It was officially presented last week, and the Baptist community of upstate South Carolina was promptly thrown into convulsions.
There is nothing in this report that would surprise followers of religious fundamentalism, or those who intimately know how deep-fundamentalism works on the psyche. I first heard stories about how Bob Jones University shames victims of sexual assault, when I arrived in Greenville over 26 years ago and attended AA meetings here. Women who abuse alcohol make excellent victims, and I heard about the shaming of these women (for both drinking and then for having been victimized), up close and personal... over and over.
It has taken all this time for these stories to come to light.
The tales were rampant, and yet, I didn't really understand the authority of BJU and how these places work psychologically. Can't you just leave?!-- I would ask them, uncomprehending.
I might as well be asking the Amish to leave. I think that's a good comparison for the lack of preparation young fundamentalists (often homeschooled) have for the real world. They are frequently very unworldly, confused, overprotected, sheltered... again, the perfect victims, who will stay silent. And so they have.
Until now.
The much-awaited report came out last week. There are now several follow-ups from the Greenville News, suggesting legal action is not out of the question. (More here and here.) And hey, let's count it as a small miracle and nothing short of AMAZING that the once-reticent Greenville News is finally getting with the program. This is the same Greenville News that studiously and deliberately IGNORED all reports of questionable, hinky behavior from BJU since I first started reading it. As I have complained countless times, our local paper of record mostly talks about how WONDERFUL Bob Jones University is; lots of special-interest stories about alumni and their opinions, business ventures, gardens, whatever... not to mention their super-duper Arts Department, Music Department ... just one long GUSH GUSH GUSH.... you'd think it was freaking Oxford, the way they have constantly extolled the virtues of the place.
Sometimes I have felt like the Greenville News is one long combo education/travel brochure advertising Bob Jones University.
Bob Jones University will be challenged over the next few months to prove it truly understands the devastating nature of the findings from a two-year investigation into how the school for decades handled reports of sexual abuse on and off the campus. The school's response will demonstrate whether it is committed to helping vulnerable people failed by school leaders who handled sexual abuse disclosures in a manner that for many victims deepened their pain and stalled or made impossible their efforts to recover from traumatic experiences.
GRACE began its long-awaited, 301-page report that was released Thursday with a compliment to BJU for taking a "bold step forward" to examine "how it may have caused deep hurt in the lives of students who had suffered from the ravages of sexual assault." GRACE is a self-identified Christian organization based in Lynchburg, Virginia, and its full name is Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment. BJU under former President Stephen Jones does deserve credit for undertaking the independent GRACE investigation and agreeing to make public its findings.
Others deserve even more praise, however, and that includes the former students who have forced the university to acknowledge and address its failures when it comes to how allegations of sexual abuse were handled. Former students and even some current ones recognized the injustice that has taken place and have refused to back down even in the face of criticism and some hostility. The courage displayed by alumni and former students who insisted on the GRACE investigation is even surpassed by that required of the sexual abuse victims who participated in this study. They are the heroes here for agreeing to share their stories of the original abuse and then the revictimization that followed as they were struggling to deal with what had happened to them.
The two-year investigation produced an unflinching report into how BJU failed to provide a safe environment where students could seek help and begin the healing process after they arrived on campus dealing with childhood sexual abuse or were assaulted during their student years. Part of the investigation included a confidential survey, and in it more than 60 percent of the self-identified abuse victims who responded said the college's attitude toward victims was one "of blame and disparagement."
One of the most damaging findings was that key college leaders were slow, by decades, to understand their legal requirement to report alleged sexual abuse in many cases. Laws were developed more than four decades ago, and refined and sharpened over the years, to require adults in positions of authority to protect innocent children who are being abused. It is absolutely appropriate for Solicitor Walt Wilkins to begin his own investigation, which was announced Friday, into the way BJU handled the sexual abuse reports.
Wilkins has an opportunity to put an exclamation point on the brutal report by holding BJU officials accountable if his investigation finds violations of legal requirements to report sexual abuse. "If they were convincing individuals not to report crimes that could be considered obstruction of justice," Wilkins told Greenville News reporter Lyn Riddle. "We need to see if it rises to that level."
One key finding of the GRACE report stated, "The survey findings support a possible conclusion that BJU representatives may have sometimes discouraged the reporting of sexual crimes to the proper authorities." Although school officials have reported a different interpretation of some comments or counseling advice, some victims said they were told the abusers should be forgiven and not reported to law enforcement authorities, and that they would be selfish if they shared their experience with others and in doing so hurt the school.
Victims also reported how they were made to feel ashamed for what had happened to them, and they came away from sermons or counseling sessions thinking they had contributed to the abuse. "Women and girls were taught they must 'confess' the part of sexual abuse they enjoyed, that they probably enticed the abuser," was among the viewpoints expressed.
One victim reported she was abused by her grandfather from the ages of 6-14, according to the GRACE report. When she went for counseling, she later reported being asked, "Did you repent for your part of the abuse? Did your body respond favorably?"
Daisy interjects: OH GROSS.
Two school leaders were held out for especially strong criticism in the GRACE report: Bob Jones III, who led the school for many of the years covered by the investigation, and Dr. Jim Berg, dean of students during much of the period covered by the investigation and the man, who with an educational background in theology, helped develop the counseling program for students.
The GRACE study led to a number of recommendations, some already implemented, that include timely reporting of suspected abuse, a recognition that victims should never be blamed for abuse or assault, and an agreement to separate counseling services from the disciplinary process.
BJU President Steve Pettit and others who hold the university dear to their hearts now carry the burden of implementing GRACE report recommendations, trying to salvage the school's reputation, and reaching out to vulnerable people hurt first by their abuser and again by how their confidence was betrayed and their case mismanaged. There's more the school should do, too.
The extraordinarily damaging views about abuse that were uncovered in the GRACE report have hurt more than the victims who participated in this investigation. Those views were shared over the years with young men going into the ministry, with students preparing to be teachers or counselors, and with boys and girls who now have their own children who are venturing into a world that can be unsafe and downright cruel. A step toward redemption should include BJU's heartfelt and comprehensive effort to make its closest allies understand how much horribly wrong information was spread for many years and how critically important it is to change a fundamentally flawed view of sexual abuse.
I really can't add anything to that. I am proud of them for finally saying it.
And for my part, I wanted to rip the BJU administration a new one, but I figure I will save that for the radio tonight. (TUNE INTO WOLI AM/FM, listen live at 8pm!) But more than that... I have had an epiphany. (Kevin Spacey voice: I hate when that happens.)
The people who have given me so much grief over the years? These Bob Jones mavens who have written me up on the job and started fights about Jaysus (credit to Tom Wolfe for spelling) and made pests of themselves at the Black Sabbath concert and at the bookstore where I worked??? I now see that many were suffering. Perhaps, suffering greatly, and directing this pain outward was what they were taught to do, the only way they knew how to cope. And there I was, an available target.
Not unlike the way THEY were an available target.
And so, the pain is passed on.
I have decided not to do that this time. I want to be better than that.
It is my hope that fundamentalists will learn from this, that they have plenty of problems of their own to deal with, and they should probably stop pointing at other people and deal with themselves. I think plenty of people have figured this out in the past week--maybe more than I ever believed possible. And for all of you, I offer an olive branch. (holds up two fingers) PEACE!
Please speak out and share. And organize for change. My love to you all at this difficult time.
~*~
EDIT #1: One person already speaking out, sharing and providing excellent analysis is survivor Dani Kelley, who is doing a series on the GRACE report. Please check out her blog.
EDIT #2: My friend Camille Lewis offers some inside-baseball on the situation, for all of us to peruse: Bob Jones University rewrites recent history to ward off federal investigation, PART ONE and PART TWO. (The timeline featured in PART TWO, is indispensable for those who want the step-by-step of how the investigation came to be.)
Stephen Jones is resigning as president of Bob Jones University, according to our ever-worshipful Greenville News.
Jones, son of Bob Jones III and empty suit, supposedly suffers from bad health (and yet has no trouble sneaking up to North Carolina to see popular movies that BJU-students-and-affiliates are not permitted to watch locally). And so he must depart.
The rapidly-sinking popularity of Bob Jones University might have something to do with his exit, although of course this fact isn't mentioned in the story. That wouldn't be NICE, and the Greenville News is always always always extremely NICE when it comes to our local cult, to the point of refusing to investigate scandals. (see last link)
Bob Jones University President Stephen Jones plans to resign, the school said Friday, citing health issues.
The university said in a statement Jones submitted his resignation at the regular meeting of the BJU Board of Trustees.
“The persistence of my health issues over the last three years is preventing me from providing the leadership the University needs at this time and prompted my personal decision to resign,” Jones, 43, said in a statement.
“The BJU mission is more important than I. Serving the BJU family for over eight years has been one of the great gifts of God to my wife and me, and I am looking forward to serving here in whatever new role God has for me.”
A university spokesman said Jones declined to be interviewed.
Larry Jackson, chairman of the university trustees, said the board accepted his resignation as president effective at the end of commencement, May 9, 2014.
“The Board fully understands the effects of Dr. Jones’ continuing health issues as they relate to the demands of the position,” Jackson said, “and we appreciate his leadership in giving priority to the mission of the University. The Board is grateful for his significant contributions to the ministry of BJU, his dedication to its mission and his love for the faculty, staff and students during his tenure as president.”
In a statement, school officials said trustees will immediately establish a search committee to identify candidates for president and “will prayerfully fill the position as soon as God leads us to a qualified person.”
“The Board of Trustees is completely committed to the historic position and mission of Bob Jones University and to maintaining the University’s firm stand on the absolute authority of Scripture,” Jackson said. “The board will seek a new president equally committed to our mission and biblical position.”
And as we know, Bob Jones IV, who was next in line before Stephen, was mysteriously passed over. Nobody will ever tell us why. (I figure its the same reason older brother Fredo was passed over, in favor of Michael Corleone: "Fredo has a good heart, but he's weak and he's stupid.")
Of course, we're all ready to hear the reason BJIV has been excluded from Apostolic Succession by his father, Bob Jones III (known as "triple-sticks" by some of the former-faithful). But take my word for it, we won't be getting any reasons, which means we can go ahead and fill in our own. I think one possible reason is that BJIV went to Notre Dame (that is to say, a REAL college, not a fake one, like BJU). After preaching against the Catholic Church for decades, Bob Jones III actually paid for his oldest son to attend Notre Dame! The money of the anti-Catholic faithful going straight to "the flagship Catholic University of North America" -- is that some nerve or what? Years ago, I discovered when the fundamentalist zealots periodically invaded the Catholic bookstore (where I used to work), all cranked up on Jonathan Edwards and ready to rumble, all I had to do was ask how they felt about their money going to Notre Dame so that Bob Jones IV could have a REAL education? Why didn't he just go to BJU? Notre Dame MUST be a better school, I protested, or Bob Jones wouldn't want his progeny attending, now would he?!?
I loved how the BJU-fundies would turn almost crimson whenever I brought up this forbidden topic. (Of course, they are not allowed to criticize The Founder or anyone related to him.) But I also noticed that they seemed to be holding back. There was obviously MORE to the story, and (unfortunately for us dedicated scandal-mongers) they didn't want to share it. In the above-linked story, they claim BJIV is working for WORLD magazine, although my spies tell me he has not been on the staff for many years.
So keep in mind, you're only getting a partial version of the truth, and uncomfortable facts are routinely dropped down the memory hole. Every story about BJU is only partial. We will only learn the whole truth after the place totally implodes. The obedient Greenville News takes its marching orders from BJU, even more than they do from the local Republican Party, and yes, there is a predictably heavy, heavy overlap.
The Greenville News has never, ever done any investigative journalism on the many abuses that have taken place at BJU over the years. ZIP. For example, in the above-linked account, we get this:
Last year, after several former and current BJU students and faculty protested the way the school had handled sex abuse allegations on campus, university officials said they contracted with GRACE, or Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, for “an open and objective analysis.”
A final report should be issued early next year, according to officials from Lynchburg, Va.-based GRACE and BJU.
Note that none of this was initially covered by our local newspaper of record. We finally get this defanged, tepid account A YEAR LATER. (more details here and here)
Chances are, we are only getting a small fraction of the story and the real reasons for 1) Stephen Jones being installed as president of BJU in the first place (as the article makes clear, he didn't want the job) and 2) his upcoming departure.
And I wonder who the first non-related president of Bob Jones University will be? Can anyone be as perfect as blood relatives of The Founder? This is obviously a crisis in the House of Jones.
Let's hope it is one more chapter in the slo-mo disintegration of the cult.
Comments welcome. Bob Jones University-apologists will be harshly dealt with, so no whining that you weren't warned.
NEW YORK, NY, JANUARY 9, 2012: Mitt Romney has a preacher problem down in South Carolina. Republican presidential hopefuls have long coveted endorsement by the Chancellor of Bob Jones University, Bob Jones III. Every serious Republican candidate since Ronald Reagan has made the pilgrimage to Greenville, South Carolina's "Fortress of Faith." In 2008, Mitt Romney enthusiastically accepted the Bob Jones endorsement: "We're proud to have Dr Jones' support and look forward to working with him to communicate Governor Romney's message of conservative change to voters," Romney spokesman William Holley said.
I’m sure this will be greatly misquoted but it would not be a bad idea to bring the swift justice today that was brought in Israel’s day against murder and rape and homosexuality. I guarantee it would solve the problem post-haste if homosexuals were stoned, if murderers were immediately killed as the Bible commands.
Today, Mitt Romney's campaign has disavowed its previous attempts to woo gay voters. Is this the same Mitt Romney who told Bay Windows newspaper that "I'll be better than Ted (Kennedy) for gay rights?"
A group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, alumni and faculty have compiled a video and have established a new blog to document the rampant homophobia at Bob Jones University, at lgbt-bju.org. This group asks Governor Romney to repudiate the endorsement of Bob Jones III in the last election and to join us in demanding an apology by signing our petition, which can be found online at change.org.
Lbgt-bju.org offers confidential support and advice to those within the fundamentalist lifestyle who may be questioning their sexuality or gender or who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Media inquiries should be directed to Jeffrey Hoffman, a public spokesperson for this group.
At left: Ex-faculty member Dr Camille Lewis and others at BJU Alumni Day yesterday, releasing red balloons in solidarity with victims of sexual abuse. Photo by Hannah Goodman.
I nearly titled this "Greenville News blows Bob Jones"--but as Ben Bradlee famously said in a similar situation: This is a family newspaper. Likewise, this is a family blog. Brainwashed is not the best word to describe their ass-kissing 'reportage.' The humorous initials of Bob Jones University popped into my head, and this post narrowly escaped being titled GREENVILLE NEWS GIVE BJ TO BJU.
Pretend that's the title, since that is the disgusting state of affairs we woke up to this morning in upstate South Carolina.
Well, the truth is, she was raped but it was a consensual relationship. This man took advantage of her but she was a partner in all this. It wasn't, it was more than one time and she was a consensual person.
THIS is what Bob Jones III says, to anyone who will listen. He is not ashamed of this view. He allowed this conversation to be TAPE RECORDED, he is PROUD of his opinions. He says it was rape but "she was a partner in all this"--and do we hear any consternation from the Greenville News? Ha! Instead, we hear how great Bob Jones University is!
These changes [seeking accreditation and increasing sports opportunities] came during a week that also saw Bob Jones University accept the resignation of a board member who had attracted controversy because of the way he handled an alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl by an adult member of his church in New Hampshire in 1997. The board member, Chuck Phelps, maintains that he handled the incident properly and reported it to police; the victim disputes his account and says she was made to apologize to the church for her actions. Whatever account is most accurate, the controversy surrounding the incident should have given BJU pause in welcoming Phelps back to its board in 2009.
Phelps’ resignation was accepted following an online campaign from students and alumni that was conducted in part on a Facebook group that was called “Do Right BJU.” The university should be commended for responding to students and accepting Phelps’ resignation. This was another appropriate step taken by the university that demonstrates it understands and cares about the community’s perception of its staff, its students and the faith that it represents.
"Whatever account is most accurate????" Why don't they try, you know, REAL JOURNALISM and find out?
The so-called "changes" came this week for a REASON; they are called DEFLECTING ATTENTION and CHANGING THE SUBJECT. And I guess it works on Beth Padgett, aka Mary Elizabeth Padgett, the author and fangirl-in-chief of the Greenville News editorial page. Note that she left out the quote above from Bob Jones III, claiming that Tina Anderson consented. (Certainly, Tina Anderson is of no concern to Beth Padgett.) Padgett leaves out the fact that students were threatened about the Facebook page, instead, she implies that Phelps resignation was voluntary and not forced by circumstances and nationwide humiliation, including the ABC 20/20 story. She omits the forced pregnancy. She makes the "appropriate step" sound like it was BJU's idea--rather than a result of outraged demands by faculty, students and other community members--because they worried that THEIR DAUGHTERS WOULD NOT BE SAFE.
That's the shoddy, ridiculous level of "reporting" that Padgett and her fundamentalist friends and cronies engage in. It should not be confused with real journalism or a real newspaper.
I hope when the place is at last handed over to someone sane, there will be a RELIGIOUS-ABUSE TRIBUNAL, and the Greenville News and their fraudulent "reporters" put on trial for aiding and abetting abuse in all its forms. Thank God for bloggers; now you see why we are so important. Otherwise, the right-wing noise machine would be the only version you'd get, at least in this neck of the woods.
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- A small, but vocal, group of Bob Jones University students spoke about Monday about what they call a "conspiracy of secrecy" at the school, and within Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches. The group of roughly two dozen students and alumni wore red in unity, as they attended the University's Monday chapel service. "We're just here to say we want to listen, we're here for moral support," says alumni Clinton Verley.
Student Chris Peterman, founder of "Do Right BJU", was one of the organizers of the event. Peterman says the effort stemmed from the University's connection to Pastor Chuck Phelps, a member of the school's board of Trustees, until he resigned last week. Phelps was surrounded by controversy after a case at his former church in New Hampshire, where a parishioner was accused of raping a teenage girl. "Do Right BJU" members say even though Phelps resigned from Bob Jones' Trustees, they are still unhappy with how the administration handled the matter. "This is about awareness and support for victims," says Peterman. "We want to say we're here for you and if you want to come talk to us, we'll help you heal."
University spokesperson Brian Scoles told Seven on your Side the school has a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to abuse, and students are encouraged to file grievances with the University.
Participants gathered at the school's fountain after chapel service to release red balloons in support of victims.
Possibly the first show of discontent in the history of BJU, and the Greenville News uses the occasion to pointedly NOT cover the story, but instead reward them with another hand-job.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a town that had a REAL newspaper. Wouldn't that be nice?
~*~
Note:
According to what I read online (available to anyone who does an extensive internet search), the would-be heir apparent to BJU, Bob Jones IV, lives in one of the most expensive cities in the USA, Miami. As oldest brother and next-in-line, why was he passed over for the job he was being groomed for? What does he live on? After much investigation, I can't locate any visible means of support. The rampant internet rumors are that he lives on the money of the faithful. (Now, why would he be doing that?) Also of interest is the fact that he attended Notre Dame instead of going to his own father's school (not that I blame him for seeking a REAL education, of course). BJU teaches that Catholics are evil and the Pope is the antichrist, and yet, Bob Jones III sent his namesake, Bob Jones IV to the "flagship Catholic university of North America" for a Ph.D.--which by my estimation would cost almost a cool half-million. Notre Dame ain't cheap.
So, Bob Jones III takes the money of the faithful, taught to hate Catholicism, and gives it to the most well-known Catholic college in the country, to EDUCATE his SON. Hello? Why is it okay for BJIV to go to Notre Dame, but the students of Bob Jones University are still taught vicious anti-Catholic propaganda and bigotry?
And that ain't all. As I asked, what does he do for a living? Why was he passed over for Stephen Jones, who is supposedly too sick to show up for work for the last 99 days (but as the link above shows, he sure can go to the movies, a privilege denied to the students)? Does this mean that BJIV will finally take over, since Stephen Jones appears unable to rouse himself to do anything? And why are they so secretive about these matters? Why do Bob-Jones-affiliated people freak out and run like scared rabbits when you ask them about Bob Jones IV? What's the big secret?
I wonder. If we had a REAL investigative newspaper, we might find out these things, you know?
The story is there, if someone is willing to tell it. Just like the story about David Thomas (above), we can't count on our local "newspaper" to be anything but cowardly; they won't dare touch it. I don't have the means to go to Miami or New York and hunt him down, but I hope someone else will.
Now, imagine if one of the primary players in the cover-up was re-appointed to the board of Penn State? WHAT?--you exclaim, shocked. That could never happen.
Well, it has, here in Bob Jonesland. And there has been a total media blackout about this, locally. At least Penn State is big enough that they couldn't keep it a secret, or perhaps they would still be attempting to do that.
Tina Anderson's story has been covered exhaustively in many different places, and there are lots of angry alumni and petitions circulating, even as we speak. The matter of "what did Chuck Phelps know and when did he know it" -- is now going to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.And still, absolutely no word from local newspapers Greenville News, Anderson Independent Mail or Spartanburg Herald Journal. Silence. Total.And as I have written before, it has been ever thus. The Greenville News, in particular, genuflects at BJU and always has. It is nearly impossible even to get letters-to-the-editor published, if they dare to criticize Bob Jones University. So, don't expect a mere rape scandal to get covered.
And they have the gall to publish stories about Penn State? They should be ashamed of themselves. What about the scandal in their own backyard?
Likewise, this past weekend, the Greenville News gushes about Bob Jones University doing Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors" like it was set in the 1920s. How creative! How wonderful! (Rape-apologists on the board? What rape-apologists?) Not a single word about the scandal they are currently embroiled in, and the fact that one of their board member's actions are fodder for a state supreme court hearing about condoning the actions of a criminal.
And they wonder why some of us don't believe there is any such thing as "objective journalism"?
Left: Bob Jones III announces an end to the unpopular ban on interracial dating on CNN's The Larry King Show, March 2000.
~*~
The local news this morning is all about Pope Bubba issuing an official apology, just like the "big churches" have. Not to be outdone, he is issuing his own Papal bull, as well!
Although from the looks of it, this is not the doing of BJ3 or son Stephen Jones, current president of BJU. (As stated in my previous piece, Bob Jones VI was not considered morally fit to be University president and the gig therefore went to little brother.) This comes directly from the students and alumni! DEMOCRACY at BJU? I admit, I'm impressed. (Could be a dangerous precedent, letting people express themselves!)
Maybe someday, the apology for arresting gay people who dare to step foot on school property (see link above), will also be issued.
By Ron Barnett • STAFF WRITER • November 22, 2008
Greenville News
Bob Jones University has posted a statement on its Web site apologizing for its "racially hurtful" policies of the past, after hundreds of alumni and students signed a petition calling for an apology.
The fundamentalist Christian school on Wade Hampton Boulevard didn’t admit black students before 1971 and didn’t allow interracial dating until 2000.
"In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves," the statement says. "For these failures we are profoundly sorry."
The statement traces the 81-year-old institution’s policies to the segregationist culture of the past rather than any theological reasons.
"Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful," the statement says.
The university, which is not affiliated with any denomination, has students from all 50 states and nearly 50 countries, and solicits financial support for two scholarships for minority applicants, the statement says.
BJU President Stephen Jones, great-grandson of the school’s founder, is out of the country, and his father, Bob Jones III, the chancellor and past president, could not be reached for comment.
A university vice president would not comment, saying the statement speaks for the institution’s position. He did not mention the petition when asked what precipitated the apology.
The school fought a long court battle with the federal government when the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status because of its racially discriminatory policies.
A 1983 Supreme Court decision upholding the revocation notes that, "The sponsors of the university genuinely believe that the Bible forbids interracial dating and marriage." But the apology makes no mention of a biblical basis for the policies.
Instead, it says: "For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principals and precepts of the Scriptures.
"We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it."
More than 500 students and alumni signed an online letter that was delivered to BJU’s president, board of trustees and administration on Wednesday, according to a Web site set up by the group.
"The school is widely known as segregationist, bigoted, and racist. Some of us were not aware of this reputation while we attended the university and were baffled when we encountered negative perceptions from others after we graduated," the letter, posted on the Web site www.please-reconcile.org, says.
"We see it in people’s faces and hear it in their comments and reactions upon learning where we went to school. Sometimes we encounter it in job interviews — troubling times to be confronted about racial prejudice. For some of us, employees suspect our motives as employers.
"Those of us who are ministers and spiritual leaders must explain our association with the university to minority congregants."
The apology met with skepticism from Greenville County Councilwoman Lottie Gibson, who recalls a "frightening experience" on campus in the early 1950s when she had gone to deliver food to a student and was told that "Negroes were not welcome here."
"Where I am with the Lord I want to forgive them," she said, when told of the apology. "It is just very difficult for me to give a clear forgiveness. I’m going to have to watch and see how this comes out."
County Auditor Scott Case, a white BJU graduate, said the interracial dating ban was "a non-issue" during his years at the school, 1983-87.
"I do not remember as a student ever having heard it discussed or talked about," he said.
Let me tell you, former (Republican) Councilman Scott Case couldn't find his butt with both hands, so this fact isn't surprising.
I share Councilwoman Gibson's skepticism. We'll see.
It's interesting that BJU always seems to be a generation behind. They are finally getting with the program about race, but still offer no apologies for their open homophobia, and are in fact proud of it. As they were once quite proud of their racial policies.
Reading the statement, it sounds like an association with Bob Jones University has cost graduates a few jobs, hasn't it? On the Please Reconcile website, above, is this quote:
Dr. Bob Jones Jr. once wrote, “I try to avoid any statement for which I might have to apologize. If my enemies try to use against me something I have said, I reply, ‘I said it, I meant it, and I will now reemphasize it’” (Cornbread and Caviar, 84). He said it, he meant it, and he spends a number of pages in that chapter of Cornbread and Caviar illustrating his devotion to this dictum.
What is truly unfortunate is that this statement applied not only to actual enemies, but also to Christian brothers. Friends who advised against certain statements and positions unwittingly became enemies. It was supposed that they were resisting the authority of the administrative family, even if the rebuke was carried out in private and with the intent of brotherly correction. Few issues brought as much contention as the issue of race, and exhortations to change positions met with a thunderous defense.
And the same is happening right now, with the issue of homophobia. Bob Jones University does not allow openly GLBT students to attend, period.
When they renounce ALL hate, I might pay attention to them and take them seriously. As it is now, they finally renounce their racism, only when a black man is about to be sworn in as President of the USA.
A defender of Bob Jones University writes me, blood a-boilin, and wants to know WHY I dislike the school. Seriously, he wants to know WHY!! What, dear God, can one say to that?
My reply:
Did you bother to read my posts? Isn't it CLEAR? If not, I can't help you.
My question: How could you NOT hate a backward, reactionary, disgusting, repressive, anachronistic, warmongering, heretical, duplicitous, power-hungry, racist, sexist, homophobic, fascist organization like that, unless you are unAmerican and think repression is GOOD?
The USSR is history. Hopefully, BJU will be next.
Ciao,
Daisy
That answer didn't set too well with BJU-defender. He replied and I pseudo-fisked his reply, most of which is included below for your amusement, edification and as a cautionary tale. Names and details left out to protect actual BJU students. [I will say: I don't know anyone NOW attending Bob Jones University, at this moment. Thus, what I have said below applies only to past students and alumni I have known. BJU ANTI SEX LEAGUE: Please do not use what I have written below to start a witch hunt against anyone NOW attending BJU. Thank you.]
~*~
Mr BJU-Man replies:
Of course it's not clear, Daisy. All I see is a bunch of raw emotion and no facts.
One fact, just one of 12,000 of any "facts" I could randomly provide: gay people are denied the right to marry, a right that heterosexual couples enjoy and that confers the rights of adoption, automatic parental rights, inheritance, tax deductions, insurance, and so forth... and BJU financially backs politicians (proudly!) who avidly work to continue to deny these rights.
Do you deny that this is so?
There's a fact for ya.
Great catch phrases in your description--those self righteous terms are typical of folks that are unwittingly narrow minded. U are simply another simpleton with no understanding of the school, just what U choose to believe.
I've known gay students at BJU who have to slink around and arrange to meet their girl/boyfriends off campus, lest the BJU Anti-Sex-League (SEE: Orwell's 1984) catch them. I've also known AA and NA members, BJU students, who likewise had to lie and sneak around. Why? Why is it the business of the school what individuals do in their personal lives? It has been personally described to me many times as an intrusive, damaging cult environment.
I doubt you have met those particular BJU students, because they would NOT TRUST someone like you, who defends the fascist rules of the school.
Why does what a student does in their off hours matter? That's FASCISM, sorry.
It's so much easier to spout off endless ranting of hate and stereotype than to dig a little deeper and actually educate yourself, right? Hey, the world's a complicated place and it takes a little effort to gain new perspectives.
I've been to the Bob Jones University campus to hear various right-wing speakers, such as Pat Buchanan. It is one of the few times the campus IS open to the public [with the exception of the Art Gallery, a somewhat separate entity].
The students were ordered to attend. I saw and heard for myself their political engagements, the employment of the student body for political ends, the expectation that the students would automatically share the politics of Pat Buchanan and Bob Jones III.
And when BJ III started to talk, BANG, I never saw a buncha kids jump into shape so fast in my life--SHUUUUUSH. Like, right now. Nobody talked over him, or dared say anything while he was speaking. He commanded an almost-cultlike respect, in my humble opinion. Of course you would not agree with me, since I speak as an outsider. You are completely accustomed to the adulation. However, I considered it spooky and Stepford Wives-ish, like a bunch of androids, all dressed alike, all abruptly silenced on cue.
Yes, I do my homework, as I think my posts make clear. Although if you want more posts explaining even further why I dislike BJU, I can certainly provide that.
How about another fact: BJU party hacks monopolize the Republican Party in this area, they pack every local district/precinct meeting and in a block, elect each other as delegates to the state and national conventions. (What EXACTLY does this politicking have to do with the Lord? Render under Caesar, etc.)
[Here in] the USA, unlike the USSR, we celebrate diversity and tolerance.
Does BJU allow openly gay students to attend? No. That is discrimination, not diversity... certainly, it has no resemblance to tolerance. What a joke.
BJU would be glad to support your right to think incorrectly and choose to believe anyway U wrongly desire, because that group of people actually understand the US Constitution and what America is all about. If U ever want to visit the school and learn for yourself what this place is all about, I'd be happy to give U a tour.
I've been many times, XXXX, as stated above. I love the painting of St Francis receiving the stigmata in the art museum, although I find the Catholic-hating theology, cheek-by-jowl with the Catholic art, more examples of the same repugnant, disgusting hypocrisy always present at Bob Jones University.
But hey, I will try not to take it personally, right?
Like I said, I have many gripes about BJU myself, but that doesn't mean I just lump them into a boiling pot of emotion without educating myself first.
I got plenty more where the above examples came from. So I think I am the one educating YOU.
Happy thinking and enjoying your first amendment.
First Amendment is properly capitalized, but probably not at BJU. [Note, this was after he implied I didn't know what certain words meant, so I was being petty and correcting his punctuation. Yes, I know, I know...]
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave his "John Kennedy" speech recently, promising that his Mormonism would not be an issue as President of these United States. At the same time, he talked up faith (generic faith in God, or Christian faith specifically?) as important and crucial. Huh?
Well, Governor, if it is, you have just given everyone the right to question you about it.
In his speech, Romney said:
"Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for President, not a Catholic running for President. Like him, I am an American running for President. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith.
"Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin."
All very well and good. And then, he said:
"We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders – in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'
"Nor would I separate us from our religious heritage. Perhaps the most important question to ask a person of faith who seeks a political office, is this: does he share these American values: the equality of human kind, the obligation to serve one another, and a steadfast commitment to liberty?"
Will the pitch work politically? It's a long shot. There are better ways to go after Mike Huckabee: Romney is not going to out-God a Baptist minister. He could do more damage by spending the days on which he'll now be answering for his religion on blasting Huckabee's tax and immigration record. The speech also raises expectations for Romney's performance in Iowa, because it is the biggest dramatic moment he can create to change the political dynamic. By investing in this way, he makes a possible caucus loss to Huckabee all the more dramatic.
If Romney skirts specific doctrinal questions, he'll get himself out of talking about "reformed" Egyptian hieroglyphics and explaining his view on the afterlife—but also limit his chance to win over voters who want to know about just those things. Vague is bad for Romney: It can make him look calculating and insincere, which is already the rap against him. That's what tripped him up when he talked about the Bible in the debate. He seemed to be dancing around an issue that evangelicals think should be in his heart. Elites mocked George Bush when he said in a debate that his favorite philosopher was Jesus, but to evangelical voters, the quick answer from Bush's gut showed he was really one of them.
I decided I didn't like Romney when he got the endorsement from Bob Jones III. If Pope Bubba likes him, count me out. That tells us all we need to know about him, doesn't it?
On Monday, Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, raised the stakes when he began broadcasting an advertisement in Iowa that emphasizes his faith and declares him to be a “Christian leader” — all in capital letters — which some might view as a shot at Mr. Romney.
Chip Saltsman, Mr. Huckabee’s campaign manager, said the campaign had no intention of making any kind of allusion to Mr. Romney’s being a Mormon, saying the idea was simply to introduce Mr. Huckabee to Iowans.
“It’s not like this is a new issue for him,” said Mr. Saltsman, referring to Mr. Huckabee’s faith. “He’s talked about this issue everywhere he goes.”
Mr. Huckabee’s advisers admit privately they are cognizant of how Mr. Romney’s religion can work against him and how Mr. Huckabee’s evangelical roots are to their advantage at least among some voters. They pointed out, however, that all candidates have aspects of their biographies that can be beneficial or not, depending on the audience.
The issue is a delicate one for Mr. Huckabee. He has waffled in recent interviews about whether he considers Mormons to be Christians. The Southern Baptist Convention, the denomination he is a part of, does not consider Mormons to be part of historic Christianity.
And meanwhile, down in Columbia, Romney is charging Mike Huckabee with being too liberal. (And if that doesn't give you chills, nothing will.)
Romney Assails Huckabee as "Too Liberal"
By Michael D. Shear, Washington Post
December 18, 2007
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney joined the Republican contest this year by pitching himself as the only true conservative.
Now, he finds himself desperately trying to convince people that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee -- a Baptist minister with a staunch pro-life record -- doesn't deserve that label more than he does.
As he began a week-long barnstorming of three early states by plane, Romney assailed Huckabee as a liberal, adding his own voice to television commercials and mailings that his campaign has begun churning out.
Romney told reporters that voters will conclude Huckabee has been "too liberal on immigration," "too liberal on crime" and that he has "too liberal of a spending record and too liberal of a tax record."
On immigration, Romney cited Huckabee's support for a bill that would have granted in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. On crime, he highlighted the 1,033 pardons and commutations Huckabee granted as governor. And on the economy, he said Huckabee presided over a budget that grew from $6 billion to $16 billion.
"I'm convinced that as people take a close look, that the good, conservative Republicans of South Carolina will be supporting a conservative candidate like myself and they won't be supporting governor Huckabee," Romney said. "But time will tell."
A poll out overnight put Romney ahead slightly in South Carolina after another poll had shown him slipping behind Huckabee here, as well as in Iowa. Romney planned to head back to the Hawkeye State for two days of campaigning starting Wednesday.
Romney unveiled a tough, new ad in Iowa attacking Huckabee on the pardon's issue.
"Romney got tough on drugs like meth. He never pardoned a single criminal," the ad says. "And Mike Huckabee? He granted 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers."
Huckabee called the ad "desperate and deplorable."
Romney has 16 days to turn things around. Take out Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Year's day, and that leaves 12 days. Twelve days to regain the leads in Iowa and New Hampshire that he has spent $20 million of his own money to achieve.
On the plane trip, his first during the primary campaign, Romney is squiring a dozen national reporters around South Carolina, and then on to Iowa for two days and then back to New Hampshire for three more days.
It's part of a last-ditch effort to regain momentum in a race that seemed well-in-hand a month ago. But that was before Huckabee knocked Romney off his Iowa pedestal, where he had ruled for months.
Romney aides now say they they don't have to come in first in Iowa. But they acknowledge that coming in second would force them to win outright in New Hampshire four days later despite a flood of negative press that would inevitably develop.
The Mitt Romney signs are everywhere here in the upstate, but I saw my first Huckabee bumper sticker yesterday.
Fascinating article about Billy Graham's career, by James Shannon in Upstate Beat. I often forget that Rev. Graham started out at Bob Jones University, and had a famous falling-out with our local Jones boys.
Some excerpts:
[Marshall] Frady’s biography of Graham contains details of his tangled relationship with another local institution, Bob Jones University. When Billy’s mother Morrow Graham heard Bob Jones, Sr. speak in Charlotte in 1936, she decided her son would attend what was then called Bob Jones College. Founded in 1927 in the Florida panhandle, the small fundamentalist academy had moved to Cleveland, Tennessee in 1933.
As Graham would recount years later, “I didn’t have the slightest idea what kind of school it was. All I knew is that it was Christian.” When the dutiful son followed his mother’s wishes to Bob Jones, he encountered an environment far different from the family farmhouse where he had been raised. Described as “a kind of an evangelical boot camp,” Bob Jones College in 1936 housed students in “grim brick barracks with long low corridors lit with drab glares and posted with notifications like ‘Griping Not Tolerated’ and presided over by the autocratic and irascible figure of Jones.”
At least that’s how Frady described what he called “the Dickensian bleakness” of Bob Jones in those days. When he went home at Christmas after his first semester, Graham persuaded his parents to let him transfer to Florida Bible Institute near Tampa. There he would find respite from cold Tennessee winters and a place where his outgoing personality could be put to more effective use.
Gov. Strom Thurmond invited Graham to stay at the Governor’s Mansion when he held a crusade at the University of South Carolina football stadium in 1950, attended by some 42,000. While he was there, Graham received an invitation to speak at his former school. Now called Bob Jones University, it had moved from Tennessee to Greenville, South Carolina in 1947. In a program held on campus before an overflow crowd, Graham was warmly introduced by school president Bob Jones, Jr. Before the decade was over, however, the position of the school towards their former student would undergo a remarkable transformation.
Although Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. had bestowed an honorary doctor of humanities degree on Graham in 1948, the decision to seek sponsorship from officials of other, non-fundamentalist religions for Graham’s New York crusade in 1957 brought him into sharp conflict with Bob Jones doctrine. Bob Jones Sr. said such outreach across denominational lines violated 2 John 9-11, which prohibits receiving in fellowship those who do “not abide in the teaching of Christ.”
Jonathan Pait, current spokesman for Bob Jones University, would not comment directly on these events that occurred years before he was associated with the school – years before he was even born, for that matter. But Pait was frank in describing the theological impasse that led to the split between Graham and Bob Jones.
“As I understand it, the problems arose when he began moving his crusades in a more ecumenical direction,” says Pait. “Having multiple types of theology to participate in his campaigns - liberal theologians as well as people of other religions who would join in those crusades - is basically giving credence to others with quite different beliefs.”
Although at the time Bob Jones (both senior and junior) insisted there was nothing personal in their position, and Billy Graham attested to his love and respect for both men, the controversy was played out against the backdrop of a broader split between fundamentalists and mainstream Christian churches. Not all of the participants in these disputes adhered to the principles of Christian charity professed by their leaders, and it didn’t help when Graham accepted honorary degrees from two Roman Catholic colleges and had his Boston campaign endorsed by Richard Cardinal Cushing.
It all came to a head when the Graham organization announced they would hold their only American crusade of 1966 in Greenville. The Southern Piedmont Crusade was held from March 3 to 14, 1966 at the mammoth new Textile Hall, drawing tens of thousands of participants – but presumably not any of the 3,800 students of Bob Jones who had been publicly ordered not to attend on threat of expulsion.
Just as the Pope in Rome often makes his views known through encyclicals, matters of faith on the Bob Jones campus are often proclaimed through chapel talks, a tradition begun by the founder and continued by his successor son and grandson. “ The Position of Bob Jones University in Regard to the Proposed Billy Graham Crusade in Greenville, A Chapel Talk by Dr. Bob Jones, Jr., on February 8, 1965 ” was the transcript of one such event that surfaced publicly that year. It proclaims, “The Bible commands that false teachers and men who deny the fundamentals of the faith should be accursed; that is, they shall be criticized and condemned. Billy approves them, Billy condones them, Billy recommends them… I think that Dr. Graham is doing more harm in the cause of Jesus Christ than any living man; that he is leading foolish and untaught Christians, simple people that do not know the Word of God, into disobedience to the Word of God.”
The key sentiment expressed in that 1965 chapel talk, “Dr. Graham is doing more harm in the cause of Jesus Christ than any living man,” is repeated to this day as an example of religious intolerance by Bob Jones, though the view makes a little more sense when viewed in context as a matter of doctrine – or at least it did before Bob Jones III endorsed Mitt Romney for president despite the fact he is a Mormon.
Left: Bob Jones III announces an end to the unpopular ban on interracial dating on CNN's The Larry King Show, March 2000.**
The Romney endorsement by Bob Jones III has the entirety of Bob Jones University in an uproar. It's a beautiful thing! If we're lucky, maybe the whole place will self-destruct. One can only hope!
In one way, it's predictable how they are turning on each other... those who propagate intolerance should not be surprised when that same intolerance is turned on them.
I've learned from my email that lots of people do not know exactly what Bob Jones University is. So, I have decided to let their website do the talking. The following are some quotes from their website, which they have cleaned up considerably since a few years ago, when it basically read like Jonathan Edwards' infamous Sinners in the hands of an angry God. They are putting attractive young women on their site to lure in the boys (the women greatly outnumbered males, so the rumor went), and playing down the fact that no one is allowed to date without an assigned chaperon while staying at the dorms. No TV and no radio, no CDs, unless all related to academics (or BJU-produced radio/TV/CDs, of which there is plenty).
And the clothes-requirements alone, take up a whole page ("morning dress" refers to mandatory chapel attendance at 6:30 am, and the clothing required at that time):
Dress Code for Men
General Dress
* Hair must be cut in a traditional, conservative style–not shaved, spiked, tangled, or shelved. It may not be colored or highlighted.
* Sideburns should not extend past the middle of the ear. Men are expected to remain clean-shaven.
* Necklaces, earrings, and bracelets are not permitted.
* Hats may not be worn indoors except in the gym.
* Men are not permitted to get tattoos or wear body piercings.
Abercrombie & Fitch and its subsidiary Hollister have shown an unusual degree of antagonism to the name of Christ and an unusual display of wickedness in their promotions. In protest, we will not allow articles displaying their logos to be worn, carried, or displayed (even if covered or masked in some way).
Morning Dress–dress shirt (no denim/chambray) with tie, dress or neat casual pants (no jeans, cargo, carpenter, or sloppy pants), dress or leather casual shoes; sweaters should show shirt collar and tie knot (no sweatshirts).
Afternoon Dress–collared shirt (no crew necks), neat casual pants, dress or casual shoes (no slides or sandals), socks above the ankle, sweatshirts or sweaters.
Sunday Dress–coat, tie, and dress shirt; dress shoes; dress or dressier casual pants.
Recreation and Work Dress–jeans, t-shirts, shorts at athletic facilities (not as spectators at sports events), sleeveless athletic shirts (indoor activities only), socks required (including at work).
Dress Code for Women
Classroom/general dress consists of a dress or top and skirt; however, pants may be worn for some recreational activities. Shorts may never be worn outside the residence halls and fitness center.
Tops
* Tops must be long enough that the midriff is never exposed.
* Sleeves are required. (Sleeveless tops and dresses may be worn with a sleeved blouse, jacket or sweater underneath or over top.)
* Necklines may come no lower than four fingers below the collarbone.
Skirts
* Hemlines and slits or other openings should never come higher than the bottom of the knee.
* Denim skirts may be worn for casual dress (not to class or other professional-type events).
Pants
* Loose-fitting pants may be worn between women’s residence halls, for athletic events, and to homes in the area.
* Loose-fitting jeans may be worn in and between women’s residence halls and when participating in activities where the durability of the fabric is important, such as skiing and ice-skating.
* Low-riders are not permitted.
* Shorts may be worn only inside the residence halls and fitness center.
Ease
* All dresses, skirts, pants, and shirts must be loose-fitting, having a minimum of three inches of ease at bust and hips.
* An informal way to measure ease is to stand up straight and pinch the loose fabric on both sides of the hips or at the bust line. Without stretching the fabric, there should be at least a 3/4-inch fold of fabric on both sides.
Other
* Sheer clothing may be worn only when the garment underneath conforms to normal dress regulations.
* Hose must be worn whenever men students are required to wear a coat and tie (including Sunday morning worship services, recitals and productions after 6 p.m., Bible Conference and commencement activities).
* Combat boots, hiking boots or shoes that give this appearance are not permitted. Leather sandals, including those with a strap between the toes, will be permitted at times when women are not required to wear hose. Flip flops made of rubber, plastic, etc., are not permitted in public.
* Hairstyles should be neat, orderly, and feminine. Avoid cutting-edge fads and cuts so short that they take on a masculine look.
* Students are not permitted to get tattoos. Excessive makeup is not permitted. Earrings may be worn only in the lobe of the ear (maximum of two matched sets). All other types of body piercings are prohibited.
Please note the statement concerning Abercrombie & Fitch under Men’s General Dress.
I'm kinda shocked they allow two sets of earrings! But yes, they have to match, you floozies!
~*~
Most righteous video ever made: Soulforce protests at Bob Jones, April 4, 2007:
~*~
They never let the students out of their sight for long. Like most cults, they exert an iron-clad control over their charges:
Loyalty to Christ results in [male and female] separated living. Dishonesty, lewdness, sensual behavior, adultery, homosexuality, sexual perversion of any kind, pornography, illegal use of drugs, and drunkenness all are clearly condemned by God’s Word and prohibited here. Further, we believe that biblical principles preclude gambling, dancing, and the beverage use of alcohol.
Dating and Mixed Groups
We want students to have wholesome social opportunities in a setting that provides accountability for biblical requirements of purity. It is with this in mind that we chaperon campus activities where men and women students are present and require a chaperon when students date or interact in a mixed group off campus.
Work
* Students may work in town until 10:25 pm on weekdays and midnight on weekends. Freshmen must have a prayer captain, assistant prayer captain, or upperclassman with them. Sophomores and upperclassmen may work alone.
* Freshmen and sophomores may not use their vehicles to go to and from work.
* Students may not serve alcoholic beverages when waiting tables at restaurants.
* Students may not do house-to-house sales anywhere in the Greenville area. Students offering services to the community must have a retail license or have clearance from the Dean of Students to do door-to-door solicitation for their services.
* Students may not miss nightly prayer meetings on weekdays.
As you can see, the BJU cult wants to reduce the chance that students might meet anyone who could successfully challenge their world-view.
Residence Hall Life
* A student must live in one of the University residence halls unless he is living with parents or other close relatives (approved by the Dean of Men’s or Dean of Women’s office), is 23 years old or older, is married and over the age of 20, or is a graduate student.
* New students may request a particular roommate. Returning students may request for a friend to be on their hall or in their residence hall.
* For the sake of accountability, students must “check out” when they leave the campus. Students gradually acquire more freedom in this area as they become upperclassmen.
* Each night all students meet for prayer, either as a room or together with several other rooms.
* Students are required to be in their own rooms and quiet at 11 pm. All lights must be out by midnight.
* Students are required to keep their rooms clean and neat. Rooms are inspected daily.
* Facilities and furnishings:
o Laundry facilities are provided.
o All rooms are furnished with twin-sized beds, dressers, desks, closets, cupboards, sink, telephone, and blinds.
o Local intranet and high-speed Internet access is available in each residence hall room.
* An email account is provided for each student. Due to the flood of objectionable content coming through outside email services, students may use only this filtered campus email system.
* All wireless Internet access that bypasses the BJU filters is prohibited. This includes accessing the Internet via cellular phone services (e.g., TMobile, Sprint, Verizon, etc.) and WiMax.
What to Bring
* List of what to bring pdf
* Students may bring automobiles to campus. However, underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) who are under 21 years old may use their vehicles only to drive home and for extension.
* Cell phones are permitted. Students will be instructed in cell phone etiquette.
What Not to Bring
* Posters of movie and music stars and fashion models are not permitted. The subjects of personal photos should not exhibit immodesty or inappropriate physical contact.
* Music must be compatible with the University’s music standards:
o New Age, jazz, rock, and country music is not permitted.
o Contemporary Christian music is not permitted (e.g., Michael W. Smith, Stephen Curtis Chapman, WOW Worship, and so forth).
* Televisions, DVD/videotape players and headphones are not permitted in the residence halls; computer DVD players may not be used to view movies.
* You may not possess or play computer and video games rated T, M, A, or E10, or having elements of blood and gore, sensual or demonic themes, or featuring suggestive dress, bad language, or rock music.
* Due to space considerations, appliances such as mini-refrigerators and microwaves are not permitted in residence hall rooms. A refrigerator and microwaves are provided in each residence hall.
* Residence hall students may not watch videos above a G rating when visiting homes in town and may not attend movie theaters.
* All weapons must be turned in for storage. Trigger locks are required for pistols. Fireworks are not permitted on campus.
Needless to say, they come out of this school far dumber than when they went in. (Some friends tell me that they even edited OUT DAMNED SPOT out of the student production of Macbeth, rendering it OUT, SPOT! ...which of course sounds like what you say to a puppy that has peed on the rug.) There used to be (maybe still is) a video store near BJU that rented BJU-approved movies, which were Hollywood movies that had been edited to pass Bob Jones standards... all sex and dirty words removed. I found this out some years ago during a discussion with a Bob Jones alumnus with whom I worked. We were chatting about THE GODFATHER films, which I was surprised to learn she had seen and liked. We got to the part of GODFATHER II where Kay Corleone (Diane Keaton) tells Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) about her abortion. She couldn't remember that. Couldn't remember? A fundie can't remember?
"Ohh!" she chuckled, in that morally-superior tone they always eventually display, "I didn't see the Hollywood version!" (That is what she called it, the Hollywood version. As if the rest of the movie was made somewhere else?) When I looked dumbfounded, she told me about the video outlet that edits such scenes out of movies. So, I said, the light dawning, you really DIDN'T see the Godfather movies? "I saw the purified version, which is the only version I want to see," she sniffed at me.
Purified! That is the word she used.
Their knowledge of the world around them is minuscule and pathetic, in just this truncated, ignorant manner. And they are proud of their stupidity, not the least bit ashamed. They consider the ignorance evidence of godliness, which is the truly tragic part.
~*~
A collection of random video, Soulforce vs. BJU and their assorted droogs:
~*~
The Bob Jones people have, until very recently, kept the rest of Greenville County almost as dumb as they are. They have kept out interesting people, censored bookstores with pickets, demonstrated against Black Sabbath (!) and they have made at least 3 gay people I know leave town in disgust; men who had plenty to offer this place, men who planned to contribute to our collective culture in interesting, challenging ways. Republicans are afraid to challenge them, since they virtually own the party in upstate South Carolina.
The Bob Jones people are a BLIGHT upon the land.
~*~
And so now, they feel betrayed. They should. Bob Jones III, like his father and grandfather before him, has preached the gospel of separation, not even allowing kids at the high school (of course, they start them young, and have K-12) to enter organizations that include Mormons and Catholics. And now, it seems BJ3 has done a 180-degree turn. Mormons are deemed acceptable when it comes to politics, since the important thing is keeping the gays and women in their place. And, well, let's face it, the fundamentalist Mormons know how. You can almost hear the admiration in BJ3 as he defends his choice.
Will they finally wake up? Will they see his hypocrisy, that he has one standard for himself and another for them?
Jones’ Romney endorsement sparks division Bob Jones III says he’s expressing a personal opinion, but critics question his choice
Published: Monday, October 22, 2007
By Ron BarnettSTAFF WRITER, Greenville News
The Bob Jones University family has never followed Bob Jones III in lockstep fashion, school officials will tell you.
But Jones' surprise endorsement of Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary has sparked a sharp division of opinion in this stronghold of Christian fundamentalism.
Within an hour of the story hitting the Internet on Greenville-Online.com last Tuesday, e-mails and chat began to come in from BJU people who felt "Dr. Bob" had abandoned his religious principles in the name of political pragmatism by supporting a Mormon.
"For 10 years, I have proudly worn my BJU signet ring," 1997 graduate Tamara Valdes-Russell wrote. "... After today's announcement ... I may need to put this ring in a drawer for the shame of the legacy that has been left behind by the leaders of a once-great institution."
Jones told The Greenville News he thinks Romney is the best choice among candidates capable of beating Hillary Clinton and that they share the same values, despite Romney's adherence to a religion Jones believes is un-Christian. He said he wasn't speaking for the university but stating his personal opinion.
Students at BJU are taught that Mormonism is at odds with basic Christian doctrine, said Royce Short, dean of the School of Religion. Mormon belief in books other than the Bible having the same authority as the Bible, and a view of God not being a trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit are just a couple of the differences between the religions, he said.
Short said he's not sure who he will vote for, but he added, "My religious views would all factor into these things, but it wouldn't keep me from voting for someone who was a Mormon."
Mixed reaction
Reaction to Jones' endorsement has been "mixed," BJU spokesman Jonathan Pait said, although he doesn't see the endorsement, or the reaction, as representing a change in the university's hard-line fundamentalist Christian culture.
"There's always been diversity of viewpoint among people who are part of our university family," Pait said. "That's nothing new. It just so happens that during this election season there is more than one choice for people to be looking at."
Stephen Jones, Bob Jones III's son* who became the university's president two years ago when his father stepped into the chancellor role, prefers to stay out of politics and hasn't endorsed anyone, Pait said.
"When he became president, he stated that he wanted to put his focus on the university itself, and I think that's where he has his focus," he said.
The Greenville News attempted to contact all seven of BJU's deans last week. Three said they weren't endorsing anyone for president, three couldn't be reached, and one -- Greenville County Councilman Bob Taylor -- said he is endorsing Romney.
Even before Jones made his position known through The Greenville News last week, Taylor, dean of the school's College of Arts and Science, made national headlines by telling a reporter for The Wall Street Journal that he supported Romney.
"I think it would be a great change to see a president kind of go outside the beltway and find some people to formulate solutions to some of our major problems," Taylor told The News.
As to their religious differences, Taylor said he disagrees on religion with all of the frontrunners on the GOP side, who he identified as Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson.
"That's not the point at all," Taylor said. "It (religion) is not the issue in the campaign."
Sid Cates, Taylor's colleague on the County Council and principal of Bob Jones Academy, said he's not endorsing anyone, but he's leaning toward former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
"He is more in agreement with my religious background, so I'm leaning in that direction," he said.
"If it came down between Hillary and Romney, I would go with Romney," he added. "I would hope Romney would give Huckabee serious consideration for a vice presidential candidate."
Romney won the support of another high-profile South Carolina evangelical on Friday, when Dr. Don Wilton, former president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and pastor of a 6,900-member megachurch in Spartanburg, announced his support.
"His values are my values -- protecting the sanctity of human life, defending marriage and strengthening the family," Wilton said in a press release from the Romney campaign.
"While we may not agree on theology, Gov. Romney and I agree that this election is about our country heading in the right direction," said Wilton, whose influence reaches far beyond South Carolina with a national TV program broadcast from his church. "Gov. Romney is the best candidate to stand for conservative values in Washington." No consensus
That mantle, however, remained up for grabs this weekend at a meeting in Washington, D.C., organized by the conservative Family Research Council.
Tony Beam, vice president for student services at North Greenville University and director of the school's Christian Worldview Center, broadcast his daily radio show on Christian Talk AM-660 from the Washington meeting.
Beyond his differences with Romney on religion, the Mormon's change of opinion on abortion and gay rights gives Beam serious reservations about him.
"I'm not sure why we feel like Romney's the best candidate for evangelical believers when there are good candidates that have track records," Beam told The News.
He's endorsing Huckabee.
The group will have a straw poll at the conclusion of the weekend event, in which many of the candidates are speaking, and hopes to come away with a consensus that can help bring together the fractured evangelical voting block.
Dr. Frank Page, pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church, said he feels a temptation to use his position as president of the 16 million member Southern Baptist Convention to influence evangelical voters toward a particular candidate, but he doesn't think it is appropriate for him to endorse anyone.
He has met with four of the Republican candidates and spoken with Romney on the phone and understands Jones' political pragmatism in supporting him.
"I certainly have difficulty with Romney's religion, but I do understand that a person feels that they need to endorse someone," he said. "Reality is reality. Very few candidates are going to have a concurrence in every belief system as well as every social and moral issue. And people feel that they need to identify with the one that comes closest in one of those areas."
Of Romney, Page said, "I think he is a great leader. I think he's done a wonderful job in Massachusetts, which is an 88 percent Democrat state."
He said he told Giuliani that he has a problem with the former New York mayor's position on social issues.
Scott Case, a former Greenville County councilman and current county auditor and BJU alumnus, said he's not endorsing anyone and wouldn't comment on Jones' endorsement, other than to say, "That's a personal decision everybody gets to make."
He added: "I could not publicly endorse Mr. Romney because of personal convictions. However, in a matchup between Mr. Romney and Mrs. Clinton, I would vote for him."
Full disclosure: I once argued with the annoying Mr Pait on live radio. Eventually, they cut me off. It was just like Bill O'Reilly!
As Alan Freed supposedly once said: You can stop me, and you can stop the show, but you can't stop rock and roll! I'd like to spray-paint that phrase on that enormous cinderblock barrier that divides BJU from Pleasantburg Drive and all the rest of us lowly sinners, but of course, as you can plainly see in the videos, they have their own police force, too. And a college who arrests openly gay people simply for "trespassing" onto the campus, would probably arrest me for spray-painting, I figure.
And so, I write it here.
*Bob Jones VI went to graduate school at Notre Dame, which shocked everybody, and then got himself arrested in DC for drunk driving. Thus, little brother had to take the job. I don't have any other details, but I anxiously await all gossip; operators are standing by!
