Dear Signatories of BASE (Biola Alumni Standing for Equality),

The BASE team (Dr. Jacob Daniel, Logan Zeppieri, Claudia Kalmikov, and Anthony Costello) wants to again thank you for your support of this petition. Below is Dr. Barry Corey's response to our previous e-mail. This response was sent on August 11th, 2020. More updates are soon to follow.

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August 11, 2020

Dear Mr. Costello and BASE Petition Leaders,

I want to thank you again for your concern for the fidelity of Biola's mission, especially as it relates to the concerning and unbiblical foundation to critical theory and critical race theory. Our ongoing work as leaders is to continue guiding the university in these current cultural waters with a gospel-centered faithfulness.

The letter Professor Rae and I sent to you a few weeks ago laid out what we believe to be our response to your petition and the way we are moving forward. I know you have also had conversations with Professors Rae and Williams as well as Dean Schubert, so I want to assure you that your voices have been heard.

As alumni, you will see in the coming weeks and months statements from me and other leaders that I trust will assure our students, our graduates, our donors, our parents, our friends and our observers that we are not veering from our time-honored biblical mission. In our decisions and declarations, I along with the Board of Trustees and the university’s leadership are committed to steering the university toward a faithful future. So thank you again for raising your voices. 

You should be aware that as we seek to listen prayerfully to concerns about our university, in the current administration and—to the best of my knowledge—in previous administrations the university has taken a posture not to meet and negotiate action steps with groups that initiate petitions, list demands and give timelines. In line with this long-standing practice, I will not be participating in conversations with any of the various petitioners.

I understand this approach may mean that you will continue to keep your petition public. Though I wish this were not the case and that you would trust our existing structures of governance to make wise and missional decisions, the ongoing status of the petition is up to you.

My hope and prayer is that you will see over time that Biola continues to lead faithfully and courageously into the headwinds of culture as a university grounded in the truths of the historic Christian faith.

Thank you again for your thoughtful and prayerful commitment to the missional faithfulness of Biola University.

In Christ,

Dr. Barry Corey