Bob Jones University

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.

Its mission statement reads as follows: 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.

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

Interracial dating was prohibited at the university starting in the 1950's, but the ban was lifted in 2000 after Dr. Bob Jones III, following a national uproar prompted by the visit of presidential candidate George W. Bush, announced its nullification on Larry King Live.

Creed

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

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 Savior, 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

BJU was founded in 1927 by evangelist Bob Jones, Sr., in College Point, Florida. Jones was the son of an Alabama sharecropper. His stated purpose was to create a school where Christian students could receive a high-quality education in a strongly traditional Christian environment. The following is a direct quotation from the BJU homepage:

Established in 1927 by evangelist Bob Jones Sr., Bob Jones University is known as the citadel of biblical Christianity for its adherence to the Bible as mankind's only source of faith and Christian practice. Throughout his travels, Dr. Bob Jones Sr. saw students whose faith was shaken during college, and he recognized the need for a thoroughly Christian school to train America's youth. His vision was to establish a training center for Christians from around the world that would be distinguished by its academic excellence, refined standards of behavior, and opportunities to appreciate the performing and visual arts. At the same time, Dr. Jones's intent was to make a place where Christ would be the center of all thought and conduct.

The school 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.

From its 1927 founding to 1971, African American people were prohibited from enrolling. From 1971 to 1975, only married black people 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. A person of any race could apply to the school, but the school adopted a disciplinary rule prohibiting interracial dating or marriage:

There is to be no interracial dating.

1. Students who are partners in an interracial marriage will be expelled.
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 former policies of Bob Jones University on interracial dating are indebted to the founder's view that the Bible forbids interracial dating and marriage; though today Bob Jones University sometimes claims that the policy is 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.

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. 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,

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.

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, which means that it has the potential to become accredited during the prescribed five year period but there is no guarantee that it will become accredited. Nonetheless, "School officials say they still won't accept federal student financial aid."

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

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.

Achievements

• In May 2004, its high school, Bob Jones Academy, won the National High School Mock Trial Championship .
• On December 3, 2004, the school broke the Guinness World Record for Christmas caroling with 7,514 carolers.
• On April 2, 2005, the school won the NEDA Debate Nationals Tournament, defeating Ball State University 2-1 in Varsity and 3-0 in Novice, and also taking 1st place Varsity Speaker.

Art gallery

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 favor in the mid-20th century and the works were relatively inexpensive, and Jones built up an important collection. He donated his paintings to a museum at the University. The now is now one of the largest collections of religious art in the Western Hemisphere.

Controversial national recognition

Largely due to the national attention received after the scuffle with the IRS and its ban on interracial dating, the school has been seen as a racist institution. The school has a number of international students and participates in the National Educational Debate Association intercollegiate debate format, a small association with a closed membership policy, not recognized by the mainstream American Forensic Association.

Biology

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.

Rules for students

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

Such commentators as Christianity Today have 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." (Incidentally, BJU does not forbid its students to listen to music recorded after the 1960s. In fact, 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.

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 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 say 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 male 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. However, 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. BJU say 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 off-limits to BJU students.
• Movie, music, and fashion posters are prohibited.
• Sexual relations between unmarried students, if discovered, is an expulsion offense.
• Possessing or distributing pornography is an expulsion offense. Some think that magazines of any kind showing any pictures of females are prohibited on the campus, but this rule does not exist.
• Weapons of any kind must be stored by the University. 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 colored 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.
• 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.
  • BJU say the goal of these guidelines for dress is a neat and professional look for students while they are at school.

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
  • Colored 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.
  • Guidelines for swimwear are that the suit must be one-piece and modest. There are no regulations about underwear beneath bathing costumes.

• 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 say 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 say 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.

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. 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."

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.

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.

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 a illegitimate black child. (The McCains have an adopted daughter from Bangladesh.) 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.' ”

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."

People associated with BJU

Notable graduates

• Ed Dobson is pastor of Calvary Church, Grand Rapids, MI and co-author of Blinded by Might.
• 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.

Notable Faculty

• Richard Hand - Professor of law who in the 2000 Republican primaries "wrote to fellow South Carolinians that McCain 'chose to sire children with out marriage'," which was false.

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

Notable honorary degree recipients

• Vic Eliason, founder of VCY America
• Billy Graham, evangelist
• Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator
• Chiang Kai-shek, leader of Kuomintang
• Lester Maddox, governor of Georgia
• Ian Paisley, a Northern Irish MP, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster.
• Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
• George Wallace, governor of Alabama
• John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States

Benefactors

• Bibb Graves, Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan and Governor of Alabama from 1926 - 1930 and again 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.

• Agnes Moorehead, of Bewitched fame, willed her Ohio estate to BJU.

Mentions in movies and television

• LA 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. This was written about in Franken's book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

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