The Education of David Jeffrey (in the Ottawa Citizen)

[Osoloco]

Hunter Baker, Baylor's foremost expert on every subject imaginable, graces the blogspheres with his lapdog praise of DLJ.

IMO, Baker knows nothing about cattle or hats.

David Lyle Jeffrey and Baylor: Retrospective

When I arrived at Baylor in the fall of 2003 eager to begin my doctoral work, I had little idea that I would eventually get to know the provost David Lyle Jeffrey, but I did and it was a blessing.

There were complaints from old-school Baylorites that Jeffrey put on airs or some other such nonsense. I spent time with him on a number of occasions and I can tell you that the man isn't putting on airs. When a fella has a lot of cattle, he's entitled to wear the big hat. Jeffrey wears a big hat and you know that sucker is backed up by a damn fine herd.

I'll never forget one pleasant spring afternoon when I asked Dr. Jeffrey what his favorite novel was. I'll never forget his reply, "In what language?" I knew he was a master of English literature, but hadn't realized his reportoire extended across an impressive spectrum of world languages. When I later heard he had questioned an applicant about his dissertation in the applicant's native Italian, I wasn't surprised.

But "putting on airs?" I think the expression is sometimes true of people, but sometimes reveals more about the person saying it. Whenever I was in a room with Dr. Jeffrey, I felt an intense need to be on my toes, to not say something thoughtless or stupid. It is possible some people feel threatened by that. I felt exhilarated and privileged. It pleased me to know I had a brother in the Lord who was undeniably brilliant.

I've written often on the lay of the land at Baylor, but am always on the lookout for commentary and reportage from others on the subject. This latest from the Ottawa Citizen on David Jeffrey is an outstanding piece that merits reading by any interested party. (Don't be put off by the breakdown into seven sections, just click the printer-friendly link and read away.)

(I hope that someday we'll see books and articles taking in the work of Jeffrey's predecessor Donald Schmeltekopf, as well. Schmeltekopf was pretty good at running the tightrope between pulling Baylor forward and greasing the gears at the same time. Any attempt to tell the story without him will be lacking.)

[Trader Bear]

It is amazing how someone as brilliant as Jeffrey could come up with something as stupid, to quote a former regent chair, as the A/B faculty designation.

[ybbodeus]

"At college football games, Mr. Jeffrey and his family had to sit behind a plexiglass shield with armed security staff."

Yeah, right -- someone has an enormously inflated sense of self-importance. The entire article deserves a big...

YAWN
http://www.fotosearch.com/thumb/BDX/BDX133/bxp28907.jpg

*****

So THAT'S who was in my seats every week!!!

[bauctalk]

I have read this article twice now and each time I am left shaking my head and praising the Lord that this nut job and Sloan are not running Baylor anymore. This article, by itself, shows how full of himself and out of touch DLJ was with people.

Finally, that crap about attempts on his life. I think that through all the rumors and other stuff that went on the last several years, someone would have heard of this and made it public fodder. This lie is indicative of the games that this group played.

bauc

[macviolinist]

Without some knowledge of the Bible, we can't know the basis of our laws, literature, science, or our fundamental outlook on the world, Mr. Jeffrey told the audience.

Ok, so now the Bible is a Law and a Science textbook? Or is it a History of Law and Science textbook? Is it a Literature textbook? Is it a philosophy of Weltanschauung manual? What does this statement mean?

-confused in Waco

[WacoGone]

Looks like Baylor's paying the price for a devolved-and-resolved father-son relationship here.

[Bearprof]

Finally, that crap about attempts on his life. I think that through all the rumors and other stuff that went on the last several years, someone would have heard of this and made it public fodder. This lie is indicative of the games that this group played.bauc

Exactly what I was thinking. You know that the Sloaniban would have tried to make as much out of that as possible - "Woe is us" and all of that. That article was a complete joke. Thank Heavens that we have moved on...

[BearChick]

Gosh, what a read.

FYI, I began reading at 10 months old without being taught. If DLJ was taught to read at 3 and is "brilliant", I need to figure out what that makes me.

Oh, wait. DLJ is waxing esoteric in the Honors College while I'm working on the beach with my husband. I am brilliant. And now I must go look at the waves.


(BC, rolling eyes...sheesh...)

[piratestef]

Goshdarn, I've known Canadians who think their country should just give up and become part of America. If this self-righteous attitude as shown in this article doesn't prove why Canada should be blamed for DLJ, I don't know what does. The man's apparently a product of a whole freaking country who couldn't tell humility from the hole in their bottoms!

<southpakrchourus>

BLAME CANADA!

</southparkchorus>

[virgierainie]

Some of my best friends are Canadians...

But seriously folks, is anyone drafting a letter to the Ottawa Daily Planet or whatever the paper is that published this fine piece of yellow journalism?

Goshdarn, I've known Canadians who think their country should just give up and become part of America. If this self-righteous attitude as shown in this article doesn't prove why Canada should be blamed for DLJ, I don't know what does. The man's apparently a product of a whole freaking country who couldn't tell humility from the hole in their bottoms!

<southpakrchourus>

BLAME CANADA!

</southparkchorus>

[webejamin]

jgreen@thecitizen.canwest.com


david_jeffrey@baylor.edu

Ask them both about the plexiglass. Even the former president does not have that type of security detail when he sits in the stands.

Why would the former provost of a college in Waco have more security than the former leader of the free world?

When I think of the "tire slashing" thing, the word "Munchausen" just keeps associating.
For starters, who even knows what kind of car the person in question drives/drove? (Don't 10,000 people drive cars to Baylor every day?)
Wouldn't this person who claims his tires were slashed have a parking spot in full view of about a dozen windows from his office? And about two dozen or four dozen windows of other offices facing that lot? Is this just a little silly? After all, if someone opposed to Sloan were given to tire slashing, Jeffrey 's tires would be somewhere down on the list of potential "victims." It's absurd to think of some elderly Baptist or "older" faculty member wielding a knife—and even more absurd to think of their overcoming decrepitude sufficiently to (a)stoop down and (b)sink a knife into a radial, and (c) get away in an efficent manner.

Furthermore . . . . I have something we refer to as plexiglass in my back door. Maybe Jeffrey or the Ottawa Daily Planet is confused about the properties and uses of plexiglass, but a large, determined four-year-old male with a Tonka toy could do some damage to the stuff.

And who would want to watch a Baylor game with "armed security staff"? Does Baylor employ "armed security staff" for any purpose? I can think of some people who might feel the need for protection at a BU football game, but Jeffrey is not in the top 20.

The NoZe could just publish this piece as is. With pictures. At Baylor.
Any laws prohibiting that?

[convinceme]

The NoZe could just publish this piece as is. With pictures.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ent_1999_5.jpg

*****

[Maxwell's Silver Hammer]

In case no one saw the pictures accompanying the article, here they are with the original captions:

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-964.jpg

Instead of the political wrangling needed for his former job, David Jeffrey is content wrangling three of the wild horses he's breaking in on the acreage behind his country home in Waco, Texas.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-965.jpg

No caption

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-966.jpg

Concrete slabs with scriptures in them were just one of many firestorms touched off under David Jeffrey's tenure. The students chose the scriptures, but Baylor's 'traditionalist' faculty strongly objected.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-967.jpg

Since 'getting fired' as provost of Baylor University, the size of David Jeffrey's office has been severely downgraded to a small corner space in the literature/humanities building.

[whitetrash]

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-965.jpg

No caption

The Ottawa paper has either been working on or sitting on this article for quite some time. This picture of downtown was taken before Valentine's Day (the Hippodrome marquee is advertising the Valentine's production of "Love Letters").

[Maxwell's Silver Hammer]

The Ottawa paper has either been working on or sitting on this article for quite some time. This picture of downtown was taken before Valentine's Day (the Hippodrome marquee is advertising the Valentine's production of "Love Letters").

I noticed that, too.

[webejamin]

In case no one saw the pictures accompanying the article, here they are with the original captions:

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-964.jpg

Instead of the political wrangling needed for his former job, David Jeffrey is content wrangling three of the wild horses he's breaking in on the acreage behind his country home in Waco, Texas.

Whoa, Nellie. To be "wrangling three . . . horses" among a herd of "wild horses," you'd have to be on one.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-965.jpg

No caption

Love the continuing "horsey" theme with the Hippodrome.
Is the antique shop (+ old theater) meant to suggest "oldness" and the bare branches to suggest, well, "barrenness"? (Why no rope casually attached to one of the branches?)

One would think that a story that begins on March 17 and gets published in the third week of June could come up with a green tree.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-966.jpg

Concrete slabs with scriptures in them were just one of many firestorms touched off under David Jeffrey's tenure. The students chose the scriptures, but Baylor's 'traditionalist' faculty strongly objected.

Could someone show me a "strong objection" on this? Mustamissedhit. St. Bernard may have had a problem with placing sacred words under feet and filth, or something along those lines.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...4/1852-967.jpg

Since 'getting fired' as provost of Baylor University, the size of David Jeffrey's office has been severely downgraded to a small corner space in the literature/humanities building.

"Severely downgraded"? How about the "severe" and undue "upgrading" he earlier enjoyed in office and general elevation? Looks like a freaking PALACE compared to some I have seen. Two windows??? Swell. Better than average in that building, imo. Isn't he moving anyhow? To the Collage du Sloanette Ghetto, aka HC?

[booray17]

Reading the article I got so mad, I wanted to slash his tires and pee on his son's football pads... If I could only get to him at a football game. That damn plexiglass stops me everytime.

[Tony Soprano]

At college football games, Mr. Jeffrey and his family had to sit behind a plexiglass shield with armed security staff.

I think the dumbass confused his place in the Jumbo Shrimp Suites with "behind the plexiglass" and a Baylor Jo Jo Bicycle Cop for "armed security staff".

At least he didn't declare Robby made him fetch the double parked Surburban.

[Maxwell's Silver Hammer]

Reading the article I got so mad, I wanted to slash his tires and pee on his son's football pads... If I could only get to him at a football game. That damn plexiglass stops me everytime.

[Bearprof]

This article will be BF fodder for years to come. Lots of comedy in there.

[DesiArNoze]

Is this Canadian humor that I just don't get, or is this a real newspaper?

A special security detail for a provost? A plexiglass sheild at a football game? Slashed tires and high school pranks because of the integration of faith and learning? Waco is run by klansmen?

Who in their right mind would believe this stuff?

No. This has to be a joke.

[bu75]

Can you imagine this conversation?

BU75: "Hey Trader, what's your favorite novel?"

Trader: "in what language?"

BU75: "Creole French?"

[Trader Bear]

Can you imagine this conversation?

BU75: "Hey Trader, what's your favorite novel?"

Trader: "in what language?"

BU75: "Creole French?"

In Cajun French, it would be Boudreaux and Thibodeaux Go to Town. In Creole French, it would be anything written by anyone who was drinking absinthe. That's usually the best way to read it.

[webejamin]

Can you imagine this conversation?

BU75: "Hey Trader, what's your favorite novel?"

Trader: "in what language?"

BU75: "Creole French?"

Trader: Brer Rabbit. No, King Creole.

[webejamin]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ent_1999_5.jpg

*****