Shorter College to cut ties with Southern Baptists

ROME - The Shorter College board of trustees Friday voted to sever ties with the Georgia Baptist Convention following a dispute over whether the board members must be selected by the church. <br> <br> The board voted to pursue recovery of $9 million in school money frozen by the convention, which is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. <br> <br> Ed Schrader, president of the 2,100-student school, said legal action would be ``a last straw.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``I&#39;m relieved that the uncertainty is over, but I continue to be sad that two Christian groups have not been able to settle their issues without going to extremes,&#39;&#39; Schrader said. <br> <br> He said Shorter will continue to maintain its Baptist heritage though it is no longer formally tied to the convention. <br> <br> J. Robert White, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention, issued a statement saying the church ``has contributed more than $26 million to Shorter College over the last 43 years. <br> <br> ``It is the continuing desire of the convention to share the relationship that the Georgia Baptist Convention and Shorter College have enjoyed.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Convention leaders say that ``only committed Baptists&#39;&#39; should serve as Baptist college trustees and only the convention should select them. They&#39;re also concerned that more secular boards fail to rein in professors who attack fundamental Baptist doctrines such as biblical infallibility. <br> <br> Leaders of Shorter said they must have control over electing their trustees to preserve the college&#39;s accreditation and academic prestige. <br> <br> After the dispute erupted a year ago, the convention froze the $9 million it had allocated to Shorter, which included $8 million for capital improvements and endowment programs. <br> <br> The convention had been regularly contributing about $1.5 million to Shorter about 7 percent of Shorter&#39;s $21 million annual budget. <br> <br> The controversy is the latest battle in an ideological struggle between conservative and moderate Baptists. <br> <br> At least seven Baptist colleges, including Furman University in South Carolina and Baylor University in Texas, have cut ties to the Southern Baptist Convention in the past decade because they feared a conservative takeover. <br> <br> Macon-based Mercer University has a charter that gives it more autonomy.