A Withdrawal And Retraction
Mr. Roy E. Cogdill
Editor Bible Banner
Lufkin, Texas
Dear Brother Cogdill:
I am sending an article which I would like to have in as early issue of the Bible Banner as possible. If you can't get it in the next one please insert a note that it is coming out. I think this article is self explanatory.
Faithfully,
L. W. Mayo
Porterfield, California
A copy has gone to the Firm Foundation. L. W. M.
In the Firm Foundation March 2, 1948 there occurred an article by this writer under the heading "My Findings At George Pepperdine College". That article was written as a result of the exchanging of several letters, a telephone conversation, and a visit to George Pepperdine campus. I had heard so many criticisms of the school I felt it my duty to go to these brethren, believing them to be honest, and talk these things over. My object was to save the school, in the eyes of the brotherhood, if at all possible. It was my desire to hear both sides of the matter before I reached any definite conclusion. The truth was my main object and not to please any man or group of men living. I believe that the members of the George Pepperdine Faculty would testify that my deportment in our conversations was humble and characterized by an earnest desire to have the real facts. After I had spent a few days on the campus I returned to Winslow, Arizona, (my home at that time) and wrote the article which Brother Showalter gave editorial recognition as it appeared on page nine of the March 2 issue. (For that consideration I am grateful).
Lest someone should think that I failed to give the information just as I got it at George Pepperdine College I wish to state that after I had written that article it was sent to Brother W. B. West Jr. and it was checked, corrected slightly in a place or two (these corrections not changing the tenor of the article) then retyped and mailed back to me with an expression of gratitude for the contents. In other words, it became an expression of George Pepperdine College with my name signed to it. I have letters from W. B. West, Ralph Wilburn, E. V. Pullias, Hugh M. Tiner, and George Pepperdine commending me for the article.
Several have been the times that I have taken the part of the school when some one would attack it in my presence, but, as I wrote Bro. West I only wanted to do so by being able to tell the truth.
My knowledge of accusations against the school was not very broad at the time of the investigation. That is many of the things that have come out since the lecture program I knew nothing about whatever. It, therefore, must be concluded that I did not investigate those items. It is also true that, in the meantime, I have tried my best to get the brethren at the head of the school to invite a full, open, fair, and public investigation of all those charges. My recommendations have been to find all the error possible and to fire whoever was guilty of the error and clean up in general. Also I felt that I must warn them that unless they would stand back of the things they told me, as they appeared in my former article, that I would be forced (and I do not mean by the pressure of brethren but by what I found out to be the truth) to retract my former article and withdraw my moral support from the school. Every letter has suggested that they did not think that it was wise. Ralph Wilburn said that he would submit to an open investigation if the officials wished to call one. Brother Pepperdine suggested that he was not convinced that one would do any good. Brethren West, Pullias and Tiner thought the matter to be "unwise".
The reasoning that my letters to them on the matter has carried with them is this. "The Brotherhood is certain to turn against you everywhere, if indeed they have not already. When such has been done all of your students will be drawn from the outside. A large portion of them will learn that the church no longer respects you and then they (the students) will either disrespect the school or the Church—the truth is they will disrespect the Church for which Christ died—It is too much—you cannot afford to let such come to pass—you must have the investigation". So far this appeal has done no good whatever. Also this line of reasoning was advanced to them. "You know how that the school started by Bro. McGarvey and Alexander Campbell drifted off. You must beware lest this school do the same". I might as well have saved that breath also. Everything that I have done in the matter was done because I see the possibilities of an institution with the assets that George Pepperdine College has. I could not see why the two million dollars George Pepperdine has spent on that campus should be spent in vain. I can't see why a school could not be so accredited as to confer a doctor's degree and still be sound as the proverbial silver dollar.
My effort to save the school has gone much further than I have stated in this article but to no avail. It is my conviction that any man or group of men should be ready, willing, and anxious to have their teachings investigated fully and also to correct any error that may appear in the investigation. The man who will not submit to a full investigation admits his guilt at least to a great degree. This final statement comes as a result of study, gathering information, meditation, and earnest prayer. It is hard to make (not because of the mistake in the former article, because any one should be glad to correct a mistake, but because it is hard to think that brethren in whom I placed my confidence evidently betrayed me and will not stand publicly behind what they told me in private). I wish here and now to RETRACT my article of March 2, 1948 in the Firm Foundation and to announce that I have WITHDRAWN every form of fellowship with George Pepperdine College. I further recommend that brethren should not trust their sons and daughters with them in school, for if they were not honest with me for just a few days and would not stand behind what they told me in those few days how can they be trusted with the next generation of the Church of our Lord for four years. If they led me wrong in a few days how far could they lead some one in four years? I also wish to apologize to Brother John F. Wolfe, who wrote an article in the Bible Banner, "What I Found at Pepperdine", of which my article stood (not intended by me) as a rival. I believe that every preacher, group of elders and church leaders over the land should notify them that they will not support them till this matter is cleared up.