November 21, 2008

Bob Jones U. Apologizes for Past Racist Policies

Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian college in South Carolina, posted a statement on its Web site yesterday apologizing for its past racist policies, the Associated Press reported.

The university, which did not admit African-American students until 1971, had a policy forbidding interracial dating until 2000. Those policies were based in segregationist culture, not Scripture, the statement says.

In the spring of 2000, Bob Jones III, the university’s president at the time, made a surprise announcement reversing the dating policy on Larry King Live, the television talk show. That same week, however, the Greenville News, a local newpaper, reported that students would still need a note from their parents to date someone of another race.

The university said its current president, Stephen Jones, who is Bob Jones III’s son, had decided to issue the statement because he still fields questions about the institution’s views on race. —Beckie Supiano

Comments

1. This is a joke right? A note from parents to date someone of another race? It never ends. This is the silliest thing I have ever heard.

   — Marjorie    Nov 21, 03:48 PM    #

2. Here’s something even sillier: Appending the word “University” to “Bob Jones.”

   — Lawrence S. Lerner    Nov 21, 03:50 PM    #

3. Dateline 2078, South Carolina: Bob Jones University issues apology for past anti-gay policies, though gay students will still need a note from their parents to look fabulous.

   — Pete    Nov 21, 03:53 PM    #

4. BJU is a VERY conservative institution. The note from parents makes more sense when you consider that all college students also have to have a chaperone to go on a date, that women can only wear pants in limited circumstances and that every other aspect of a student’s conduct, dress and personal life is monitored and controlled by the university. There are still more places like this out there than one might think. And it only took them 45 years after Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech to make that statement. Wow, what progress.

   — Aly    Nov 21, 04:06 PM    #

5. Bob Jones University—an unaccredited Bible school—is indeed a deeply weird, and in some respects a deeply creepy institution. However, I’m not going to mock them for taking a step in the right direction, however belatedly. “There is more joy in Heaven when a sinner repenteth…” (Lk. 15:7)

   — Gustave    Nov 21, 04:14 PM    #

6. Thanks for comment #3, Pete. Hilarious. I was about to post something similar but not as witty. BTW, I went to the school across town, Furman (Baptist-affiliated at the time – no more, thank God), and we were considered “fallen” because we weren’t as good Christians as the BJU students. I still remember driving by their campus and seeing women playing tennis in long skirts in the early 80’s.

   — scotteebee    Nov 21, 04:14 PM    #

7. I’m sure the 45 (out of 4000) African Americans who go there are very happy to hear this.

   — San Diego    Nov 21, 04:37 PM    #

8. At least they apologized…

   — Wm    Nov 21, 04:40 PM    #

9. #4: You are not describing life in some Islamic state in the Middle East, are you?

   — spen-sir    Nov 21, 04:42 PM    #

10. If color is only skin deep, why would anyone refer to bob jones u as a “conservative” institution? one can be conservative on fiscal policy and foreign policy where reasonable options exist. the term “conservative” is demeaned when applied to matters involving race. Should blood centers separate blood donated by whites and blacks? what is the conservative position on this? What reasonable steps should interracial couples have taken not to avoid punishment under bju’s no interracial dating rules? change their skin color? At least be honest as to the foundation and purpose of these rules and “conservative” does not explain it. White supremacy and the notion of inherient black inferiority go more directly to the point. what does bill buckley have to do with this? Did jackie robinson finally develope sufficient speed to break the major league “color barrier” or should we call what happened to him and other black players something closer to the truth?

    — david j. harris    Nov 21, 04:47 PM    #

11. Asa and Tim Hutchinson (Arkansas politicos of some national prominence) apparently are the most noteworthy BJU alumni. It would be interesting to hear their take on this.

    — CW    Nov 21, 05:00 PM    #

12. Read their statement. They clearly admit they were wrong and make no excuses. The policy against interracial dating was rescinded 8 years ago. Let’s not bash them for doing the right thing.

    — KC    Nov 21, 05:03 PM    #

13. I wonder when BJU will apologize for teaching its biology students that the theory of evolution is false.

    — CU Alum    Nov 21, 05:23 PM    #

14. As a graduate of Bob Jones (which permitted me to pay for my college education by playing violin solos, etc., when I had no other way to get a BA), I did enough solid learning to score at 97th percentile on the GRE, get admitted to graduate studies at the U of Chicago, join its faculty 5 years later, and become a tenured full prof. I have disagreed with BJU policies, but I disagree far more fervently with people who run the place down because it is Christian and capable of making mistakes and rectifying them. In a federal case in Oregon in which I testified rather recently, the state official who took action against a community college teacher (because she held an unaccredited BJU degree) got sufficiently illuminated so now, on national committees, he describes BJU as a solid institution and recognizes good reasons for refusing to seek accreditation.

    — Don Erickson    Nov 21, 05:29 PM    #

15. 1. “an unaccredited ‘Bible’ institution. Make that “an unaccredited ‘Bible in Translation’ institution.” None of the Jones – I, II, III, or Stephen – knows Latin, Greek, or Hebrew. On the BJU website, the Creed and the Bibe Readings are in Modern English. Just remember: the true Christian learns the language Christ spoke and the Apostles wrote in; the Devil translates.
    2. “another race”: exactly how is one’s “race” determined? Do the students take DNA tests? Does 1% white make one white or black? Must a student’s DNA be 100% attributable to a single race (what constitutes Native American, or Asian, or Aryan DNA is another question) for a student to be “of” that race? The concept of “Race” is as complex as the concept know as “God”.

    — richard    Nov 21, 05:39 PM    #

16. The statement on race that appears on BJU’s website asserts, among other things, that “The true unity of humanity is found only through faith in Christ alone for salvation from sin” and goes on at length in that manner. You’d think the modicum of tolerance they express regarding race might also be extended to other faiths in the US. As a Jew, I am deeply offended by the failure to recognize even the existence of other religions, other denominations of Christianity, and noninstitutionalized forms of faith.

    — Ellen Messer-Davidow    Nov 21, 05:55 PM    #

17. “he describes BJU as a solid institution and recognizes good reasons for refusing to seek accreditation…”

    Good reasons? Wasn’t the reason that BJ University didn’t seek regional accreditation because the school couldn’t meet the governance requirements of SACS?
    “The governing board is free from undue influence from political, religious, or other external bodies and protects the institution
    from such influence.”

    And — to disagree with critics of an institution MORE THAN the blatant discrimination against blacks and other minority groups itself — wow… I don’t recall Jesus teaching us to blame victims of discrimination.

    I went to a Christian (but accredited) school myself. I had a variety of ways to pay for my BA, including scholarships and work study and federal loans if needed. BJ University students can’t get federal loans, partly because of their institutional policies on race I believe.

    — Pete    Nov 21, 05:56 PM    #

18. So now we are defending the right of faculty to get jobs without accredited degrees? OK then I am giving doctorates out in my garage, because the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster says I can.

    — what??    Nov 21, 05:59 PM    #

19. You are wrong, Richard! I benefitted from excellent instruction in the Koine Greek of the New Testament at BJU. I know that Bob Jones II studied it and I would be astonished if other BJU presidents did not do so. Old Testament Hebrew was taught there extensively as well. Furthermore, when Jesus referred to the Old Testament, he, not the devil, was translating.

    — Don Erickson    Nov 21, 06:00 PM    #

20. And you, also, are wrong, “what??”! If you examine the extensive literature on accreditation, as I have done, partly because two of my former U Chicago grad students have headed accrediting associations, you will discover that it is often a very shabby indicator, guaranteeing substantially nothing.

    — Don Erickson    Nov 21, 06:07 PM    #

21. Digusting but mild in comparision to the sweeping discrimination against middle-class white males prevalent in higher ed, especially in research.

    Middle-class white men have to apologize for nearly every dimension of who they are under the “progressive” view of tolerance & inclusion—not to mention the dominant editorial stance of most so-called “research” journals.

    — Mark    Nov 21, 06:15 PM    #

22. One step at a time. More power to them to make more and better steps. On the lighter side, I remember seeing a film called BJ University, but it wasn’t about Christian higher education. Hopefully, BJU won’t go too far in THAT direction!

    — Scott    Nov 21, 06:18 PM    #

23. The reason why Bob Jones did not apply for accreditation, Pete, is that it believed that accreditation associations would interfere with its religious emphasis, and with ample reason. The literature on accreditation provides famous examples of unwarranted interference by accreditation associations, in religious matters and in others.

    — Don Erickson    Nov 21, 06:19 PM    #

24. I apologize on behalf of all the white men in HE aspiring to… in the words (oft frightening) of our fearless leader… change.

    — joe    Nov 21, 06:55 PM    #

25. BJU is an accredited institution. Checked your ACE guide and you would see BJU is accredited by Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. You are correct in stating BJU is not accredited by a regional accrediting association but TRACS is both US Department of Education and CHEA recognized. I find the positions white supremacist positions BJU has taken over the years to be beyond deplorable and in some cases criminal but let’s get the facts straight on accreditation.

    — CapitalistProf    Nov 21, 07:02 PM    #

26. Bob Jones U should be condemned for its irredeemable—yes, irredeemable racist past. It has sinned, like all christian institutions, against the Holy Spirit. However, criticism of policies practiced (even if not universally practiced) by certain Islamists or Islamic institutions should be condemned as racist, intolerant, insensitive, and disprespectful.

    — whatup    Nov 21, 07:50 PM    #

27. #28 There were no “colleges” (in the modern sense) when Jesus was alive.

    #26 Lurn too reed an rite

    — Saul of Tarsus    Nov 21, 08:42 PM    #

28. Come on people, even we find syptoms of Bob Joneism that playout in student-minority professor interactions, minority problems with tenure, promotions, etc. BJ should applauded for doing the right things.

    — Fifi    Nov 21, 08:56 PM    #

29. My opinion of the university of chicago has been greatly diminished. If they hire bob jones graduates, then how good could it be? Why do so-called christian school graduates get angry? The schools discriminate, and then the discriminated speak disparagingly against those who exclude them. It’s as old as Taoist yin-yang thinking. Hate breeds a reaction of hate. Duh.

    — Jason    Nov 21, 10:50 PM    #

30. Call me a cynic, #31—“BJ should applauded for doing the right things.” I’d be more convinced they were doing things for the right reasons if their enrollment wasn’t dropping like a stone…Sounds like a desperate PR stunt to me.

    — Gilda    Nov 22, 12:57 AM    #

31. Seems as if everyone forgets that in most public universities there is a huge bias against conservative Republicans. If you are one and ever want tenure, then you better keep your mouth shut and tow the party line as academe is largely the home of left wing weirdos.

    This is discrimination, also. So, don’t take a “holier than thou” position against BJ. They choose to not be accredited. People choose to attend the school.

    — Oz    Nov 22, 03:53 AM    #

32. I am a senior at Bob Jones and it is apparent that there exists many myths about what campus life is like today.

    First, evolution is taught in biology courses. So, to the idiot that made the remark that it isn’t is, well, an idiot. The vast majority of students that attend Bob Jones have a specific goal in mind: To enter the ministry. Yes, we could go to seminaries ( I plan to, afterwards) but this is the only university that has really accepted me and my beliefs. Because I believe in Christ, I was often ridiculed at two other state universities. “Research Universities” are not exactly the most accepting to those that might not adhere to their secular humanistic beliefs. I entered Bob Jones and found a place that was friendly, people were actually nice, the professors (outside of religion courses) were great. I learned the same calculus at Bob Jones as I would at any other university. The history professors were great. They all gained their doctorates from other institutions, some public some private. I will go to a respected seminary (I’ve already been accepted) and then on to a career as an Army Chaplain.

    I will be serving God and my country. I need no one to tell me about Bob Jones University for it has been very good to me and to many others. Most students here want to go into the ministry. Oh, and Latin and Greek are taught.

    It’s amazing how much misinformation is posted here. It is “information” posted not as a result of actually looking at where our professors got their degrees or what courses are offered (other than religion) but on nothing other than a deeply ingrained antipathy toward religion, in general.

    Sorry folks. “BJ” is here to stay and it is as fine an institution as any other. It is one that actually allows a person to practice their religion without being scorned and ridiculed.

    The best decision I have ever made….Bob Jones University. A career as a military chaplain.

    — student    Nov 22, 04:24 AM    #

33. I have a response to this too long to be a Comment, at http://jacobtlevy.blogspot.com/2008/11/well-yes-and-no.html .

    — Jacob T. Levy    Nov 22, 10:26 AM    #

34. Like Jacob, my comment is too long to be a comment, actually – but I don’t have a blog! So I’ll post it anyway, with apologies for the length…
    I know this is off-topic, but I must respond to the comment: ““You are not describing life in some Islamic state in the Middle East, are you?”“

    I understand that this is meant to be a joke, and I get that, I do. But since your comment is obviously intended as a criticism of intolerance and prejudice, it is inappropriate. Moslems, the Middle East, Arabs, and the rest are conflated into an abstract symbol of backwardness and hatefulness and are used as the default comparison for all actions or comments related to oppression of women, violence, or as in this case, intolerance. Please, don’t do this – it reinforces the discrimination that American Moslems are facing, which is very real even in academia. Here, there, and everywhere, and at all times, people repress, oppress, and unfairly treat others in varying degrees, and yes sometimes in much greater degrees than in Islam and the Middle East. So it would be refreshing if the comparisons did not automatically default to Islam. And of course, BJU isn’t the Middle East or Islamic, is it? It’s Christian and on the east coast of the modern US, and it is hardly an anomaly – it happens to be the most famous of its type, that’s all. I do not wish to be confrontational nor overly defensive (1/2 of my family is Moslem, but I am Scottish and American). I don’t think that those who make such comments even realize it because they have become almost an inseparable aspect of public discourse – not always intended as an actual slur on Islam, as I am almost positive is the case for this comment. But regardless, actions and remarks are no less hurtful because of individual good or indifferent intentions – institutionalized racism has to be consciously counteracted or it will never end.

    — shelley    Nov 22, 11:58 AM    #

35. Scrooge from Christmas Carol is always a scrooge although he changed. Similarly, once a white skin worshipping pagan masquerading as a Christian, always a white skin worshipping pagan masquerading as a Christian. Bob Jones was no different than high caste Hindus in India who dont marry other Hindus of lower caste, and despite the so-called change in policy I am certain many white students come from families who still behave like high caste Hindus, while they masquerade as Christians!

    — George    Nov 22, 04:01 PM    #

36. “Student” (#35) wrote in response to my earlier comment (# 14):

    “First, evolution is taught in biology courses [at BJU]. So, to the idiot that made the remark that it isn’t is, well, an idiot.”

    I didn’t deny that “evolution is taught” at BJU. I said that students are taught that it is false. There’s a difference.

    Here is a web page on which BJU’s science faculty argues that Biblical creationism is a better explanation of the world around us than the accepted theory of evolution: http://www.bju.edu/academics/cas/undergrad/divns/creation/panel/index.html.

    My earlier comment was accurate. Calling me an idiot does not change that fact. “Student” either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about the facts of which he speaks. Either way, it makes me wonder what kind of chaplain he will become. I hope the seminary he plans to attend will teach him the values of humility and honesty — values which I suspect BJU tried to teach him but which he clearly did not learn.

    — CU Alum    Nov 22, 04:54 PM    #

37. Bravo # 35. I hope you become a fantastic military chaplain. I applaud you for serving our country in this turbulent time. As an African American I have to smile at all of the comments about Bob Jones U. I kow of no African Americans who would seriously consider sending their kids to that school because of the race issue. But there may be African international students there. I always wonder about why Bob Jones U wasn’t able to get the federal funds but BYU students did. Of course they saw the “funding light” in the 1970’s. How hyprocrtical. #32, your comment was rude and uncalled for. U of Chicago is a great school and obviously the BJU grad who got tenured there was able to meet the requirements and I am sure they knew his academic background. I applaud him for successfullly going into the proverbial lion’s den that conservative religious scholars face when having to deal with our “PC, so called socially tolerant, seculrar peers.” I am a graduate of a religious institution but I did not get a biblical studies degree. It is amazing how my peers try to make light of my scholarship simply because of the school. Then when they learn what I can do and what I know, that all changes.

    — Liz C    Nov 22, 05:07 PM    #

38. Discrimination is when bigots are deprived of funding for banning interracial dating; tolerance is when bigots are allowed to harass “minorities” in the name of “free speech”; “PC” is when anyone defies our ‘tolerant’ bigoted regime and practices ‘discrimination’ (as defined above.)”

    Black is white!

    Freedom is slavery!

    Ignorance is strength!

    — Winston Smith    Nov 22, 06:45 PM    #

39. Wow! I have never been so proud to be an atheist. I used to think right-wing, religious nutjobs were just ridiculous…but if you compare the US in 2000 to the US in 2008 you can see that they are actually quite dangerous.

    — Kurt    Nov 23, 05:29 AM    #

40. It comes down to one thing: If you don’t agree with BJ’s policies, then you don’t have to go and you can advise everyone you know not to go. Ignore it. It matters not what the liberals here say about BJ and their stated beliefs and values. They will still exist long after you are.
    Nothing said here will deter students from going to BJU. #42 is a good example. Obviously a far left winger that, I’m sure, espouses “freedom of thought and expression” along with “Freedom of Speech,” but only when it conforms to his or her (whatever you are) own world view. Being religious, more specifically a fundamentalist Christian, does, in no way, make you a “religious nutjob.” liberals preach tolerance but they tolerate only those views that agree with their own. Many (not all) of the liberals that have gluttoned our universities and colleges have beent trying for years, decades in fact, to indoctrinate students into their own tiny world view that is a leftist, anti-religion, and in many ways anti-intellectual. This attempt failed, though they are still trying. And, you see a glimmer of it here in these posts. People here could care less about BJU…they just have to since it is a prism through which you can take a stab at Christianity via BJU. I really doubt anyone at BJU, from the president down the ranks, care at all what people here say. Except “student” whom I am happy to know will do something that I doubt any others here ever did. Serve this nation…serve something higher than your own selfish ideology. IF it were legally possible for the “wise” folks in academe to bar all Conservative Republicans from their schools, I am sure they would….especially those in the Humanities. That is why there are many conservatives that know if they allow their views to be known, they will be blacklisted by their colleagues and probably (note probably) not gaine tenure. Liberalism, in many ways, is much like a religion in its own right.

    It is one of the many reasons why this nation is ranked so far below others nations in education. It cannot all be blamed on high schools. BJU is private and has a legal right to teach what they want (that’s why they don’t want accreditation), and if a person chooses, of their own volition, to attend, then you have no right to say anything about that person nor the college. Anyway, most here know nothing of BJU and just equate it with “Christian” and that elicits emotions in you that you cannot but yield to. You don’t think of how many students actually enjoy their time at BJ, and yes, go on to other school and have successful careers. Anything to debase religion….where is your “freedom of thought, expression, and choice”? Typical liberalism in action. Don’t worry too much, BJU will, again, still be right here long after you’re dust.

    — Oz    Nov 23, 06:34 AM    #

41. Great post, #40! You are quite correct. Personally, there should be an apology from the many universities that so blatently treat conservatives as if they are in some way insane.

    There is a great deal of wonderful scholarship in the field of religion and biblical studies. I am not a theologian but know that the secular humanistic establishment perched in their small little world that they think really matters, are beginning to realize that their attempts at indoctrination and hatred of conservatism, has not nor will never succeed in doing anything but making themselves happy. It is a lion’s den. But, every lion grows old and dies. So, wil the scourge of liberalism and their intolerant attitude toward religion.

    Bravo, to you #40! Good luck in your career.

    — Oz    Nov 23, 06:46 AM    #

42. #39,

    You are correct that what I said in my earlier post were “facts.” However, I should not have called you an idiot. I do apologize for that. Misguided and uninformed are more appropriate adjectives. You have not sat through a single course at BJU and I have. You also have no right to remark about my career. I will be attending, next fall, a very good seminary in another state. You wonder how good of a Chaplain I will be? A much better one than you are as a professor, if you are one at all. I will be helping many people. It seems you like to ridicule more than help others. Your own arrogance is as apparent as the sun rising in the morning. “Humility.” You certainly need a good dose of it and I do, also, all people do. I don’t have to explain myself to you. My destiny has been chosen and I am will be doing what I always wanted. Perhaps, someday, your hardened heart will change. I do not care what you think of me nor BJU. I am happy and I have a very promising career ahead of me. Make fun of me is you wish. Christians have been persecuted physically and verbally throughout history. So, there isn’t anything you can say to hurt my feelings or question my faith nor my career plans.

    — student    Nov 23, 07:02 AM    #

43. None of the Jones – I, II, III, or Stephen – knows Latin, Greek, or Hebrew. On the BJU website, the Creed and the Bibe Readings are in Modern English. Just remember: the true Christian learns the language Christ spoke and the Apostles wrote in

    Because Jesus spoke Latin, Greek, and Hebrew? How about None of the Above?

    — Teh Merkin    Nov 23, 12:59 PM    #

44. For the record, like another poster above I am a graduate of Furman, five miles from Bob Jones. In the early 50’s both my Dad and an Uncle for a short time were students at Bob Jones, as was a close friend of my Mother, who I believe became a graduate and went on to get a doctorate from Penn State; the first woman to do so from her hometown county in Alabama. James Guth is a 30 year poli sci proff at Furman. In April of 2000 he wrote a defense of Bob Jones published in the Christian Century you can still google up. That was at a time when BJU was getting unfavorable publicity for Pres Bush’s speech there. I deplore the stain of Karl Rove on South Carolina and the role some BJU folks played in that smear of John McCain. But I applaud Jim Guth for standing up for the many things Bob Jones can be proud of.

    — Stephen Fox    Nov 24, 04:49 PM    #

45. I believe this apology is “to little to Late” .

    We need to show our displeasure of such policy by the Voting Box and/or with- holding funds directly or indirectly .

    — A Sad Florida Resident    Nov 25, 03:49 AM    #

46. John Pierce, editor of the Progressive Baptists Today has a blog up about all this some of you, especially BJU Grads, will want to see His blog is www.bteditor.blogspot.com

    — Stephen Fox    Nov 25, 02:20 PM    #

47. In my copy of “Science 4 for Christian Schools” (copyright 1990 and 1998, Bob Jones University Press, ISBN 0-89084-433-X), The opening content on page 2 states, “Science can be defined as ‘information gained by using our senses.’ Faith means ‘holding beliefs without seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, or touching the proof of them.” This statement, which sets the table for the entire year of “Science 4…,” twists the true definition of science (which is, merely, the systematic study of the universe – and, therefore, includes a wide variety of fields.) The BJU press definition is clear on its rejection of indirect evidence, as well as its rejection of systematic (or rational) study as a PROCESS. On the next page, the book states, “Evolutionists try to GUESS what events caused things like the moon.” Here, the authors again deliberately debase the process of science. I would certainly think less of any accrediting agency which would sanction this most fundamental attack on science. This is not an issue of religion v. science – the two co-exist beautifully in most of us. Is there a connection between an incorrect view of what science is and does and the similarly incorrect view that Blacks and Whites should not date?

    — Chemboy    Nov 26, 10:22 AM    #

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