Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University (BJU) is a private evangelical university in Greenville, South Carolina. It is known for its conservative cultural and religious positions. The university, with approximately 3,000 students, is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. In 2017, the university estimated the number of its graduates at 40,184.[3]
Ancillary ministries[edit]
Unusual Films[edit]
Both Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr. believed that film could be an excellent medium for mass evangelism, and in 1950, the university established Unusual Films within the School of Fine Arts.[95] (The studio name derives from a former BJU promotional slogan, "The World's Most Unusual University".)[96] Bob Jones Jr. selected a speech teacher, Katherine Stenholm, as the first director. Although she had no experience in cinema, she took summer courses at the University of Southern California and received personal instruction from Hollywood specialists, such as Rudolph Sternad.[97]
Unusual Films has produced seven feature-length films, each with an evangelistic emphasis: Wine of Morning, Red Runs the River, Flame in the Wind, Sheffey, Beyond the Night, The Printing, and Milltown Pride.[98] Wine of Morning (1955), based on a novel by Bob Jones Jr., represented the United States at the Cannes Film Festival.[99] The first four films are historical dramas set, respectively, in the time of Christ, the U.S. Civil War, 16th-century Spain, and the late 19th-century South—the latter a fictionalized treatment of the life of Methodist evangelist, Robert Sayers Sheffey. Beyond the Night closely follows an actual 20th-century missionary saga in Central Africa, and The Printing uses composite characters to portray the persecution of believers in the former Soviet Union. According to The Dove Foundation, The Printing "no doubt will urge Christian believers everywhere to appreciate the freedoms they enjoy. It is inspiring!" [100] In 1999, Unusual Films began producing feature films for children, including The Treasure Map,[101] Project Dinosaur,[102] and Appalachian Trial.[103] They also released a short animated film for children, The Golden Rom.[104] Unusual Films returned to their customary format in 2011 with their release of Milltown Pride, a historical film set in 1920s upstate South Carolina.[105]
Unusual Films also maintains a student film production program. The Film and Digital Storytelling program provides professional training in motion picture production.[106] This training combines classroom instruction with hands-on experience in various areas, including directing, editing, and cinematography. Before graduation, seniors produce high-definition short films which they write, direct, and edit.[107]
Controversies[edit]
Sexual abuse reports[edit]
In December 2011, in response to accusations of mishandling of student reports of sexual abuse (most of which had occurred in their home churches when the students were minors) and a concurrent reporting issue at a church pastored by a university board member,[113] the BJU board of trustees hired an independent ombudsman, GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), to investigate.[114] Released in December 2014, the GRACE report suggested that BJU had discouraged students from reporting past sexual abuse, and though the university declined to implement many of the report's recommendations, President Steve Pettit formally apologized "to those who felt they did not receive from us genuine love, compassion, understanding, and support after suffering sexual abuse or assault".[114][115][116][117] The university's mishandling of sexual abuse in the past came into light again in August 2020 when a student filed a lawsuit against Bob Jones University and Furman University alleging both administrations ignored the sexual assault report and expelled the student for consuming alcohol, which is against the Student Code of Conduct handbook.[118][119]
Racial policies and ban on interracial dating[edit]
Although BJU had admitted Asian students and other ethnic groups from its inception, it did not enroll African or African-American students until 1971. From 1971 to 1975, BJU admitted only married Black people. However, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had already determined in 1970 that "private schools with racially discriminatory admissions policies" were not entitled to federal tax exemption. In 1975, the University Board of Trustees authorized a policy change to admit Black students, a move that occurred shortly before the announcement of the Supreme Court decision in Runyon v. McCrary (427 U.S. 160 [1976]), which prohibited racial exclusion in private schools.[120] In May 1975, BJU expanded rules against interracial dating and marriage.[121]
In 1976, the Internal Revenue Service revoked the university's tax exemption retroactively to December 1, 1970, because it practiced racial discrimination.[122] The case eventually was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982. After BJU lost the decision in Bob Jones University v. United States (461 U.S. 574)[1983], the university chose to maintain its interracial dating policy and pay a million dollars in back taxes. The year following the Court decision, contributions to the university declined by 13 percent.[123] In 2000, following a media uproar prompted by the visit of presidential candidate George W. Bush to the university, Bob Jones III dropped the university's interracial dating rule, announcing the change on CNN's Larry King Live.[124] In the same year, Bob Jones III drew criticism after reposting a letter on the university's web page referring to Mormons and Catholics as being members of "cults which call themselves Christian".[125]
In 2005, Stephen Jones, great-grandson of the founder, became BJU's president on the same day that he received his PhD from the school. Bob Jones III then took the title Chancellor. In 2008, the university declared itself "profoundly sorry" for having allowed "institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful".[126] That year, BJU enrolled students from fifty states and nearly fifty countries, representing diverse ethnicities and cultures, and the BJU administration declared itself "committed to maintaining on the campus the racial and cultural diversity and harmony characteristic of the true Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world".[127]
In his first meeting with the university cabinet in 2014, the fifth president Steve Pettit said it was appropriate for BJU to regain its tax-exempt status because BJU no longer held its earlier positions about race. "The Bible is clear," said Pettit, "We are made of one blood." By February 17, 2017, the IRS website had listed the university as a 501(c)(3) organization,[128] and by May 2017, BJU had forged a working relationship with Greenville's Phillis Wheatley Center.[129] In 2017, 9% of the student body was "from the American minority population".[130]