#Bju BOard of Trustees

[wutbju]

BJU named two new Board members over homecoming.

Deanna Fitzgerald Brammer graduated in 1990 and lives with her husband James here in Greenville County. James did not graduate from BJU, but he did teach up through May 2020. He taught a lot!

Ba 301-Business Law

Ac 401-Taxation of Individuals

AC 411-Taxation of Business Entities

PL 101-Introduction to Law and Ethics

PL 121-Torts

Additionally he was the

University Title IX Coordinator - reviewed claims of sexual abuse and/or harassment

Member, Academic Integrity Committee - heard and reviewed claims of academic cheating and plagiarism; served as substitute Chair of the Committee on occasion

Faculty Advisor, University Business Association - Student organization focused on professional development

Program Coordinator, Paralegal Studies - Prepared the curriculum and established program requirements when the University decided to offer an associate degree in Paralegal Studies

Academic Advisor to approximately 60 students seeking Business Administration degrees

University Legal Advisor - provide occasional legal advice to University Press regarding contracts and intellectual property matters

So .... if BJU is still acting like BJU has acted for a century, this is BJU's way of keeping this legal counsel close without actually paying anybody anything.

And Carolyn Mook Rohrer graduated from BJU in 2002 and was originally from Phoenix, but now she lives in San Diego. Her daughter is currently a member of the BJU Class of 2027.

Needed to bring on more women, BJU, without getting any one who would stand up to you, maybe?

[wutbju]

University has 100 Trustees.

That’s not a good thing, BJU. But okay.

The Board of Trustees of Bob Jones University is something of a "Who's Who* among Bible believing Christians in America as well as several foreign countries. The Regular Voting Board is composed of 50 members who are elected annually for a term of one year only, and the Co operating board is composed of about the same number.

These outstanding Christian leaders come from all walks of life and include laymen as well as clergymen. They live in every section of the nation and are members of many different religious denominations.

The executive committee of the board is composed of seven members who actually operate the university and make policies during the intervening times of the board meetings.

Members of the executive committee include Dr. Bob Jones Jr., ., Dr. Bob Jones III, Dr. R. K. Johnson, Greenville; Dr. Charles Bishop, Bainbridge, Ga.; Dr. Horace F. Dean, Havertown, Penn.; Dr. Otis Holmes, Portsmouth, Ohio; and Dr. Monroe Parker, Denver, Colo.

Here’s the list of board members:

BJU MOTTO

The motto of Bob Jones University as displayed upon its corporate seal is "Petimus, Credimus" -- "We seek, We Trust." We seek to inculcate into our students a desire for knowledge of the arts and sciences, and we seek to satisfy that desire. We trust the Bible as the inspired Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Hope of the world, and His gospel as the solution to the problems of our day.

[wutbju]

This is not really ominous. It's just curious.

When the Board meets on Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, they will not be meeting in the fancy schmancy Board room in the Library.

They'll be in the regular ol' Student Center.

What happened to the Board room?

[wutbju]

Mike Harding continues his defense:

If anyone ever did such a thing, they would be removed from the board immediately. No one on the board has that kind of character." (Verbatim from Dr. Harding.)

Yeah, right. BJU has housed all kinds of unsavory characters on its Board. Where do we begin with this? There's always Chuck Phelps.

[wutbju]

Eric Hutton seems perplexed by Hantz Bernard's list-from-Strong's:

Even though we triple checked our facts with BJU insiders closest to the crisis, Dr. Bernard appears to believe that our updated open letter was full of lies. He replied to the concerns of alumni and friends with a list of bible verses about lying. See the text of his email: Psalm 15:1-3 - "Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? 2 He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; 3 He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;" Exodus 20:16 - "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." John 8:44 - "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." Ephesians 4:25 - "Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another." Proverbs 6:16-19 - "These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren." Matthew 15:19 - "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Isaiah 59:7 - "Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths." James 3:8-9 - "But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God." Colossians 2:8 - "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." (Verbatim from Dr. Bernard's email reply to a positive grad.)

Quelle Surprise, +++Positives+++.

[wutbju]

Even though we triple checked our facts with BJU insiders closest to the crisis, Dr. Bernard appears to believe that our updated open letter was full of lies.

Again -- you're surprised? This is their tactic. This has always been their tactic. Always. We've documented it for decades!

[wutbju]

We all know now that the +++Positive+++ push for John Lewis to resign did work. You have to give them that. They didn't know that yet.

Even with all their FB "engagements,"

And yet, Dr. Lewis still has not resigned. Dr. Lewis has refused to meet with us and has prevented other board members from meeting with us to discuss the content of the updated open letter and the first steps of fundamental board reform at BJU. He seems to have dug in.

I'm still really surprised that they were surprised. Have they met a fundamentalist pastor?

[wutbju]

So what can the +++Positives+++ do? According to Eric Hutton:

So, what can we do? As alumni and friends of BJU, we cannot stand by and let these nine board members destroy BJU. But we cannot write any more emails or letters. They are not moving Dr. Lewis to change. Here's an option: Will you join us March 27-28, 2023, for a "Prayer and Praise" homecoming in Greenville? We need to show up for the future of BJU. Save the date; Save the College. Please continue to pray for the faculty. Tomorrow is an important day. On March 1, each faculty member must decide if they will renew their annual employment contracts. It will be very interesting to see the actual outcome in faculty non-renewals for the 2023-2024 school year. Please pray for the students as well, as the decisions of faculty affect them too. We are the loving and loyal alumni and friends. We love BJU and are committed not only to its survival, but to its long-term success. We are trusting God as He continues to lead us forward.

That "Prayer and Praise" event became a "Prayer and Pivot" event. Remember?

[wutbju]

We might as well go ahead and congratulate him:

Alan Benson is the next no-longer-interim-and-not-just-acting President of Bob Jones University.

The reason is this recent Collegian article only published after the Board meeting this past week.

I mean, come ON! It's so obvious with these glowing pictures of him and the copy.

Bob Jones University’s acting CEO Dr. Alan Benson said he plans to apply for the position of university president when the time comes. Dr. Benson spoke of his plans during a wide-ranging interview with The Collegian about his work at the university prior to being named acting CEO and the process of the presidential search, which will end with a new president named, the sixth in the university’s history. He spoke of his childhood and what led him to BJU. He also gave insight into his goals as acting CEO and shared advice for the student body.

It's such an obvious puff piece, delivered so that the Alumni and Student Body would get used to the idea and chat it up during Homecoming.

The timing is so transparent too. They've planned this for a long time.

And they want to quell any +++Positive+++ crankiness.

[wutbju]

Professor Lonnie Polson posted his comments to the BJU Board of Trustees Executive Committee yesterday.

Now, Lonnie is logical and strategic. I don't think I worked with anyone in the BJU Speech dept who more clearly demonstrated the gift of administration as the Apostle Paul describes it. He's a problem-solver through and through.

So when Lonnie gives advice, honestly? You should listen. Just sayin'. And he told the Executive Committee:

I'm writing to petition the executive committee of the board to name Dr. Gary Weier (or another current administrator or senior faculty member) as interim president. It's been an incredibly stressful year for the BJU family. What the faculty and students need most is a season of stability and healing. My fear is that naming an interim from outside the current leadership would be counterproductive to meeting that need. I believe also that naming a current administrator or senior faculty member as interim would send a reassuring message to those who are considering attending BJU. We have so many potential applicants who have not yet "pulled the trigger" on full application because they're taking a wait-and-see approach. I can't blame them. We could do much to communicate stability and viability to our constituency by appointing a known entity from within the current leadership as the face of the school. Frankly, the primary existential threat to the university is low enrollment. Naming a current administrator or senior faculty member as interim would also allow the board adequate time to recruit and vet a new president without having to onboard a temporary one. I do not presume to speak for the entire faculty, but I'm convinced nearly all of us would give similar input. Thanks for listening.

The big takeaways here are, it seems to me:

The BJU students and employees are exhausted.

Applicants for the Class of 2027 are hesitant.

Low enrollment is imminent and would kill BJU.

A temporary/interim needs to be an internal hire.

Gary Weier would be the best choice.

Lonnie's right, of course. I can't say that loudly enough. When Lonnie gives advice, you should listen.

Will they?

[wutbju]

The people interviewing with the Board are not mincing words.

For instance, no BJU president ever has been an official member of a local church.

Right now you're thinking, "Wait. I know Dr. Bob was a member of [insert the church you attended]." Every BJU person has said that. Every one assumes that BJU's top man was a member at their own church. He can't be a member of Hampton Park, Mount Calvary, and Heritage at the same time.

That means, as candidates have been explaining to the Board, that BJU's top man is under no one's authority. He is at the top of the accountability food chain.

That's not good.

I remember when there was a push for the Administrators to finally join a local church. Only two had been members of a church. When Darren Lawson finally joined Heritage Bible, his son had to be baptized at age 17 in order to join.

Think of it -- a child of a BJU administrator had not received this very important Christian sacrament.

Many other BJU employees never attended any church outside the campus.

They never had communion. Their children or they themselves had not been baptized. That's bad.

This is really bad. No accountability. No baptism. No communion. Can you call yourself a Christian without these things?

[wutbju]

Wait.

Each side must show that no one “wins” unless the cause wins. Only one side, the university’s side, must come out the winner. That will not happen if the permanent is sacrificed on the altar of the immediate.

All -- The Board and The President -- must be subsumed under “the cause.”

It’s all just a round-about way of saying that Bob Jones III has to be happy no matter what, isn’t it?

Even adding the Founder’s Chapel Saying at the end -- that just basically says the Bob Jones can never leave BJU.

[wutbju]

The old-school fundies accused the Beauty and the Beast production at BJU this Spring of being “WOKE.”

Tale as old as time....

[wutbju]

Rick Altizer, President +++Positive+++, posted this this morning at 7:45am on Friday, April 7, 2023 -- Good Friday.

But now it's deleted.

Since WutBJU, too, “has a duty to disclose confidential information," I include it here for the record. This shows the +++Positives+++ agenda:

Before we pause to meditate and worship our Risen Lord, a few clean up notes from yesterday:

First, we are thankful that John Lewis did the right thing (finally) yesterday and resigned. Based on the facts of the situation, we believe there are at least two other board members who also need to resign--Joe Helm and Hantz Bernard. They were in league with John Lewis throughout the leadership crisis of the last year. This was a completely avoidable and intentional campaign on their part to unseat a much loved and effective university president before his final term. They need to resign immediately so the board can begin the process of moving forward.

Secondly, we were surprised and offended by the "official" Dear Alumni post yesterday around 5pm. While positive bju is not the only Facebook group and certainly not the only Facebook group who needed to hear their oddly timed message, we are the only alumni and friends group who confronted the unethical behavior of the BJU board and single-mindedly defended Dr. Pettit. No good deed goes unpunished, comes to mind.

For those of you who have followed the action closely and consistently (most of you) we have defended and praised the BJU Alumni Association and supported the student recruitment team consistently. We will continue to do this, though with less enthusiasm perhaps until we have an opportunity to discuss with them the purpose and intent of their public letter to all alumni.

With regards to the letter itself. We agree that name calling including wishing harm to anyone has no place in social media. We agree that outside groups like FBI should refrain from trying to exert undue influence over the board at BJU. We are alumni and friends. We have only advocated for maintaining good executive leadership (Steve Pettit) and removing unethical and ineffective board leadership.

Unlike the FBFI, we have never advocated for any specific policy. We trust the administration to decide what is best for the operations of the school itself. As we have said, we are not "progressive". We are not advocating for more liberal or more lax anything. What we cannot accept is a divided and dysfunctional board that opposes its own board approved policies and bullies and intimidates the administrators. It is not only wrong, but also counterproductive to the growth and success of the institution.

Finally, with respect to confidential information we have shared. When a board member, administrator, or alumni (one of us) becomes aware of wrongdoing, we have a duty to disclose it. With respect to board members in SC, the duty of care and duty of loyalty to the institution is a statutory requirement in the law. The duty of confidentiality is not. While there may be policies and best practices that govern confidentiality on private boards, these are superseded by the statutory and fiduciary duty of care and loyalty to BJU when wrongdoing happens on the board. Positive BJU celebrates and salutes every courageous source who helped to expose the details of the bad decisions and actions of Lewis, Bernard, and Helm. While it has been messy at times, these men are being held to account by the off campus and on campus stakeholders for the first time in nearly 100 years and that historic first naturally resulted in defensive backlash.

We didn't expect a defensive backlash from the university, but we accept the points of agreement even while we reject the tone and timing of it. In any event, we can forgive and to forge ahead with this historic fundamental board reset leading to a very bright future for BJU. Thank you!

[wutbju]

The Board Letter continues from Part 1:

With regard to recent events, a letter dated March 21, 2023, from Dr. Pettit to the Board of Trustees was improperly distributed to the public. The Board and the President have always discussed tough issues. Such discussions, by nature, are sometimes messy. But mutual pledges of confidentiality had allowed the President, as a member of the Board, and the Board to raise any and all issues of concern to them and granted us the freedom to discuss those issues honestly and thoroughly. For the University community to see only one side of these discussions, rather than the whole, has only brought chaos and distrust. During the first eight years of Dr. Pettit’s term as our President, these discussions were not broadcasted, and everything went well. Now, with unlawful and biased releases of confidential board information becoming the norm – with willing social media accomplices – the situation has become unmanageable and is undermining the University. Board members who follow their fiduciary duties stated above out of their obligation to the school and God, cannot tell their side of the story or the real facts to you and others in the University community and keep BJU in a positive light. As you can imagine, the Board has asked about breaches of confidentiality, and no one has taken responsibility. To track down the source of the breaches would require serious and difficult actions which the Board so far has not been willing to take.

In the past year, outsiders inserted themselves in the boardroom, encouraging and magnifying unlawful breaches of confidentiality, and selectively posting information. This has damaged the board majority and the school. The Executive Committee is taking the unprecedented step to provide factual and historical context to the letter while carefully threading such information as not to attribute statements or intent to any individual on the Board.

Without getting into particulars in violation of confidentiality, the release of Dr. Pettit’s March 21 letter conveys only one limited perspective, one with which many Board members take issue. To provide further comment would breach confidentiality, which we cannot do.

On March 23, 2023, the Executive Committee called an emergency session to discuss Dr. Pettit’s letter. Because of the urgency and significance of two of the concerns Dr. Pettit raised, we prepared a response to clarify them which was provided to Dr. Pettit and the Board on March 24, 2023. Of course, the social media group failed to post that response. We promised to Dr. Pettit to address his remaining concerns at the Annual Board meeting (March 29-30), which we did. On March 28, the Executive Committee met with Dr. Pettit for two hours of discussion. We left the meeting with hope.

On March 30, the Executive Committee halted the regular agenda to meet again in emergency session. We asked Dr. Lewis and Dr. Pettit to have lunch together privately. Meanwhile, the rest of the board met in prayer. After much discussion that afternoon, Dr. Pettit maintained the decision to resign.

Both Dr. Pettit and the Board made public announcements that were respectful and responsible. In normal times, Christian brothers and sisters would have received these announcements on the merit of their content and of their spirit. But the announcements were drowned by the mischaracterizations on social media, and, once again, the release of confidential Board information. Within the prism of our pledge to confidentiality, these circumstances are no-wins for the Board of Trustees and for the University. But you can help us defeat the discord that these selective postings on social media have caused by considering the sources as persons who are violating their duties to BJU and God, not as persons truly seeking godly changes through proper BJU policies and bylaws. They operate through rumor and innuendo. As for the outside social media group, it is part of the problem, not the solution.

Please know that, either with the Executive Committee or as a member of the full Board, Dr. John Lewis has not acted unilaterally. He has the same single vote on Board matters that the rest of us have. Not only has he not acted alone, but he has also regularly invited each of us to offer input on topics being discussed. As a result, the idea that the Chair has singlehandedly attempted to work against Dr. Pettit is a gross mischaracterization of the Board’s actions. Since Dr. Lewis is the Chair, he is the one who speaks on behalf of the Board, but he does not and has not acted alone. At no time has the Board requested the resignation of Dr. Pettit during his tenure as President. When he offered his resignation, we offered him alternatives which he declined. Dr. John Lewis is not the villain that he has been made out to be by his accusers, and those who would impugn his character and his leadership simply do not have the whole story. We, as the Board, have spoken as a whole with our votes, and he has not acted alone.

We are committed to the mission of Bob Jones University and desire that it move forward for the cause of Christ. That mission is bigger than any one individual, and we are passionate about training the next generation with a biblical worldview.

Sincerely,

The Executive Committee of Bob Jones University

Dr. John Lewis, Chair

Dr. Hantz Bernard, Vice Chair

Dr. Sam Dawson, Secretary/Treasurer Dr. Mike Harding

Mr. Paul Matthews

Mr. Jerry Morgan

[wutbju]

March 21, 2023

Dear BJU Board of Trustees:

Serving as the President of Bob Jones University has been one of the greatest privileges and honors of my life. Being a part of continuing the legacy of our Founder has been a great duty I have joyfully carried. I am also profoundly grateful for the incredible people I have had the privilege to serve alongside in this great work and the thousands of BJU alumni I have met along the way. After much prayer and consideration, however, I have decided that I cannot continue to serve as the President of Bob Jones University if Dr. John Lewis remains Chairman of the Board.

This is not a conclusion I have reached lightly. When the Board reelected me to another three.year term on November 17, 2022, the Trustees overwhelmingly affirmed and endorsed my leadership and the direction of the University. I believed that the vote showed that we were united in purpose and direction, and my team and I rolled up our sleeves and went to work with the same objectives that we have pursued during my entire tenure as President under the chairmanship of Larry Jackson and then John Lewis.

In the months that followed, I realized that the unity I had hoped for was not to be. In fact, the dysfunction within the Board's leadership increased, and I have become even more deeply concerned over recent decisions of the Board Chairman, who appears to be committed to taking the University in a new and unknown direction. I have, therefore, concluded it is not possible for me to remain as President of the University if Dr. Lewis remains Chairman. I have come to this conclusion for some of the following reasons.

First, although I have repeatedly urged the Chairman-both in private and before the Board.to pursue unity, he has not done so and, instead, has adopted a posture of secrecy and hostility toward the Board and the administration. For example, Executive Committee meetings have been moved to Bob Jones Ill's residence. The Chairman forbade Trustees from telling the University's professional parliamentarian and longstanding corporate c9unsel about a meeting of the Board that had been called in February 2023. Minutes oft he Executive Committee meetings often have not been timely prepared and provided to other Trustees.

Contrary to University policies, sensitive Board documentation has been stored outside the University's secured network on a new computer purchased at the Chairman's instruction. Our Board portal, Gavenda, was altered to prevent or hinder Trustees from printing documents.

All requests for Board information must now go through the Chairman exclusively. A new outside lawyer, Ashley Abel, has been retained, supposedly by the Board, but to my knowledge, the full Board has not even been made aware of that. Rather, Mr. Abel appears to be advising the Chairman and select members of the Executive Committee exclusively, and he refuses to communicate with or respond to other Trustees or the administration without the Chairman's permission. None of this has been explained to the Board or me. By both his actions and his example, the Chairman has heightened, not alleviated, the disunity of the Board over the past several months.

Second, the Chairman has continued to display either an uncaring or cavalier disregard for the cause of troubling financial numbers triggered by the ongoing dysfunction and uncertainty. On a number of occasions over the past months, the University's CFO has communicated to the Executive Committee and the Board about shortfalls in the University's current and projected financials and about ongoing deficits in donations and enrollment that are directly linked to a loss of confidence in the University's direction under the current Board leadership. On each occasion, the Chairman has either misunderstood or deliberately minimized the importance and relevance of the information, causing great concern among our administration that the Chairman seems completely disinterested in the financial stability of the University.

Third, poor decisions have been recently made by the Chairman concerning good board governance. In the signing of my contract, the Board agreed to board training. Recently, a key opportunity arose for board education and the building of good relationships with SACSCOC. The President of SACSCOC offered to come to the campus of BJU to speak to our Board of Trustees during our Spring meeting. The Chairman refused to accept the offer because he deemed the schedule to be too busy. I appealed the decision, and the Chairman turned it down a second time. Another disregard for good corporate governance happened recently when a Trustee was selected by the Executive Committee to serve on the board of the BJU Education Group, despite the fact that this method of selection was contrary to the Education Group's Bylaws. When the Chairman learned that appointing the Trustee was a violation of the Bylaws and that the BJUEG Board of Trustees did not accept his appointment, the Chairman reacted with irritation and resistance to the decisions of the BJUEG Board.

Fourth, the Chairman has taken actions in the past few weeks to thwart the Trustees' decision in February to report a matter to the University's Title IX coordinator as required by law. This followed months of ignoring, minimizing, and delaying consideration of the issue, which arose from one Trustee's alleged public comments to an alumnus in the presence of a faculty member about whether female students' clothing and female student athletes' uniforms accentuate their "boobs and butts." The alumnus' letter of complaint to the Board also alleged that the Trustee may have taken unconsented photographs of female students. I don't know if Letter to the Board of Trustees these allegations are true or not, but our obligation was (and is) to treat them the same way we would any other such allegations, and in February, the Trustees agreed to refer the matter to the Title IX coordinator. The Chairman has recently taken the following steps to impede or obstruct this investigation:

When the University's Title IX coordinator requested relevant excerpts of Board meeting minutes, the Chairman responded eight days later by providing one set of meeting minutes that were almost entirely redacted (including any relevant discussion) and an excerpt from a single Executive Committee meeting containing two relevant sentences.

He followed up on that by sending the Title IX coordinator a four-page letter plus attachments on March 17, 2023, that did the following:

o Ordered the coordinator to suspend and postpone the inquiry and investigation until a later date;

o Falsely accused me of working secretly with Positive BJU to weaponize the Title IX process in a coup d'etat of the Chairman;

o Falsely accused the Title IX coordinator of lying to the Board;

o Complained about the Notice of Formal Complaint that the coordinator had issued as required by law; and

o Falsely accused the University's independent outside Title IX counsel of bias and conflict of interest.

I am not commenting on the merits or demerits of the Title IX claim. But, as the Trustees agreed in February, referring the matter to the Title IX coordinator to follow the normal course is the right (and legally required) thing to do. Impeding that process is not. The Chairman's recent actions place the University and the Board in a perilous position.

The current direction is not sustainable. I am walking down a dark road with no light ahead. The future of BJU requires the Chairman and the President to work together. It is not happening now, and I can't see it happening in the future. Normal communication and transparency must exist between the Chairman and the President in order for the University to function daily. Right now, things are dysfunctional, and our working relationship is irreparably broken.

Urgency demands that a decision must be made regarding the relationship between the Chairman and me if we are going to move the institutional mission forward.

Therefore, I cannot continue to work in a relationship with Dr. John Lewis as the Chairman of the Board. I serve at the pleasure of the Board, and I am willing and confident that I can continue to work with this Board, but I request that Dr. Lewis step down from his position as Chairman and off the BJU Executive Committee at or before the March 29, 2023, Board meeting, to be effective immediately.

I'm not oblivious to the effect my decision may have on the University's students, employees, and executives, but the current situation is unsustainable for the University, its mission, its personnel, and my family. If Dr. Lewis remains the Chairman or a member of the Executive Committee, I am prepared to tender my resignation as President of Bob Jones University on March 31, 2023, to be effective immediately.

Respectfully,

Steve Pettit

Dear John and Trustees,

Terry and I got home yesterday evening from our time away. I am responding briefly to the letter sent by the Chairman yesterday to make sure that the critical decision before us doesn’t get lost in a back-and-forth about the specific reasons that led me to reach the conclusion of my March 21 letter.

The bottom line, and the decision before you is this: I cannot continue to work in a relationship with Dr. John Lewis as Chairman of the Board, and I request that he step down from his position as Chairman and off the Executive Committee at or before the March 29, 2023, Board meeting. If Dr. Lewis remain the Chairman of the Board or a member of the Executive Committee, I am prepared to tender my resignation as President on March 31, 2023, to be effective immediately.

You may agree with some, all, or none of my reasons for reaching that conclusion. But either way, the fact remains: you will have to make a choice between two possible outcomes.

I pray that God will give us wisdom in the days ahead.

Respectfully,

Steve