A Texas Baptist History Sourcebook: A Companion to McBeth's Texas Baptists

Chapter 5. DIVIDED WE STAND, 1868 - 1886

110 5.1 Baylor University vs. Waco University Texas Baptists have always wanted a proper education for their students on Texas soil. With the birth of Baylor University at Independence in 1845, Texas Baptists had a school that they could call their own. Due to frequent differences between Baylor President R. C. Burleson and Horace Clark, the principal of the Female Department, over institutional control, Baptist education braced itself for a major schism. The Board of Trustees apparently sided with Clark, and Burleson promptly resigned his presidency. William Carey Crane was named his successor. Burleson then accepted the presidency of the fledgling Waco University. Not only did Burleson leave Baylor, but he also brought the entire faculty and senior class with him to Waco. With this turn of events, Baylor University and Waco University were thrown into a perpetual rivalry. The situation became more acute when the Baptist General Association officially adopted Waco University in 1868. Baylor at Independence, however, remained loyal to the Baptist State Convention. These associational alliances placed even a greater strain on Texas Baptist denominational unity. These problems, however, find their origin in the Burleson-Clark imbroglio. A. Burleson’s Charges against Clark First. Prof. Clark has grieved me personally. He publicly, on the night of the 17th instant, charged me with being the cause of dissensions and party strife in the church at Independence. C H A P T E R 5 Divided We Stand, 1868–1886 Second. He has grieved me by reviving a matter fully settled by the Board of Trustees. Third. In reviving this matter, that was thought to be settled and buried forever, he has revived a letter casting upon me the imputation of insincerity and hypocrisy, and charging my family and friends with crimes that make “one sick at heart.” Fourth. He has treated my wife and myself with disrespect, in not allowing the daughters of my friends and brethren to meet a few select friends at my house. Fifth. I am grieved with him for using language in a speech before the young ladies, during the school hours, calculated to prejudice their minds against me, which he should either prove, or withdraw as publicly as made. Sixth. He has grieved me as a member of the Faculty in violating the solemn promise we made to the Board of Trustees not to interfere with the management of the respective departments committed to our care. He has thus interfered in vindicating and endorsing the course of Judge Wheeler in his resignation as head of the law department of Baylor University, and opening a law school in Brenham. Respectfully submitted, Rufus C. Burleson Source: Burleson to the Baylor Board of Trustees, 29 June 1860, cited in Mrs. Georgia Burleson, The Life and Writings of Rufus C. Burleson (Waco: By the author, 1901), 216–17. B. Clark’s Charges against Burleson First. I feel grieved with Brother Burleson for compelling me to arise in a religious assembly to reply to what I, and others, conceived to be a personal attack upon me. Second. I feel grieved with him in permitting a disrespectful demonstration toward me on the part of students of the male department. Third. I feel aggrieved with him for permitting to be circulated certain letters written to him personally many years ago for the purpose of inviting a reconciliation, and which was used not in accordance with its spirit and tenor, but in such a way as to place me in the attitude of an aggressor. BAYLOR UNIVERSITY VS. WACO UNIVERSITY ⁄ 111 112 ⁄ DIVIDED WE STAND, 1868–1886 Fourth. I feel aggrieved with him for publicly making disparaging remarks against the female department. Fifth. I feel aggrieved with him for not being willing to submit our differences to the arbitration of mutual friends. Sixth. I feel aggrieved with him for not manifesting a willingness to settle them upon a basis which I conceive to be mutually honorable. Respectfully submitted, Horace Clark Source: Clark to the Baylor Board of Trustees, 29 June 1860, cited in Mrs. Georgia Burleson, The Life and Writings of Rufus C. Burleson (Waco: By the author, 1901), 215–16. 5.2. Waco University Begins to Thrive—Baylor Declines Due to the central location of Waco, the powerful presence of R. C. Burleson and B. H. Carroll, and the fact that the new railroad would have a large station in Waco, Waco University held several advantages over...