Board Resignations, Board Support at Bryan College

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Four members of the Bryan College board of trustees have resigned, saying they’re upset with the direction that the Christian liberal arts college in Dayton, Tenn., has taken under President Stephen Livesay.

The resignations capped months of discontent on the Bryan campus brought to light by a change to the college’s 80-year-old statement of belief but fed by layoffs, dwindling enrollment and a faculty vote of no confidence in Livesay’s leadership.

Trustees Jeff Ryan, Gary Phillips, James Wolf and Mark Senter stepped down this week after adding their voices to the concerns over Livesay’s leadership, yet failing to convince the other 12 members of the board that something needed to change.

Things came to a head a week ago at an unusual board meeting.

The four men, along with a fifth trustee, Betty Ruth Seera, called the special July 11 meeting to discuss what Ryan said are “the issues and controversies and problems at Bryan College that have developed in the last year.”

Bryan College has been in open turmoil since Livesay in February amended the college’s statement of faith to say that humanity descended only from Adam and Eve. What Livesay has referred to as a clarification shocked some in the Bryan community and left out faculty and students who believe that God may have used evolution to create human beings.

The board of trustees — whose members live around the eastern United States and pay for their own travel — usually meets only twice a year: in April and October.

The closed-door conference didn’t produce the results Ryan had hoped for, and in an interview on Friday, he decried what he called “failed leadership at the level of the president and within the board itself.”

His letter of resignation explained why he felt the need to step down.

“The board majority has made it clear who the conductors are on this train and it’s time for me to step aside and allow them to carry out their vision with those who are unified behind them,” Ryan wrote. “A line has been crossed in that I cannot continue to support Dr. Livesay or [board] Chairman Haynes.”

Livesay couldn’t be reached for comment. But board of trustees Chairman Col. John Haynes issued a statement Friday. It said that during the July 11 meeting, a majority of the board supported the direction the college has taken.