A Letter I Plan to Send

To Gregory Alan Thornbury

President, The King’s College

56 Broadway

New York, NY 10004

Dear President Thornbury,

My name is Stanley Rice. I am a professor of Biological Sciences at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. I am also the president of the Oklahoma Academy of Science. I was a faculty member at The King’s College from 1987-1990, at which time I chose to leave for other employment (I was not asked to leave). I was a sabbatical replacement, then a temporary instructor, then an assistant professor of biological sciences.

I wish to express my disappointment with the way King’s, a supposedly Christian college, prostituted itself to the Republican Party, as well as some relief that, with your appointment as president, a more theological and less political direction seems to have been restored. From what has been in the news, it appears that the only thing that was important, from the viewpoint of the administration and governing board of King’s, was that a faculty or staff member adhere zealously to the Republican Party. This was particularly evident in the case of your former president, Dinesh D’Souza, who apparently considered himself exempt from the laws of both man and God as he broke the civil law regarding campaign contributions and God’s moral law regarding faithfulness. While King’s could not have known about his utter disregard for personal morality when D’Souza was hired, it was clear even long before he became the president of King’s that he believed he could say anything he wanted, regardless of fact or evidence, against Democrats, especially President Obama, and that God would approve of it. While this may not be what you intended, the message that the outside world gets from this is that D’Souza was acceptable as your leader merely because he is a zealous Republican, and that, for King’s, Christianity is merely a disguise for rabid political conservatism. Previous presidents of King’s (I was there during the administration of Friedhelm Radandt) were not famous conservative zealots but were more interested in education as, it appears, you are. At the time I worked at King’s, I felt uncomfortable with this switching of Republicanism with Christianity, and now I am completely ashamed of it. Just be assured that the outside world does not deride The King’s College for being Christian, but for being unchristian.

During my time at King’s, I knew some truly outstandingly good individuals, most notable of whom was Dr. Wayne Frair. But even these fine individuals got caught up in the continual warring factions that eventually led to the 1994 temporary closure of the college.

When King’s should prove ready to heed the call of the prophets, ancient and modern, to care more about the poor than the rich, and to care about the earth, as commanded in Exodus, and to behold the lilies of the field, as Jesus did, then let me know. I would be happy to circulate your response to those who read my writings.

Sincerely,

Dr. Stanley Rice