The BJU Interracial Dating Ban… In Print

“How long will it be before most Christians are as ashamed of their current stance on gay rights as they are looking at that handbook with the interracial ban?”
Are you certain that most Christians (of the type that would go to BJU) are really ashamed when they look at that handbook?  I would tend to suspect they changed it more in response to outside pressures than due to any real sense of shame or inappropriateness.  But perhaps I’m being excessively cynical *shrugs*.

I’m guessing it’ll be about 30-40 years before gay marriage gets pretty much completely accepted in America. I’ve also accepted the fact that as soon as gays get acceptance in this country the same churches and religious groups that fought so hard against them will try to claim credit for it. 

Does anyone know if non-whites attended BJU pre-2000? I would like to know what they thought of it.  What was the official reasoning behind this stipulation?

There are many people who still support the interracial ban. The dogmatic right wing nuts, the tea party, fundagelicals and many Republicans are very racist, misogynistic and xenophobic.

You can read their current “Statement about Race at BJU” here:

http://www.bju.edu/welcome/who-we-are/race-statement.php

Here’s an interesting morsel:

“BJU’s history has been chiefly characterized by striving to achieve
those goals; but like any human institution, we have failures as well.
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 principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the
culture rather than providing a clear Christian counterpoint to it.”

Appears they are attempting to use their shady past to their advantage. 

Oh, and while you’re at their site, take a minute to peruse some of the science degrees they offer (and be sure to check the first two learning objectives for each one). 

“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 principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than providing a clear Christian counterpoint to it.”

They CONFORMED TO THE CULTURE by having an interracial ban on the books through 2000?  Seriously?  What a load of bunk *shakes head*.

What a load of bunk indeed.  The big red flag is really what university would have a “statement about race” in the first place?  But once again, they were victimized … by segregationist ethos… 46 years after Brown vs. the Board of Education.

Here’s a link to the current BJU handbook.  And it’s freaky, and completely batshit crazy.  

They have a real big problem with woman wearing hiking boots.  But the strangest part is when they talk about commuter students:

“Note: Students may live with a single aunt or uncle provided the student and the aunt/uncle are of the same gender or if another sibling also lives there or if both are graduate students.”

Are they afraid that a student is going to shack-up with an aunt or uncle?  

Although there is one line I agree with “Fauxhawks are not appropriate.” 

Not to pick a nit here, but is it also the business of Bob Jones University to know the proper use of an apostrophe for a gender-neutral pronoun?  No?  Too much to ask?  [shrug]

On and off campus, physical contact between men and women students is
not allowed.

Groups need to include an odd ratio of genders and at least one
student with advanced privileges or every fve students in the group.

And this is a disturbing one…

With dean’s approval, resident male students may date a commuter
student or non-student in town, including the daughter of a faculty/
staff member living at home.
•
To date a non-student in town, women students are to be
chaperoned by either a faculty/staff member or her parents/
grandparents or those o her date.

In looking through the handbook, they do a pretty good job of developing school policy to minimize or eliminate any hanky-panky between boys and girls.  But I fear they haven’t done enough to prevent hanky-panky between same-sex students within the same-sex dorms.  Hopefully for the concerned Christian parents, they have security cameras installed in all dormitory rooms (including bathrooms)  so that all student activities can be monitored 24/7 by authorized University officials.   

Brilliant.

What on earth is an “amphitorium”?  It’s like they mixed “amphitheater” and “auditorium” and took out the parts that actually gave it a meaning.  Instead of being “a place for hearing”, it’s a “double-thingy”.  STUPID.  Have some respect for the English language!

Also, what everyone else said.

I’m sure multi-racial people generally avoided the BJU, but I wonder what would happen if someone like my wife who is black, maybe white, and Native American attended.  Would they just not be allowed to date?  How did they enforce it?  The 1/4 rule or the 1 drop rule or what?  What if you are a black latino and want to date a Caucasian latina?  Is that multi-racial enough,  how about a black latino and a black woman from England?

I dunno, I like to just stop and look at the sheer insanity of trying to enforce such a policy.  Wonder if anyone got booted for being German and dating an Irishman…

Actually, socializing between Germans and Irish would have been a big no-no in the U.S. during the 1850s.

I have a friend who attended Bob Jones in the 1970s.

Her dad was a good ole boy from West Virginia who married a Japanese woman he met while stationed there. She is a Hapa – half-Asian, half-Caucasian.

We always laugh now that my friend could not have dated anyone there because she was mixed race herself!

At the time the whole thing didn’t bother her because she was a deluded fundie like all of them. Now, she’s a fairly secular person, though probably wouldn’t call herself an atheist. And she never admits to going there because she’s totally embarrassed about it.

wow, that’s stupid stuff

Just stumbled across this site, that’s why this is a “delayed reaction” :).  I attended BJU for 5 semesters in the early 90s, before transferring to an accredited school.  (For the record, I was from a crazy-controlling abusive family and my parents said BJU was my only choice if I wanted to be “allowed” to attend college–though I paid for it entirely on my own, and forfeited scholarships to other colleges.  Transferring was a cardinal sin.)  One of my roommates was white and deeply loved an Asian American guy (student) from SoCal.  His family had been in the US for 5 generations–he was more “american” than she was.  Due to the rule, they had to sneak to talk on the phone, had to NEVER greet in public, couldn’t meet for dates, etc.  Someone ratted them out to the Dean of Women and she was pulled in and grilled, given many demerits, and threatened with expulsion…for talking to him on the phone.  They said she was guilty of the “appearance of evil”.  The next year, my roommate was a foreign student from South America.  She was latina, with beautifully dark skin, and barely spoke English.  She openly dated white boys with no questions asked or problems raised by the Dean of Women. I had a dear friend there who happened to be black, but he would get nervous whenever someone came up and we were talking–we’d get dirty looks, etc.  It was CRAZY.  I am one of the aforementioned who are embarrassed/ashamed for having ever attended this cult-like, racist, sexist institution…I wish it would never have opened. 

Bob Jones University…white skin worshipping pagans masquerading as Christians…exactly the anti-Christ of the end times the Bible talks about!