October 15, 2004

Divine Intervention Helps Louisiana College Land a President; Indiana U. Bolsters Faculty of Its School of Informatics

By SARA LIPKA and DANIEL ENGBER

CALLED TO LOUISIANA: Having heard about a recent period of dissent and distrust at Louisiana College, a Baptist liberal-arts college in central Louisiana, Malcolm B. Yarnell III considered himself a "reluctant" candidate for its presidency.

But he accepted the position anyway. "I became convinced that the Lord wanted me to do this," he says. "He doesn't always call us to comfort."

Last March, William Rory Lee, then president of the college, announced his resignation -- just