# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1979_S139
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

6. HIGHER EDUCATION

To Endorse Planning Principles
of Higher Education

RESOLUTION 6-01A

Report 6-01 (CW, pp. 163—168); Overtures 6-21—
6-24, 6-28—6-29 (CW, pp. 189—191)

Preamble

The Anaheim (Res. 6-08A) and Dallas (6-06A) con-
ventions charged the Board for Higher Education with
the responsibility of bringing improved organization
and direction to the Synod’s schools of higher education.
The board responded to the assignment by involving
professional consultants and educators from both inside
and outside our church, including all of our college and
seminary presidents, together with representatives
from their Boards of Control. The result of that work
constitutes the report of the Board for Higher Education
(CW, pp. 163—168). The goal of the report is to keep the
doors of our schools open so that these institutions may
continue to be a source of blessing to our church. The
report is complex, as are the issues it faces.

The convention is being asked to endorse a set of
planning principles by which decisions facing our
church in higher education can be made. These princi-
ples would apply uniformly to all schools.

In summary, the principles include the following:

1. The determination to use all of our existing
schools to the fullest extent feasible.

2. The determination to advise and assist each
school in the development of creative programs pri-
marily for professional church workers and secondarily
for consecrated laity.

3. The determination to give high priority in terms
of financial support for full-time church-work students.

4. The determination to finance non-church-work
programs primarily from sources other than synodical
subsidy.

5. The determination to coordinate the system in
accord with the synodically prescribed responsibilities
of the Boards of Control and the Board for Higher
Education, as contained in the Bylaws of the Synod.

6. The determination not to “turn schools loose” to
pursue their independent interests.

7. The determination to utilize full and appropriate
data in making decisions that affect the individual
schools and the total system.

8. The determination to operate our system of
schools according to sound principles of fiscal man-
agement.

9. The determination to consolidate schools if the
data dictate that such action is appropriate.

Resolved, That we commend the Board for Higher
Education for its report, “God Opens Doors Through
Higher Education”; and be it further

139

A question from the floor

Resolved, That the Board for Higher Education, in
accordance with the Bylaws of the Synod, act immedi-
ately on the principles articulated in its report as
summarized above; and be it further

Resolved, That synodical subsidies be granted to
colleges and seminaries primarily for the support of
church-work students according to a formula estab-
lished and implemented by the Board for Higher Educa-
tion on approval of the Board of Directors, with support
increasing as students progress through the class levels
of each church-worker program, and with priority being
given to students preparing for the pastoral and
teaching ministries; and be it further

Resolved, That the support for general-education
students be derived from sources as outlined in the
report and where possible in consultation with the
Stewardship Department; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board for Higher Education
especially be sensitive to any ambiguities, tensions, and
overlapping of responsibilities that might arise, e.g.,
between the Board for Higher Education and Boards of
Control in acting on the planning principles; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Board for Higher Education
maintain close communication and consultation with
the Board of Directors, the Council of Administrators,
and the Advisory Council as it acts on these planning
principles; and be it further

Resolved, That at the 1981 synodical convention the
Board for Higher Education give a school-by-school
progress report on present and new programs and their
interrelationship within the system and on the overall
status of higher education of the Synod; and beit finally

Resolved, That the Synod enter with joy the doors
God opens in higher education by redoubling its efforts
to recruit for church ministries and by providing in-
creased support for its colleges and seminaries in order