Dr. Tommy French, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Louisiana College has said, “It’s time to bring clarity, finality, and the absolute truth to the issues and hearsay surrounding Louisiana College. Our President, Dr. Joe Aguillard, has been vetted and completely exonerated. It’s time for the facts to come out to restore the reputation of Louisiana College, the Board of Trustees, and President Aguillard.
Following the Louisiana College Board of Trustees Investigative Committee and full Board of Trustees denials of his complaints against the President, Quarles immediately left the College for employment at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. It is unknown if the seminary is aware of all of the rejections of Quarles' complaints against the President.
After reviewing all of the evidence, Quarles’ complaint that the President created statements that were inaccurate regarding donor approval of funding for a future $10 Million Divinity School building, sharing that facility with the future Law School, and for funding the College’s mission work in Tanzania, Africa were denied. Further, Quarles stated that he never "personally heard the donor make a formal commitment to build the proposed facility", and "No such gift had been pledged." In addition, Quarles also complained that he had no knowledge of donor plans to support mission work in Tanzania, Africa, including stating that the donors never "approved use of their gift to underwrite an extension of the College in Tanzania."
Quarles' assertions were all rejected, with documentation provided by the College supporting the President’s innocence and multiple published statements made by Quarles himself to the College, media, and others which he attributed to the donors. But, he [Quarles] was, in fact, the person who made the numerous claims regarding the Divinity School and the African mission work. All of the groups examined Quarles' contradictory written statements to the College that include:
1. October 4, 2011 Quarles’ email, "[The donor] confirmed that they have changed their mind about previous 'no brick and mortar' commitment. They are willing to fund the facility that we need and want the overage given each year to go to such a facility. He asked us to put together architectural plans and rough estimates of building costs for November [7] meeting. Shall I contact [the architect] and get him moving forward or is that someone else's responsibility?"
2. October 4, 2011 Quarles' email, "[Donor] approved use of Caskey funds for me to take an exploratory trip to Tanzania. He wants a formal presentation on the Tanzania opportunity in November. When can we meet with [Tanzanian Missionary]? Would you like [secretary] to work to set up a meeting ASAP?"
3. November 3, 2011 Quarles' emailforward to President Aguillard:Subject: FW: LC Caskey School of Divinity-Conceptual drawings and Cost Estimate, [$10 million building with complete conceptual architectural renderings per Quarles' specifications]
4. November 4, 2011 Quarles' email: "Everything is planned and prepared for Monday [meeting with donors] with one exception. I haven't put together a formal proposal for Tanzania. I am thinking that the [donors] are slowly processing that opportunity and that a formal and detailed proposal would probably be premature. At this stage, I think that the critical thing is to explain why we are convinced that God is drawing us to a focused ministry in Tanzania, both as a college and a Divinity School. My thought is that you can discuss the history of the relationship and why the ministries of our college in general are needed and I can speak specifically about the need for theological training."
5. December 9, 2011, Quarles' email: "The Donor Foundation has verbally agreed to fund the construction of a new 10 million dollar facility for the Caskey School of Divinity pending an anticipated increase in receipts."
6. March 12, 2012, Quarles' official report to Donor Foundation: "Dr. Aguillard and I traveled to Tanzania at the end of February to meet with the President and to receive the gift of over 400 acres of land for Louisiana College-Tanzania. We look forward to launching our ministries there soon. Among the personnel that we seek to add to the Divinity School staff this fall is a missions professor who will also serve as Director of Overseas Endeavors. This professor will take care of the logistics for our students' cross-cultural mission trips and make preparations for a training program for pastors and church planters in Tanzania."
7. March 19, 2012, Quarles report to Board of Trustees, Integration of Faith and Learning Committee: "Dr. Aguillard and I traveled to Tanzania at the end of February to meet with the President and to receive the gift of over 400 acres of land for Louisiana College-Tanzania. We look forward to launching our ministries there soon. Among the personnel that we seek to add to the Divinity School staff this fall is a missions professor who will also serve as Director of Overseas Endeavors. This professor will take care of the logistics for our students' cross-cultural mission trips and make preparations for a training program for pastors and church planters in Tanzania."
8. March 19, 2012, Quarles reported to the Board of Trustees, Integration of Faith and Learning Committee: That [Quarles] had submitted the legal documents which he assisted in creating verifying the new Louisiana College Tanzania, Non-Governmental Organization, of which Quarles is a charter member.
9. March 29, 2012, without the President's knowledge, Quarles published an official document on the LC website to Louisiana College and on behalf of the Foundation donors, “Our generous donors have now agreed to fully fund . . .an extension of the Caskey School of Divinity in Tanzania."
10. August 15, 2012 Quarles’ email to Baton Rouge Advocate: “The foundation that has underwritten the costs of the Divinity School has reviewed proposals for a new permanent site for the school. The foundation was enthusiastic about the proposals and has agreed to fund construction of the facility.”
11. August 24, 2012, Quarles personally gave an official report following the meeting that he and the President had with the donors, to the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees: "We [President Aguillard and I] explained to them [Caskey donors] that because of the fact that the big program of the Caskey School of Divinity is the Pastoral Ministry Program, which is a Friday-Saturday program, except for Orientation doesn't begin until . . . . . afternoon. As long as the Law School courses were structured so they were out of the building by noon Friday that we could share the classrooms and be good stewards of the investment that they've made in Louisiana College and the Caskey School. . . . . But, they are committed to being good stewards of the space that they previously committed to and sharing the classroom facilities with the two Schools." (Audio recording of report on file.)
12. December 4, 2012 Board of Trustees Meeting, Transcription of President’s announcement of donor’s decision not to provide for ‘brick and mortar’, “So…we don’t need to go out and say that we’re building that 10 million dollar building . . . because at this point, that is not in their written affirmation. “ (Chuck Quarles and Tim Johnson were both present for the announcement only days before they filed allegations that President Aguillard never shared this with the Board of Trustees.)
13. December 7, 2012 President Aguillard mailed the actual redacted October 17, 2012 letter that he had received from the donor to each member of the Board of Trustees)
14. April 30, 2013, following the Board Meeting, Chairman Gene Lee quoted for the Board of Trustees at a public press conference, "After a long and thorough investigation the Board has exonerated Dr. Aguillard of all allegations that were brought forward in the whistleblower complaints. Concluding the vote, the Board led by Chairman Gene Lee circled the President laying hands on him in prayer for love and unity.”
With the exception of former Board of Trustees Chairman Gene Lee, all of the investigative groups found Quarles’ assertions to be false. Documentation proves that the former chair, Lee, withheld vital information in his report to the Board of Trustees that completely exonerated the President. Former chairman, Gene Lee, was actually present for the Quarles' report to the Executive Committee on August 24, 2012 when Quarles detailed to the Committee that the donors had assured him and the President a few days previous that they had indeed agreed to build the building and share the new building space with the law school. Lee's report also withheld that information from the Board of Trustees..
In retrospect, President Aguillard has been fully exonerated by four groups:
· The LC Board of Trustees Investigative Committee on April 19, 2013, and
· The LC Board of Trustees on April 30, 2013, and
· The Louisiana College Administrative Council, Faculty Advisory Committee, and The Administrative Cabinet, and
· The LC Board of Trustees again on July 22, 2013 in their formal rejection of the Gene Lee report on Quarles’ complaints, stating that the Lee report was an inaccurate and biased investigation report.
Dr. Argile Smith, Executive Vice President and Vice President of Integration of Faith and Learning stated, "The faculty, staff, and students, have been so supportive through this journey. Our President has shown us how to work through a crisis with the kind of integrity that comes from a resilient relationship with Christ. Now that the crisis is behind us, Louisiana College can get back to fulfilling our mission, ‘to change the World for Christ!’”.
“Louisiana College is focused on moving past the Calvinism coup and strategically addressing her mission, of bringing every lost soul to Christ as we strive to fulfill our Mission", President Aguillard said. Dr.Tommy French, Chairman of the Board of Louisiana College stated, “The Board of Trustees is thrilled at the SACS Reaffirmation in December, 2013 and looks forward to the bright future as our President leads Louisiana College to fulfill her mission.”
