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Support Our Trustees

An editorial appearing in Furman's student newspaper, The Paladin, dated October 26, 1963, written in support of the Furman Board of Trustees' recently approved resolution that Furman University consider applications for admission from all qualified applicants. The writer is in support of acting on the Trustee's resolution the next semester, and is against a resolution by the General Board of the South Carolina Baptist convention requesting a delay.

Support Our Trustees -- It is evident that the General Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention disagrees with the Convention's faith in the trustees of Furman. The Furman trustees are directed by the Baptist Convention to operate Furman to the best of their wisdom and ability and in the best interests of education generally and for the training of religious leaders. The trustees, supposedly acting on their wisdom and judgment, recently adopted a resolution authorizing the Furman administration to admit all qualified applicants. The General Board met last week and adopted a resolution proposing that the Convention ask the Furman trustees to delay their action on the new admission policy until a state-wide policy can be developed. Judging from past action of the Convention, the Furman trustees' resolution will be raked over the coals. The final result of the vote is about as unpredictable as the campus weather. The Convention should see fit to adopt the trustees' resolution and allow the new admissions policy to become effective with the next semester or the next academic year. Furman's continuing progress in the academic world should not be curtailed for the sake of other Baptist institutions which don't have as much foresight as Furman. The adoption of the new admissions policy would be an affirmation of the Convention's faith in the Furman trustees and would allow the trustees to fulfill the responsibilities conferred on them by the Convention.