Bad-mouth Asbury Seminary's trustees, lose $2,000
Posted November 14, 2006
Bible Belt Blogger has received a draft copy of a severance package that was rejected last month by ousted Asbury Seminary president Jeff Greenway. To get the money, Greenway had to promise not to discuss the circumstances surrounding his forced resignation with anyone besides his wife, lawyer, accountant and the person who does his taxes. He also had to promise not to bad-mouth the school's board of trustees -- ever.
Criticism would've been costly -- ending all payments and/or costing Greenway $2,000 per disparaging comment, plus attorney's fees and collection costs.
Greenway declined to accept the deal, which would have allowed him to keep his school-owned automobile, and guaranteed him a temporary financial safety net.
Under the proposal, Greenway would've been required to make "reasonable and diligent efforts to obtain other employment." The school would have paid him his old salary (minus whatever he earned elsewhere) until June 30, 2007.
Archived Comments
I do not believe God would want anything hidden.
Just tell the truth and He will forgive you, but don't forget to make resitution.
I do not know any of these folks, but light on the subject is the best thing any church group can foster.
So those creatures offered him a lucrative bribe in exchange for a legal promise to help them hide whatever it was they did to him.
Man, this stinks. Good for him that he rejected it.
Are the Asbury alumni, faculty, and staff going to stand for this sort of thing?
I read some of the blogs that described some of what happened (out of nothing more than idle curiosity). I'm sensing the possibility of an employment action. (Employers are often surprised to find they have to obey their own rules.) I hope Mr. Greenway has vigorous legal reprsentation.
frank,
firstly and most importantly, thank you for this blog!
secondly, something went haywire with this post with the font way big, especially in firefox but also in IE 7. fyi
blessings,
I agree with the above comments, but would add that the inclusion of similar language is standard in most employee severance agreements. If an employer is paying an employee to leave, one thing it has the right to expect is that it will then not be criticized by that employee.
The difference, of course, is that when one is being severed from a private corporation, it may well be nobody else's business what went on. Here, it is clearly the business of a lot of people.
I'm glad he had the financial wherewithal not to have to agree to this provision; most terminated employees do not.
Whatever happened to discretion? Is that a bad thing? It is reasonable for individuals or parties to respect one another's right to confidentiality in many matters. This is done for many reasons, not the least of which is that even facts taken out of context can create totally inaccurate impressions of what happened. There is not a universal right for everyone to know everything about everyone else!
This was a personnel matter. NO ONE has alleged any wrong doing. There were disagreements, for sure, but even reasonable people can disagree and part ways. That can often be painful, but is a part of life.
The only scandal here is that someone apparently released confidential information to the press for obviously personal reasons, without regard for the parties involved. With all due respect, Mr. Brooks comments are totally out of line. And Mr. Stephenson, no one is hiding anything from God, just from you and me, which is proper in personnel matters.
How out of line was I?
Philip, these documents are NOT confidential. The severance package is not confidential because Jeff Greenway DID NOT sign them. Therefore, anyone is free to read the proposed agreement and post it as they would like!
Asbury was on my short-list of seminaries a couple years ago. With all the problems they've had keeping administrators, I'm glad that I didn't go there. Seems pretty disfunctional to me.
I do not know any of the people involved.
But I do not believe God would not want anything hidden from the public.
He knows it all folks.
Do not take the same road as the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association by trying to cover up misdeeds.
Just tell the truth, God will forgive you and do not forget to make resitution.