from moving ahead on their plans, at least through the date of the hearing on the Restraining Order, which ahs been scheduled for Thursday, March 25th. Accordingly, Dr. J. Richard deWitt, Moderator of the Synod and convener for the meeting of the Interim Board sent out an announcement cancelling the planned March 17th meeting.

The Aquila Report will seek to remain as close as possible to this story and provide details as they become available.