The dismissal of Dr. Paige Patterson as president emeritus of Fort Worth’s Southwestern Theological Seminary has set off a firestorm within the school and the Southern Baptist Convention.
A former student of another seminary Dr. Patterson previously headed recently told The Washington Post he discouraged her from filing a police report after she said she was raped on campus in 2003.
She said he instructed her to forgive her attacker, who was a fellow student.
In 2015, following the rape of an SWBTS student (which was reported to police), the Chairman of SWBTS board of trustees says Dr. Patterson emailed the chief of campus security to discuss meeting with the victim alone so that he could “break her down.”
On May 30, Dr. Patterson was fired.
The wife of Dr. Patterson’s chief of staff -- who was traveling with Patterson in Germany when the executive committee of the SWBTS board of trustees fired him – authored a blog post refuting the complaints against Dr. Patterson and stating he was denied due process.
"Why was this done when Dr. Patterson was out of the country on seminary business, unable to defend himself against these latest charges?" asked Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas.
A spokesperson for Dr. Jeffress says this is also a question he's hearing frequently from others.
The other question the spokesperson says Dr. Jeffress is being asked is, “Why wasn’t the entire board allowed to vote on this action since it was the entire trustee board that voted to make Dr. Patterson president emeritus of Southwestern Seminary?”
The spokesperson says Dr. Jeffress “doesn’t know the answers to those questions, but believes that the executive committee has a responsibility to provide answers to all Southern Baptists.”
Friday night SWBTS Board of Trustees Chairman Kevin Ueckert issued a lengthy statement. It's posted below:
“Based on a number of follow-up questions I have received this week, I am providing this additional statement related to our May 30, 2018 statement. The unanimous decision by the Executive Committee to immediately terminate Dr. Paige Patterson was prayerfully considered and warranted.”
“We confirmed this week through a student record, made available to me with permission, that an allegation of rape was indeed made by a female student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2003. This information contradicts a statement previously provided by Dr. Patterson in response to a direct question by a Board member regarding the incident referenced in our May 30 statement. The 2003 rape allegation was never reported to local law enforcement. SWBTS will not release the student record to the public without additional appropriate permissions. “
“In addition, as previously disclosed, a female student at SWBTS reported to Dr. Patterson that she had been raped in 2015. Police were notified of that report. But in connection with that allegation of rape, Dr. Patterson sent an email (the contents of which were shared with the Board on May 22) to the Chief of Campus Security in which Dr. Patterson discussed meeting with the student alone so that he could “break her down” and that he preferred no officials be present. The attitude expressed by Dr. Patterson in that email is antithetical to the core values of our faith and to SWBTS. Moreover, the correlation between what has been reported and also revealed in the student record regarding the 2003 allegation at Southeastern and the contents of this email are undeniable.”
“Further, SWBTS received a request from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary requesting the return of any documents taken by Dr. Patterson upon his departure from Southeastern. Counsel for SWBTS, Michael Anderson, immediately reached out to counsel for Dr. Patterson, Shelby Sharpe, on May 25 and made inquiry regarding the documents. Mr. Sharpe advised Mr. Anderson that Dr. Patterson only took documents from Southeastern that belonged to him. Yet, independent of that request, following the May 30 Executive Committee meeting, SWBTS located Southeastern documents on the SWBTS campus and began taking steps to preserve them. Mr. Anderson is in contact with George Harvey, counsel for Southeastern, and is working with Mr. Harvey regarding Southeastern’s request for the return of its documents.”
“The morning after the May 30 Executive Committee meeting, Mr. Sharp provided a few documents he reportedly obtained from Dr. Patterson. The documents clearly dealt with Dr. Patterson’s tenure at Southeastern and should have been previously provided in response to Mr. Anderson’s May 25 request. Shortly after these documents were provided, the wife of Dr. Patterson’s Chief of Staff published a blog and attached these documents without the permission of the students referenced in the documents or appropriate leadership from SEBTS or SWBTS. I believe this was inappropriate and unethical. Regardless, the additional documents do not alter the decision of the Executive Committee.”
“Ultimately, the decision of the Executive Committee to immediately terminate Dr. Patterson was clear and unanimous.”
“I also want to reiterate what SWBTS Interim President Dr. Jeffrey Bingham said earlier this week. SWBTS denounces all abusive behavior, any behavior that enables abuse, any failure to protect the abused, and any failure to safeguard those who are vulnerable to abuse.”
“In this difficult situation, the Executive Committee based its decision on the current performance of the president and did not allow the legacy of Dr. Patterson or the #MeToo pressure to steer the outcome. We did not react; rather, we decisively exercised our responsibility based on the Seminary’s biblically informed core values and integrity.”
“I join Dr. Bingham in his call for the SWBTS community to join the Body of Christ in praying for healing for all individuals affected by abuse.”
Dr Patterson is still scheduled to deliver a sermon at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Dallas later this month, despite some calling for him to withdraw.
Editor's Note: WFAA published the SWBTS statement in full since it addressed many questions raised about his termination. We did not publish the blog post from the wife of Dr. Patterson’s chief of staff because it contained correspondence from a sexual assault victim which SWBTS says was released without the permission of the former student as well as the university.