Bob Jones University
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The current president of the university is Bob Jones III, grandson of the founder. It was announced in January 2005 that his son, Stephen Jones, will take over as president in May of 2005. The university has a staff of 1,800 and a student body of 4,200, and offers degrees in 126 majors, plus additional schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. The University is currently seeking accreditation through the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. The process is expected to be completed by 2005.
Its mission statement is "Within the cultural and academic soil of liberal arts education, Bob Jones University exists to grow Christlike character that is Scripturally disciplined; others-serving; God-loving; Christ-proclaiming; and focused above."
The school also produces a vast quantity of textbooks and other material under the name Bob Jones University Press.
Records
On December 3, 2004, the school broke the World Record for Christmas caroling with 7,514 carolers.
History
BJU was founded in 1927 by evangelist Bob Jones, Sr., in College Point, Florida. Jones was the son of an Alabama sharecropper. His stated purpose was to create a school where Christian students could receive a high-quality education in a strongly traditional Christian environment.
The school moved to Cleveland, Tennessee in 1933, and to its present campus in Greenville, South Carolina in 1947.
From its 1927 founding to 1971, black people were prohibited from enrolling at the school. From 1971 to 1975, only unmarried black people were permitted to apply to the school. After the 1975 court decision of McCrary v. Runyon, which prohibited racial exclusion from private schools, the policy was changed. A person of any race could apply to the school, but the school adopted a disciplinary rule prohibiting interracial dating or marriage:
- There is to be no interracial dating.
- 1. Students who are partners in an interracial marriage will be expelled. [461 U.S. 574, 581]
- 2. Students who are members of or affiliated with any group or organization which holds as one of its goals or advocates interracial marriage will be expelled.
- 3. Students who date outside of their own race will be expelled.
- 4. Students who espouse, promote, or encourage others to violate the University's dating rules and regulations will be expelled."
The former policies of Bob Jones University on interracial dating are indebted to the founder's view that the Bible forbids interracial dating and marriage, though today, Bob Jones University sometimes claims that the policy is a product of a (1950s) legal threat on the part of the parents of a female Asian student (who threatened legal action after learning that their daughter was dating a white student).
The school lost its Internal Revenue Service tax exemption in 1980 because of its anti-interracial dating policy. The school appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the school met the criteria for tax-exempt status on several counts, including that the school engaged in racial discrimination on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs. U.S. President Ronald Reagan supported the school's tax exempt status, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1983 in favour of the IRS (see Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574) and the school does not intend to seek tax-exempt status again. In 2000, the policy was dropped in its entirety[1] (http://www.cnn.com/transcripts/0003/03/lkl.00.html) (after some experimentation with a policy of parental consent for interracial dating) shortly after the State of South Carolina formally legalized interracial marriage.
Academics
The University is composed of six colleges and schools that offer over 125 undergraduate majors. Among these majors are fourteen "trade school" programs that range from aircraft management to cosmetology. Classes are also offered by correspondence and also through the Univeristy's live, interactive satellite system.
Graduates have been accepted into medical schools at a rate that exceeds the national average. Graduates in other fields have been accepted into many law schools, and other graduate programs at other colleges and universities.
Art gallery
Bob Jones, Jr., son of the founder, had an interest in art depicting scenes from the Bible, especially those which had a highly illustrative nature rather than those relying on symbols. He began collecting after World War II, and concentrated on Italian Baroque painters. This style was out of favor in the mid-20th century and the works were relatively inexpensive, and Jones built up an important collection. He donated his paintings to a museum at the University. The BJU Museum & Gallery (http://www.bjumg.org) now is considered the largest collection of religious art in the Western Hemisphere.
Creed
Students at BJU recite the University Creed at chapel services each day.
- I believe in the inspiration of the Bible (both the Old and the New Testaments); the creation of man by the direct act of God; the incarnation and virgin birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; His identification as the Son of God; His vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind by the shedding of His blood on the cross; the resurrection of His body from the tomb; His power to save men from sin; the new birth through the regeneration by the Holy Spirit; and the gift of eternal life by the grace of God.
Biology
The BJU biology department proudly proclaims its support for creationism. Its Dept. of Biology website states:
- Although Bob Jones University is primarily a teaching institution, the members of the science faculty have a long tradition of speaking, writing, and doing research related to defending the Bible's account of creation.
Since mainstream biological scientists generally prefer the theory of evolution as an explanation of biological diversity, this embrace of creationism is likely one of the major reasons that the BJU biology department has chosen to forego accreditation until recently.
Extracurriculars
The University has an intramural sports program in many different fields including soccer, basketball, softball, track, volleyball, tennis, badminton, and table tennis. The highlight of the sports season is the Turkey Bowl, where the top two societies (the University's version of fraternities and sororities) compete in a soccer match usually during Thanksgiving.
The University also competes in intercollegiate debate in the National Educational Debate Association.
Political campaigns
Over the years many gubernatorial and presidential candidates have spoken at the school, including Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, Bob Dole, and Alan Keyes. Democrats tend to avoid the school, and on a national level, it is mainly Republicans who appear there (see Southern strategy).
On February 2, 2000, George W. Bush, while campaigning to become U.S. President, addressed the school's chapel service. Many people, including many American conservatives, disagreed with Bush's decision to speak at the controversial institution. Bush's speech did not include any mention of either the school's ban on interracial dating or its alleged anti-Catholic sentiments. Following public outcry, the Bush campaign promptly released remarks declaring that Bush was neither anti-Catholic nor a racist, and that his brother Jeb Bush could not have dated his wife (who is Latina) if he had attended the school (Bush's campaign apparently misunderstood the difference between ethnicity and race). Bush also appeared before the press to deny that he either knew or approved of what he regarded as the school's intolerant policies.
On February 26, after twenty-four days of considerable media pressure, Bush also wrote a formal letter of apology to Cardinal John O'Connor of New York for failing to denounce Bob Jones University's history of strongly anti-Catholic prejudice (among other things, the university's founder once called the Catholic Church a "satanic cult"). At a news conference following the letter's release, Bush stated: "I make no excuses. I had an opportunity and I missed it. I regret that." and "I wish I had gotten up then and seized the moment to set a tone, a tone that I had set in Texas, a positive and inclusive tone."
On March 3, the school issued a "Letter to the Nation" defending their position and arguing that the real issue of the media pressure was religious freedom. [2] (http://www.bju.edu/aboutbju/special_articles/response/response.html)
Famous alumni
- Asa Hutchinson is a former Arkansas lawyer and U.S. Congressman who was confirmed by unanimous vote of the Senate in January 2003 to become Under Secretary for Border & Transportation Security with the Department of Homeland Security.
- Tim Hutchinson, brother of Asa Hutchinson, is a former pastor, U.S. Congressman, and U.S. senator.
- Billy Kim is the president of the Baptist World Alliance.
- Ian Paisley is a politician and church leader in Northern Ireland who did not actually graduate from the school, but was given an honorary degree.
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