Ouachita Baptist University has been a second home for so many, including faculty who have dedicated decades of their lives to teaching and nurturing students in a faith-based environment dedicated to academic excellence. However, recent developments have jeopardized that sense of community and academic freedom we hold dear.

A new requirement has been instated by President Ben Sells and the board of trustees: all faculty and staff must sign a mandatory loyalty statement to the Southern Baptist Convention’s agenda. This mandate directly threatens to drive away dozens of treasured faculty members and immediate consequences are already being felt. Beloved theatre arts  professor, Eric Philips, who has taught with passion and dedication for decades, has announced his departure due to this policy. Our fear is that he will not be the last. This decision threatens not just individual careers, but the very fabric of what makes our university exceptional.

The implementation of this statement  changes faculty requirements from religious to political and it narrows the diverse yet Christ aligned viewpoints of faculty members. Furthermore, this statement asks hundreds of wonderful people employed by OBU to choose between their livelyhoods and their personal beliefs. This is not the Ouachita Baptist University that we know and love. This is discrimination and segregation of denominations.

In order to preserve the integrity and reputation of Ouachita Baptist University, we call upon  President Ben Sells and the board of trustees to immediately rescind the mandatory loyalty statement set to take effect this fall. We urge them to foster an environment where those who truly care do not feel threatened and can continue their carriers doing what they love.

Thousands of students, both past and present, owe their successes to the faculty's guidance and support, none of which should be overshadowed by such an overreach. Let us not allow this mandate to drive away the educators who have and will continue to shape the future minds and leaders of our world.

We are reaching out to alumni, current students, faculty, staff, and supporters of Ouachita Baptist University to stand with us in protest against this requirement. Please join us in signing this petition to show your support for our professors and for the values that our university should uphold. Not the ones we will soon be forced to.