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Bob Jones University

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Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University Logo (Trademark of BJU)
MottoPetimus Credimus
TypePrivate
Established1927
PresidentStephen Jones
Undergraduates3,592
Postgraduates600
Location
Greenville
,
South Carolina
,
United States
CampusSuburban
225 acres (911,000 m²)
Websitehttp://www.bju.edu/

Bob Jones University (BJU) is a private, unaccredited, non-denominational, Christian Protestant Fundamentalist, liberal arts university located in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1927 by Bob Jones, Sr., an evangelist and revival-preacher, it is the largest private liberal arts university in South Carolina. The university is a candidate for accreditation with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. The University has a reputation as one of the most strongly conservative and religious schools in the USA.

The current president of the University is Stephen Jones, son of previous school president Bob Jones III and the first president of the University not named "Bob Jones." The university enrolls approximately 5000 students representing every state and 43 foreign countries, and employs a staff of 1,800. It offers degrees in 126 majors, plus additional schools from kindergarten through 12th grade.

BJU’s mission statement reads: Within the cultural and academic soil of liberal arts education, Bob Jones University exists to grow Christlike character that is Scripturally disciplined; others-serving; God-loving; Christ-proclaiming; and focused Above.


Creed

Students at BJU recite the University Creed at chapel services four days a week and at the worship service on Sunday morning.

I believe in the inspiration of the Bible (both the Old and the New Testaments); the creation of man by the direct act of God; the incarnation and virgin birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; His identification as the Son of God; His vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind by the shedding of His blood on the cross; the resurrection of His body from the tomb; His power to save men from sin; the new birth through the regeneration by the Holy Spirit; and the gift of eternal life by the grace of God.

History

Established in 1927 by evangelist Bob Jones Sr., Bob Jones University moved to Cleveland, Tennessee in 1933, and to its present campus in Greenville, South Carolina in 1947. The former Cleveland, Tennessee campus currently serves as the home for Lee University operated by the Church of God, which has its headquarters in the same town.


Academics

The University is composed of six colleges and schools that offer over 125 undergraduate majors. Among these majors are fourteen "trade school" programs that range from aircraft management to cosmetology. Classes are also offered by correspondence and through the University's live, interactive satellite system.

The University is currently a candidate for accreditation through the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools[1], an accrediting body exclusively involved in granting accreditation to Christian colleges.

BJU also operates the Bob Jones University Press, one of the two major publishers of curriculum for K-12 fundamentalist Christian schools in America (the other being A Beka Books, which is affiliated with Pensacola Christian College).



Controversies

Segregation

From its 1927 founding until 1971, African Americans were prohibited from enrolling. From 1971 to 1975, only married blacks were permitted to apply to the school. After the 1975 court decision of McCrary v. Runyon, which prohibited racial exclusion from private schools, the policy was changed.

Interracial Dating

Interracial dating between Asians and Caucasians was prohibited at the university starting in the 1950's. And, after being forced to integrate following McCrary v Runyon in 1975, BJU adopted more detailed disciplinary rules prohibiting interracial dating or marriage. According to the rules:

There is to be no interracial dating.
  1. Students who are partners in an interracial marriage will be expelled. [461 U.S. 574, 581]
  2. Students who are members of or affiliated with any group or organization which holds as one of its goals or advocates interracial marriage will be expelled.
  3. Students who date outside of their own race will be expelled.
  4. Students who espouse, promote, or encourage others to violate the University's dating rules and regulations will be expelled."

The school lost its Internal Revenue Service tax exemption in 1980 because of its anti-interracial dating policy. The school appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the school met the criteria for tax-exempt status on several counts, including that the school's racial discrimination was based on sincerely held religious beliefs. During the appeals process, the United States district court for South Carolina ruled in favor of the university, in part based on the sincerity of the university's religious belief, which the U.S. Supreme Court's final ruling summarizes as follows [461 US 574, footnote 28]:

The District Court found, on the basis of a full evidentiary record, that the challenged practices of petitioner Bob Jones University were based on a genuine belief that the Bible forbids interracial dating and marriage.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan supported the school's tax exempt status, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the IRS in 1983 (see Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574) and the school does not intend to seek tax-exempt status again.

In 2000, following a national uproar prompted by the visit of presidential candidate George W. Bush, the policy was dropped entirely after some experimentation with a policy of parental consent for interracial dating.

Today, Bob Jones University claims that the Interracial Dating Policy was a product of a (1950s) legal threat on the part of the parents of a male Asian student who threatened legal action after learning that their son "nearly married" a white girl [2].

Science

BJU offers majors in Biology, Physics and Chemistry. However, the division of natural sciences has only 10 PhDs in these three fields, six of whom received their undergraduate and/or graduate training at Bob Jones.

The BJU biology department proclaims its support for creationism. Its Department of Biology's website states: Although Bob Jones University is primarily a teaching institution, the members of the science faculty have a long tradition of speaking, writing, and doing research related to defending the Bible's account of creation.[3] However, BJU's biology department has yet to produce a single research study presented in any peer-reviewed journal of science in defense of creationism. However, Dr. Joe Henson, the chairman emeritus of the Natural Science division, has published papers such as "Are Believers subject to Demonic Attack," "Are we Aware of Satan's Devices," and "Consciousness Alteration: Satan's Goal for Believers." [4]

Bob Jones University does not offer majors or minors in Astronomy, Archeology, Anthropology or Geology. In fact, BJU does not offer coursework in Anthropology, Archeology or Geology, and offers only one course in Astronomy. Additionally, BJU offers a major in History, but does not offer any coursework related to the preColumban Americas or to any other civilization who's existence contradicts Young Earth Creationism.

King James Bible

The University officially prefers to use the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, but it disassociates itself from those who insist that the KJV is the only acceptable English translation, or further, that it was "inspired" in a sense similar to the inspiration of the Bible's original manuscripts.

Anti-Catholicism

The school is also known for its strong connection to the anti-Catholicism movement in Northern Ireland, and anti-Catholic movements in general.

Homophobia

The school's attitude toward gay and lesbian people has often caused outrage. In 1998, Wayne Mouritzen, a gay, 60-year-old alumnus, wrote seeking permission to come back to visit the school. The dean of students wrote back: With grief we must tell you that as long as you are living as a homosexual, you, of course, would not be welcome on the campus and would be arrested for trespassing if you did. We take no delight in that action. Our greatest delight would be in your return to the Lord. [5]

Extracurriculars

The University has intramural sports programs in many different fields including soccer, basketball, softball, track, volleyball, tennis, badminton, and table tennis. The highlight of the sports season is the Turkey Bowl, where the top two societies (the University's version of fraternities and sororities) compete in a soccer match before the Thanksgiving Break.

The University also competes in intercollegiate debate in the National Educational Debate Association and from time to time places very highly in their competitions.

Literary societies are a unique aspect of the university. The University requires all incoming freshman students to join a society. The first week of classes is known as "Rush Week," where each society sets up a tent and persuades freshmen to join his society. Alpha Omega Delta, known simply as "Omega", is one of the more notable societies, as in function it is similar to a fraternity. There are now over a dozen of the societies. The societies are exclusive social groups that field sports teams, hold regular Friday meetings, and have an optional Wednesday prayer meeting. Additionally, the societies feature debate teams that debate in an intramural league. The Scholastic Bowl is an intersociety elimination contest featuring trivia questions from a wide range of subjects.

Achievements

Bob Jones, Jr., son of the founder, had an interest in art depicting scenes from the Bible, especially those which had a highly illustrative nature rather than those relying on symbols. He began collecting after World War II, and concentrated on Italian Baroque painters. This style was out of favour in the mid-20th century and the works were relatively inexpensive, and Jones built up an important collection with the help of his traveling companion, the present Museum and Gallery (M&G) curator. He donated his paintings to a museum at the University. The BJU Museum & Gallery is said to be "one of the world's largest and most important university art collections" [7].


Rules for students

Bob Jones has a notably strict series of rules governing life while at the university. [8][9][10] As previously described, some of the rules have been retracted for various reasons throughout the school's history. The school asserts that its rules are in line with several other Fundamentalist Christian universities.

Christianity Today has argued that BJU focuses on rules rather than principles, saying that, "a recent BJU handbook prohibits students from promoting Calvinism or Arminianism, speaking in tongues, wearing beards, and listening to music recorded after 1960." (BJU does not forbid its students to listen to music recorded after the 1960s. The University choral and instrumental groups perform contemporary music, and SoundForth, BJU’s recording label, regularly releases CDs containing music composed in the twenty-first century.) According to the Boston Globe, BJU has a reputation for stringent rules even among other Christian colleges:

If you ask a student at non-fundamentalist evangelical schools like Wheaton in Illinois or Gordon in Wenham, Mass, what they think of Bob Jones, you will get looks of horror far worse than you'll get from secular kids — along with questions about whether Bob Jones really has separate pink and blue sidewalks for men and women. [11]

One college administrator has stated that the institution's unchanging ways are like "stroking the cat in the wrong direction." [12]

While all these rules are based on the opinions of BJU, one rule directly mentions a specific company in relation to BJU dress code. According to BJU, students are prohibited from wearing any clothing displaying logos from Abercrombie & Fitch and its subsidiary Hollister due to what BJU perceives as "antagonism to the name of Christ" and "wickedness" in their advertising.

General rules

  • Curfew is at 10:25 pm and all lights must be out by 12 am. BJU says this curfew aids safety for students and also helps to ensure that they get some needed sleep while they are at college.
  • Residence Hall Students are required to sign out when they leave campus, largely as a measure of safety. This rule does not apply to students with Junior and Senior privileges, who are free to leave without signing out between the hours of 7 am and 7 pm.
  • Unfiltered wireless internet access via computer, mobile phone, or satellite phone is prohibited. The university provides content-filtered Wi-fi service for student use. The filter blocks pornography and other "objectionable content."
  • Students are provided with an individual email account which is filtered through the campus email system to prevent questionable content. This filtered email system is consistent with the practice of many major banks and other businesses.
  • DVD/VCRs are not allowed in residence halls; DVD players as part of computer systems cannot be used for watching films. Televisions may be used only as monitors for video game consoles.
  • Students in residence halls are not allowed to watch any films with a rating higher than a G rating when visiting local homes and are forbidden from visiting cinemas. Additionally, students are not permitted to play, use, or own video games that are rated T, M, or Ao, or that have any kind of profanity, sensual or suggestive dress, rock music, blood and gore, or demonic themes.
  • The University has strict rules regarding music: Country, Jazz, New Age, Rock, Rap, and Contemporary Christian music are all strictly off-limits to BJU students.
  • Sexual relations between unmarried students, if discovered, is an expulsion offense.
  • Possessing or distributing pornography is an expulsion offense.
  • Weapons of any kind must be surrendered to the University's Public Safety department. Pistols must have trigger locks. No fireworks are allowed at any time.

Work

  • Students are permitted to work until 10:25 pm on weekdays and 12 am on weekends.
  • Freshmen and sophomores are not permitted to use vehicles in order to commute to and from work because parking on campus is limited.
  • Solicitation by students in the Greenville area is forbidden. All students are required to have a retail license or permission from the Dean of Students to solicit services door to door.

Male dress code

  • Men's hair is required to be traditionally styled with a conservative cut. Hair must not be coloured or highlighted and is not permitted to be shaved, shelved, tangled or spiked.
  • Sideburns may not reach past the lower opening of the ear. It is recommended that men be clean-shaven at all times.
  • Men may not wear earrings, necklaces, or bracelets of any kind.
  • No hats are allowed indoors except in the gymnasium.
  • Tattoos and body piercings are forbidden.
  • The University will not allow articles of any kind to display the logos of Abercrombie & Fitch and its subsidiary Hollister. These items may not be carried or displayed, even if the logos are hidden. The ban on these labels stems from allegedly irreverent and blasphemous comments in the company's catalogs about Jesus Christ.
  • Morning dress consists of the following: dress shirt (no denim or chambray) with tie, dress or ironed casual pants (no jeans, cargo, carpenter, or sloppy pants), dress or leather casual shoes. Sweaters should show shirt collar and tie knot. No sweatshirts are allowed.
  • Afternoon dress will include a collared shirt (no crew necks), neat casual pants, dress or casual shoes (no slippers or sandals). Socks should be above the ankle, and sweatshirts or sweaters are permitted.
  • Sunday dress requires a coat, tie, dress shirt, dress shoes, dress or dressier casual pants.
  • Recreation and work dress may include jeans and t-shirts. Sleeveless athletic shirts may be worn during indoor activities only. Shorts may be worn at athletic facilities but not as spectators at sporting events. Socks are required at all times.
    • According to BJU, the purpose of the dress regulations is a neat and professional appearance for students.

Female dress code

General and classroom dress for women consists of a dress or top and skirt. Pants are allowed for some recreational activities. Women may never wear shorts outside the residence halls and fitness center.

  • Underwear
    • Coloured underwear should not be visible through outer clothing. For instance, a student should not pair a bright pink bra with a sheer white blouse.
    • Underwear may not be exposed in public at any time.
  • Tops
    • The middle area of the torso may never be exposed. Tops must be long enough to meet the top of the skirt or pants. BJU says this guideline encourages professionalism and modesty.
    • Sleeveless tops and dresses may be worn with a blouse, jacket, or sweater. In all other cases, sleeves are required. BJU says this rule is one of convenience rather than conviction, and further, that there is no rule about covering the arms.
    • Necklines are allowed to drop four fingers below the collarbone, but no more. BJU says the choice of "four fingers" is nothing more than a convenient measurement.
    • Tops may be fitted, but not clingy.
  • Skirts
    • Hemlines, slits or other openings may never be higher than the bottom of the knee.
    • Denim skirts are allowed for casual dress but not allowed in class or other professional events.
  • Pants
    • Loose-fitting pants may be worn between female residence halls, for the purpose of athletic events, and to local area residences.
    • Loose-fitting jeans may be worn between women's residence halls and when participating in activities where such fabric is necessary, like ice-skating, white-water rafting and skiing.
  • Ease
    • All clothing, such as dresses, skirts, pants, and shirts, must fit correctly without clinging.
    • There should be at least a 3/4-inch fold of fabric on both sides of the hips and bust. This "ease" may be measured by standing straight and pinching the loose fabric on both sides of the hips and bust line. However, there are no random inspections of this.
  • Other
    • Thin and transparent clothing is allowed when accompanied by appropriate clothing worn underneath.
    • Hose are required for all professional activities, including church, recitals, and class.
    • Shoes like combat or hiking boots are not permitted.
    • Feminine, neat, and orderly hairstyles are required. Masculine cuts should be avoided (although short hair is allowed).
    • Tattoos are prohibited. A maximum of two matched sets of earrings are allowed, and they must be worn in the lobe of the ear. Any other body piercings are prohibited.
    • Contrary to rumor, there is not a rule concerning female students' sleep attire.
    • The policy regarding Abercrombie & Fitch as described in the male dress code section also applies to women.
    • Swimwear must be one-piece and modest.

Political campaigns

2000 Election

Interracial Dating

Over the years many gubernatorial and presidential candidates have spoken at the school, including Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, Bob Dole, and Alan Keyes. Democrats tend to avoid the school, and on a national level, it is mainly Republicans who appear there attempting to increase their popularity among people that have traditionally supported the Democratic party, people like Southern white conservatives. (see Southern strategy).

On February 2, 2000, George W. Bush, while campaigning to become U.S. President, addressed the school's chapel service. Some disagreed with Bush's decision to speak at the controversial institution.[13] Bush's speech did not include any mention of either the school's ban on interracial dating or its anti-Catholic teachings. Following the public outcry, the Bush campaign promptly released remarks declaring that Bush was neither anti-Catholic nor a racist, and that his brother Jeb Bush could not have dated his wife (who is Latina) if he had attended the school (although in fact he could have, since BJU did not view Latinos and Anglos as separate races). Bush also appeared before the press to deny that he either knew or approved of what he regarded as the school's intolerant policies.

On February 26, after twenty-four days of considerable media pressure, Bush also wrote a formal letter of apology to Cardinal John O'Connor of New York for failing to denounce Bob Jones University's history of strongly anti-Catholic statements (among other things, the university's founder once called the Roman Catholic Church a "satanic cult"). At a news conference following the letter's release, Bush stated: "I make no excuses. I had an opportunity and I missed it. I regret that." and "I wish I had gotten up then and seized the moment to set a tone, a tone that I had set in Texas, a positive and inclusive tone."[14]

On March 3, the school issued a "Letter to the Nation" defending their position and arguing that the real issue of the media pressure was religious freedom. [15]

In December 2002, Trent Lott expressed "regret" for supporting the school's aim to maintain tax exempt status (eventually denied by the US Supreme Court) 20 years after he filed a brief defending the school that maintained a ban on interracial dating.[16]

John McCain controversy

According to the book Bush's Brain, during the 2000 Republican primaries, a professor at Bob Jones started the rumor that John McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child. (The McCains have an adopted daughter from Bangladesh.)[17] In fact, "one e-mail came from Bob Jones University Professor Richard Hand who wrote to fellow South Carolinians that McCain ' chose to sire children with out marriage .”[18]

2004 Election

Shortly after George W. Bush won relection in 2004, Bob Jones III sent a letter to Bush to congratulate him and told him "you have been given a mandate. ... Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ."[19]

People associated with BJU

Notable graduates

  • Ed Dobson is pastor of Calvary Church, Grand Rapids, MI and co-author of Blinded by Might. [20]
  • Glenn Hamilton is a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
  • Terry Haskins was the Speaker Pro Tempore of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
  • Katherine Helmond is an actress best known as playing the family matriarch on Soap and "Mona" on Who's the Boss?
  • Asa Hutchinson an Arkansas lawyer, former U.S. Representative and Under Secretary for Border & Transportation Security with the Department of Homeland Security, and currently running for governor of Arkansas.
  • Tim Hutchinson is an Arkansas pastor, former U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator.
  • Billy Kim is the president of the Baptist World Alliance.
  • Tim LaHaye is a best-selling author of eschatological prophecy.
  • Peter Ruckman, Baptist minister, teacher, artist, and writer who is critical of BJU's stance on Biblical translation.
  • David Stertzbach, is pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Williston, VT and president of the Vermont Defense of Marriage Committee, a political action committee opposing civil unions for gays.
  • Daniel Verdin is a South Carolina State Senator

Notable Faculty

Notable Students

  • Alice Cooper was a student for two semesters at the school in the 1960s

Other alumni

  • Billy Graham, evangelist, attended for one year
  • John F. MacArthur, pastor, author, and radio preacher
  • Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, whose association with the school ended abruptly after two semesters there. Phelps claims he left in opposition to the school's racial policies; school employees told the Topeka Capital Journal newspaper in 1994 that Phelps was in essence expelled due to mental instability.
  • Cliff Barrows, associate of Billy Graham
  • Barry Rogers, a.k.a. Johnny Rahm, adult film actor
  • Rich Merritt, adult film actor, author of memoir Secrets Of A Gay Marine Porn Star, attended for more than one year and grew up on campus.

Notable honorary degree recipients

Benefactors

  • Bibb Graves, Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan and Governor of Alabama from 1926 - 1930 and from 1934 - 1938 helped Bob Jones, Sr. raise start-up funds for the school. Graves sat on BJU's board of trustees. A dormitory is named in his honor.

Mentions in movies and television

  • L.A. Law (1993-94) - The character Jane Halliday, played by Alexandra Powers, was a graduate of Bob Jones University.
  • The Ladykillers (2004) - The remake of the movie included a character who sent money to Bob Jones University on a regular basis. The joke was that she was an elderly African-American woman who was clearly oblivious to the school's prior stance in support of segregation and against interracial dating.
  • The O.C. (2005) - The April 2005 episode, The Return of the Nana, featured a Bob Jones university student and his "Bible Study Buddies" on spring break who were out to get one of the main characters, Seth Cohen because he participated in a contest where he had to eat whipped cream off of the Bob Jones student's girlfriend.
  • Al Franken (2005) Al Franken with a young male assistant posed as a father and son considering application to the University, then asking questions that were generally skeptical of the policies of the school during an interview with the admissions director. Franken wrote about this incident in his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
  • Conan O'Brien (March 2006) In a skit about new college mascots, the late night comedy talk show host introduced "Pimped Out Jesus" as Bob Jones University's new mascot.

News stories

Commentary

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