“As for Baldwin, one could not even dignify him with the name of stuffed shirt. He was simply a hole in the air.” George Orwell

I missed this anniversary but it’s too important to let slide: On December 1, 2014, Dr. Roy Atwood unceremoniously resigned as President of New St. Andrews College. This happened in the middle of a Monday morning, in the middle of a semester, in the middle of a school year, just three weeks before Christmas, after holding the position for 20 years. Blamo. He quit. It’s almost like he was forced out. Dude woke up in Albania, which is slightly worse than the movie mogul who woke up with a horse’s head in the sack. At least he could wash the sheets. But I digress.

If we learn anything from the Presiding Ministers’ Report on the Sitler and Wight Sex Abuse Cases, we learn that Pastor Douglas Wilson of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, knows how to keep everyone in the dark — starting with his elders. In other words, it’s safe to assume that no one but Doug Wilson and Roy Atwood know why he got whacked. From NSA’s website:

Joint Public Announcement

The board of New Saint Andrews College regrets to announce that Roy Atwood is stepping down from his role as president of the college, effective immediately. He will continue to work for the College in his role as Senior Fellow, including teaching his scheduled classes and working with students. According to our board policy procedures on executive succession, Executive Vice-president Bob Hieronymus will take over as acting president until December 31st. Since Bob had already informed us that he will be leaving NSA at the end of the year, Academic Dean Ben Merkle, as per policy, will begin serving as interim president January 1st. He will serve as interim president until the president search committee identifies the next president.

The board wants to take this opportunity to honor Roy for his years of faithful service to the College, and to publicly acknowledge how much we owe to him. We know that without him, New Saint Andrews College would not be nearly so successful. Roy was instrumental in procuring our building, our accreditation and our outstanding faculty, and we owe him countless other debts that we could not begin to itemize. We thank the Lord for Roy’s and Bev’s years of service and sacrifice to the College.

At the same time, a resignation mid-year is not a trifle. Because of other recent administrative staff changes, the Board felt it needed to advance its timetable for appointing a new chief executive prior to Roy’s planned retirement at age 67. Unfortunately, because Roy is 62 and not yet in a position financially to retire at this time, he thought it best to resign, allowing the board to seek new leadership while he pursues other employment opportunities.

The members of the board and Roy esteem one another highly as conscientious Christian gentlemen. We trust that God will make fruitful this transition to new leadership in the College and for Roy’s future labors.

Please pray for us all, and we look forward to a bright future as God blesses the work of our hands.

Csaba Leidenfrost
Chairman, NSA Board of Directors

Roy A. Atwood

If you know what happened, please use the contact form.