SEBTS begins removing name associations with Hunt, Patterson

In a letter issued May 25, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin informed students that a process has begun to disassociate the campus from Johnny Hunt and Paige Patterson regarding buildings, programs, facilities “and other items.”

Hunt, an SEBTS graduate and longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., has his name associated with an academic chair, the school’s B.A./M.Div. program “and a variety of other things” Akin wrote in a May 23 letter addressing the “SEBTS Family,” presented one day after an extensive report by Guidepost Solutions outlined a 20-year pattern of SBC leaders downplaying or ignoring concerns from sexual abuse advocates.

Hunt resigned from his vice president position with the North American Mission Board May 13, nine days before the report presented an account of his sexually assaulting a pastor’s wife.

Akin announced he also intends to present a recommendation before the seminary’s board at its October meeting to change the name of Patterson Hall, which honors Southeastern’s former president and his wife, Dorothy. The honor was bestowed by SEBTS trustees in October 2008.

According to Guidepost investigators, Patterson mishandled rape accusations during his tenure as president at Southeastern as well as later in the same role at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.