View source for Bob Jones University

{{Short description|Evangelical university in Greenville, South Carolina, US}}
{{Infobox university
 | name                   = Bob Jones University
 | native_name            = 
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 | image                  = Bob Jones University Crest.png
 | image_upright          = .72
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 | caption                = 
 | latin_name             = 
 | other_name             = <!-- or |other_names= -->
 | former_name            = Bob Jones College<br/>(1927–1947)
 | motto                  = {{langx|la|Petimus Credimus}}
 | motto_lang             = [[Latin]]
 | mottoeng               = We seek, we trust
 | top_free_label         = <!-- up to |top_free_label2= -->
 | top_free               = <!-- up to |top_free2= -->
 | type                   = [[Private university]]<ref name="nces" />
 | established            = {{start date and age|1927|p=1}}
 | closed                 = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
 | founder                = <!-- or |founders= -->
 | parent                 = 
 | accreditation          = [[Southern Association of Colleges and Schools|SACS]], [[Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools|TRACS]]
 | affiliation            = 
 | religious_affiliation  = [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical Christian]]<ref name="nces" /> (formerly [[Christian fundamentalism]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/academics/christian-education.php|title=Academics at BJU|website=Bob Jones University|language=en-US|access-date=March 3, 2023|archive-date=March 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304232931/http://www.bju.edu/academics/christian-education.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 | academic_affiliation   = <!-- or |academic_affiliations= -->
 | endowment              = $20.5 million (2024)
 | budget                 = 
 | officer_in_charge      = 
 | chair                  = 
 | chairman               = 
 | chairperson            = 
 | chancellor             = [[Bob Jones III]]
 | president              = [[Bruce McAllister (administrator)|Bruce McAllister]]
 | vice_president         = 
 | superintendent         = 
 | vice_chancellor        = 
 | provost                = David Fisher
 | rector                 = 
 | principal              = 
 | director               = 
 | dean                   = 
 | head_label             = 
 | head                   = 
 | academic_staff         = 287<ref name="nces" />
 | total_staff            = 
 | students               = 2,893<ref name="nces">{{cite web |title=Bob Jones University |url=https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Bob+Jones&s=all&id=217749 |website=College Navigator |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics |access-date=14 September 2022}}</ref>
 | undergrad              = 2,477<ref name="nces" />
 | postgrad               = 416<ref name="nces" />
 | doctoral               = 
 | alumni                 = 
 | other_students         = <!-- or |other= -->
 | address                = 
 | city                   = [[Greenville, South Carolina|Greenville]]
 | state                  = South Carolina
 | country                = United States
 | zipcode                = 29614-0001
 | coordinates            = {{coord|34.873|-82.364|type:edu_region:US-SC|display=inline,title}}
 | campus_type            = Small city
 | campus_size            = {{convert|210|acre|ha|0}}<ref name="nces" />
 | language               = 
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 | free                   = <!-- up to |free2= -->
 | colors                 = {{Color box|blue}}{{Color box|white}} Blue and white
 | sports_nickname        = The Bruins
 | sporting_affiliations  = [[National Christian College Athletic Association|NCCAA]] [[List of NCCAA institutions#Division II 5|Division II – South]]
 | mascot                 = Brody the Bruin
 | sports_free_label      = <!-- up to |sports_free_label3= -->
 | sports_free            = <!-- up to |sports_free3= -->
 | website                = {{URL|https://www.bju.edu/|bju.edu}}
 | logo                   = Bob Jones University logo.svg
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'''Bob Jones University''' ('''BJU''') is a [[private university]] in [[Greenville, South Carolina]], United States. It is known for its [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] and [[Evangelicalism in the United States|evangelical]] cultural and religious positions. The university, with approximately 2,900 students, is accredited by the [[Southern Association of Colleges and Schools|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.<ref>''BJU 2016–17 Annual Report—Advancement'', 12.</ref>{{update inline|date=August 2025|reason=This source is almost ten years old}}

==History==
{{Main|History of Bob Jones University}}
[[File:Bob Jones, Sr.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Bob Jones Sr.]], the university's founder]]

During the [[The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy|Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy]] of the 1920s, Christian evangelist [[Bob Jones Sr.]] grew increasingly concerned about what he perceived to be the secularization of higher education and the influence of religious liberalism in denominational colleges. Jones recalled that in 1924, his friend [[William Jennings Bryan]] leaned over to him at a Bible conference service in [[Winona Lake, Indiana]], and said, "If schools and colleges do not quit teaching [[evolution]] as a fact, we are going to become a nation of atheists."<ref>Turner, 19</ref> Though Jones was not a college graduate, he was determined to found a college. On September 12, 1927, Jones opened Bob Jones College in [[Lynn Haven, Florida|Lynn Haven]], Florida, with 88 students. Jones said that although he had been averse to naming the school after himself, his friends overcame his reluctance "with the argument that the school would be called by that name because of my connection with it, and to attempt to give it any other name would confuse the people".<ref>Turner, 23–25. In the earliest years of the college, important contributions were made to its stability by J. Floyd Collins and [[Eunice Hutto]]. Johnson, 180, 198.</ref>

Bob Jones took no salary from the college. He supported the school with personal savings and income from his evangelistic campaigns. The [[Florida land boom]] had peaked in 1925, and a hurricane in September 1926 further reduced land values. Bob Jones College barely survived [[bankruptcy]] and its move to [[Cleveland, Tennessee]], in 1933. In the same year, the college also ended participation in intercollegiate sports. Bankrupt at the nadir of the Depression, without a home and with barely enough money to move its library and office furniture, the college became the largest [[liberal arts]] college in Tennessee thirteen years later. With the enactment of the [[GI Bill]] at the end of [[World War II]], the need for campus expansion to accommodate increased enrollment led to a relocation to South Carolina.<ref>Turner, 68, 101–02.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bju.edu/about/history.php|title=History of BJU|website=Bob Jones University|language=en-US|access-date=October 10, 2018}}</ref>

Though Jones had served as acting president as early as 1934, his son, [[Bob Jones Jr.]] became the school's second president in 1947 before the college moved to [[Greenville, South Carolina]], and became Bob Jones University.<ref>Turner, 57–58. On the move to Greenville see John Matzko, "'This Is It, Isn't It, Brother Stone?' The Move of Bob Jones University from Cleveland, Tennessee, to Greenville, 1946–47", ''South Carolina Historical Magazine'', 108 (July 2007), 235–256. The former Cleveland campus currently serves as the home of [[Lee University]], an institution supported by the [[Church of God (Cleveland)|Church of God]].</ref> In Greenville, the university more than doubled in size within two years and started an AM radio station in 1949 (1260 WMUU with 94.5 WMUU-FM signing on in 1960), film department, and art gallery—the latter of which eventually became one of the largest collections of religious art in the Western Hemisphere.<ref>Hilde S. Hein, ''Public Art: Thinking Museums Differently'' (Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2006), xxix.</ref>

During the late 1950s, BJU and alumnus [[Billy Graham (evangelist)|Billy Graham]], who had attended Bob Jones College for one semester in 1936 and received an [[honorary degree]] from the university in 1948,<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=167}}</ref> had a dispute over the propriety of theological conservatives cooperating with theological liberals to support evangelistic campaigns, a controversy that widened an already growing rift between separatist fundamentalists and other evangelicals.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=180}}</ref> Negative publicity caused by the dispute precipitated a decline in BJU enrollment of about 10% in the years 1956–59, and seven members of the university board (of about a hundred) also resigned in support of Graham, including Graham himself and two of his staff members.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=179–188, 253}}</ref> When, in 1966, Graham held his only American campaign in Greenville,<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=183}} Graham had only three campaigns scheduled that year: London, Berlin, and Greenville, South Carolina.</ref> the university forbade BJU dormitory students to attend under penalty of expulsion.<ref>"No Bob Jones University dormitory student will be permitted to go to a single meeting of the Greenville crusade. No Bob Jones University adult student, if he is married or lives in town, may attend the crusade and remain as a student." [[Bob Jones Jr.]], Chapel talk, February 8, 1965, Mack Library Archives, quoted in {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=184}}. An exception was made for Bob Jones Academy students who lived in the town with their parents.</ref> Enrollment quickly rebounded, and by 1970, there were 3,300 students, approximately 60% more than in 1958.

In 1971, [[Bob Jones III]] became president at age 32, though his father, with the title of Chancellor, continued to exercise considerable administrative authority into the late 1990s.<ref>Turner, 205.</ref> At the 2005 commencement, [[Stephen Jones (administrator)|Stephen Jones]] was installed as the fourth president, and Bob Jones III assumed the title of chancellor.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/about/history.php BJU website].</ref> Stephen Jones resigned in 2014 for health reasons, and evangelist [[Steve Pettit]] was named president, the first president unrelated to the Jones family.<ref>[http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/education/2014/05/08/new-bju-president-announced-today/8857031/ ''Greenville News'', May 9, 2014]  Pettit was formally installed as president on September 19, 2014. [http://www.bju.edu/about/president/program.pdf "Investiture of Stephen D. Pettit as Fifth President of Bob Jones University"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140923085815/http://www.bju.edu/about/president/program.pdf |date=September 23, 2014 }}; ''Greenville News'', September 20, 2014, 1.</ref>

In 2011, the university became a member of the [[Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools]] (TRACS) and reinstated intercollegiate athletics.<ref>"Investiture of Stephen D. Pettit as Fifth President of Bob Jones University" {{cite web |url=http://www.bju.edu/about/president/program.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=September 19, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140923085815/http://www.bju.edu/about/president/program.pdf |archive-date=September 23, 2014 }}; [http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-11/looking-catholic-art-fundamentalist-bob-jones-university-has-it ''Christian Century'', November 2011].</ref> In March 2017, the university regained its federal tax exemption after a complicated restructuring divided the organization into for-profit and non-profit entities,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/education/2017/02/16/bju-regains-nonprofit-status-17-years-after-dropped-discriminatory-policy/98009170/|title=Bob Jones University regains nonprofit status 17 years after it dropped discriminatory policy|website=greenvilleonline.com}}</ref> and in June 2017, it was granted accreditation by the [[Southern Association of Colleges and Schools]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/news/2017-06-accreditation.php|title=BJU Granted Regional Accreditation|website=Bob Jones University}}</ref>

In March 2023, Pettit resigned, effective May 5, citing his inability to work with the chairman of the university's board of trustees.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://baptistnews.com/article/bob-jones-university-president-resigns-in-battle-with-board-chairman/ | title=Bob Jones University president resigns in battle with board chairman | date=March 31, 2023 |first=Mark |last=Wingfield |publisher=[[Baptist News Global]]}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, the president of the board also resigned.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2023/04/06/bob-jones-university-chair-steps-down-after-presidents-resignation-lewis-pettit/70090712007/ |title=Bob Jones University chair John Lewis steps down one week after president's resignation |first=Devyani |last=Chhetri |publisher=[[Greenville News]] |date=April 6, 2023 |accessdate=April 7, 2023}}</ref> Vice President Alan Benson was appointed interim president for the 2023–24 school year. In May 2024, Baptist pastor and BJU alumnus [[Joshua Crockett]] was elected the university's sixth president.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxcarolina.com/2024/05/07/bob-jones-university-announce-new-president-today-4-pm/|title=Board of Trustees announces new president of Bob Jones University|first=FOX Carolina News|last=Staff|date=May 7, 2024|website=www.foxcarolina.com}}</ref> After he returned to his former pastorate in 2025, the Board of Trustees named [[Bruce McAllister (administrator)|Bruce McAllister]], Vice President for Ministry, as the seventh president.<ref>{{Cite web|title=
Bob Jones University announces election of new president|url=https://www.foxcarolina.com/2025/05/20/bob-jones-university-announces-election-new-president/|website=foxcarolina.com|date=May 20, 2025}}</ref>

==Academics==
{{Infobox US university ranking
| USNWR_REG = 17 (tie) of 122
| Wamo_MAS = 171 of 589
}}
The university comprises seven colleges and schools offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, including fourteen associate degree programs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/academics/majors/|title=Programs of Study|work=Bob Jones University|access-date=June 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210055420/http://www.bju.edu/academics/majors/|archive-date=December 10, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Many of the university employees consider their positions as much ministries as jobs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|publisher=BJU Press|year=1997|pages=251–252}}{{cite book|author=Wright, Melton|title=Fortress of Faith: The Story of Bob Jones University|publisher=BJU Press|year=1984|page=194}}: "Bob Jones University has a scholarly, dedicated faculty who regard teaching as not just a profession but as a Christian calling."</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} It is common for retiring professors to have served the university for more than forty years, a circumstance that has contributed to the stability and conservatism of an institution that has virtually no endowment and at which faculty salaries are "sacrificial".<ref>''Voice of the Alumni'' [publication of the BJU Alumni Association], 1996–2006. In 1993, CFO Roy Barton said teachers' salaries were kept as "low as possible in order to offer affordable higher education to Christians". Barton said he could name "dozens of people who work here for half or a third of what they could be earning on the outside, but they are here because of a desire to be part of the ministry of training young people". ''Greenville News'', April 18, 1993, "Upstate Business", 11. In the same ''Greenville News'' issue, Bob Jones III said, "Everyone here is like a missionary." (10)</ref><ref>In the fiscal year 2016–17, not even 1% of BJU's operating expenses were covered by endowments, and total giving was less than $9 million. ''BJU 2016–17 Annual Report—Advancement'', 21.</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}}

===Religious education===

====School of Theology and Global Leadership (formerly School of Religion)====
Source:<ref>[https://today.bju.edu/news/bju-school-of-religion-announces-name-change/ BJUNews]</ref>

The School of Theology and Global Leadership includes majors for both men and women, although only men train as ministerial students.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/academics/college-and-schools/religion/ BJU School of Theology and Global Leadership].</ref> In 1995, 1,290 BJU graduates were serving as senior or associate pastors in churches across the United States.<ref>{{cite book|author=Dalhouse, Mark Taylor|title=An Island in the Lake of Fire: Bob Jones University, Fundamentalism & the Separatist Movement|pages=148–151}}</ref> In 2017 more than 100 pastors in the [[Upstate South Carolina|Upstate]] (South Carolina) alone were BJU graduates.<ref>''Greenville Journal'', April 14, 2017, 16</ref>

[[File:BJUSeminary.JPG|thumb|right|The seminary building at Bob Jones University]]

===Fine arts===
The Division of Fine Arts has the largest faculty of the university's six undergraduate schools.<ref>Of about 350 faculty members listed in the 2007–08 catalog, around a hundred, or roughly 30%, taught in the Division of Fine Arts. ''Bob Jones University Catalog, 2007–08'', 341–47.</ref> Each year, the university presents an [[opera]] in the spring semester and Shakespearean plays in both the fall and spring semesters.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/events/fine-arts/cod/ Concert, opera, & drama series, BJU website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217225516/http://www.bju.edu/events/fine-arts/cod/ |date=February 17, 2012 }}. In 2011 the university won second place in the professional division of the National Opera Association 2009–10 video competition for its production of ''[[Samson et Dalila]]''. [http://www.noa.org/competitions/opera-production/2009-2010-winners.html NOA website].</ref>  The Division of Fine Arts includes an RTV department with a campus radio and television station, WBJU. More than a hundred concerts, recitals, and laboratory theater productions are also presented annually.<ref name="Eternity 2008">"Investing in Lives for Eternity", BJU Advancement brochure (2008), 6, Bob Jones University Archives, Mack Library. Undergraduate university students taking six or more credit hours are required to attend the two or three Concert, Opera & Drama Series programs given each semester. [http://blogs.bju.edu/dsc/concert-opera-drama-series/attendance-expectations/ BJU website].</ref>

Each fall, as a recruiting tool, the university sponsors a "High School Festival" in which students compete in music, art, and speech (including preaching) contests with their peers from around the country.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=80&article=800 High school students to compete in Fall Festival] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330224211/http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=80&article=800 |date=March 30, 2012 }} Article from BJU website by Jeanne Petrizzo describing the festival</ref> In the spring, a similar competition sponsored by the [[American Association of Christian Schools]], and hosted by BJU since 1977, brings thousands of national finalists to the university from around the country. In 2005, 120 of the finalists from previous years returned to BJU as freshmen.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=44&article=384 BJU ''Collegian'' article from BJU website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330224225/http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=44&article=384 |date=March 30, 2012 }}</ref>

===Science===
[[File:ScienceBuildingBJU.JPG|thumb|right|Howell Memorial Science Building]]

Bob Jones University supports [[Young Earth Creationism|young-earth creationism]],<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.bju.edu/academics/college-and-schools/arts-and-science/natural-science/creation/gap.php | title=Gap Theory Statement | publisher=Bob Jones University | year=2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428055404/http://www.bju.edu/academics/college-and-schools/arts-and-science/natural-science/creation/gap.php | archive-date=April 28, 2012 }}</ref> all their biology faculty are young Earth creationists<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.bju.edu/academics/majors/biology/ | title=Biology | publisher=Bob Jones University | year=2013 | access-date=March 11, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407143452/http://www.bju.edu/academics/majors/biology/ | archive-date=April 7, 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and the university rejects evolution, calling it "at best an unsupportable and unworkable hypothesis".<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.bju.edu/academics/college-and-schools/arts-and-science/natural-science/teaching-science/distinctiveness.php | title=Teaching Science: Distinctiveness | publisher=Bob Jones University | year=2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113012242/http://www.bju.edu/academics/college-and-schools/arts-and-science/natural-science/teaching-science/distinctiveness.php | archive-date=January 13, 2014 }}</ref>

===Accreditation and rankings===
Bob Jones Sr. was leery of [[academic accreditation]] almost from the founding of the college, and by the early 1930s, he had publicly stated his opposition to holding [[regional accreditation]].<ref>However, in the earliest college catalog (called "An Epoch in Education") Jones wrote, "Having met all the requirements, we have made application for admission to the [[Southern Association of Colleges and Schools|Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools]]." (32)</ref> Jones and the college were criticized for this stance, and academic recognition, as well as student and faculty recruitment, were hindered.<ref name=p68>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=68}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}}

In 1944, Jones wrote to [[John Walvoord]] of [[Dallas Theological Seminary]] that while the university had "no objection to educational work highly standardized…. We, however, cannot conscientiously let some group of educational experts or some committee of experts who may have a behavioristic or atheistic slant on education control or even influence the administrative policies of our college."<ref>Jones to Walwoord, May 8, 1944, in {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=354–355}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} Five years later, Jones reflected that "it cost us something to stay out of an association, but we stayed out. We have lived up to our convictions."<ref>Jones to James O. Buswell, May 12, 1949, in {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=68}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}}

Because graduates did not benefit from accredited degrees, the faculty felt an increased responsibility to prepare their students.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=203}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} Early in the history of the college, there had been some hesitancy on the part of other institutions to accept BJU credits at face value, but by the 1960s, BJU alumni were being accepted by most of the major graduate and professional schools in the United States.<ref>"BJU's reputation in academic circles gradually became more respected for the intellectual preparation and strong character of its graduates. By the 1960s several graduate schools actively courted university alumni, and BJU graduates were accepted into most of the major graduate programs in the country despite the school's opposition to regional accreditation." {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=203, 353–355}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}}

In 2004, the university began the process of joining the [[Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools]]. Candidate status—effectively, accreditation—was obtained in April 2005, and full membership in the Association was conferred in November 2006.<ref>BJU is also a founding member of the [[American Association of Christian Colleges and Seminaries]], a small group of institutions "clearly identified with the historic Christian fundamentalist tradition".[http://www.aaccs.info/members.asp American Association of Christian Colleges and Seminaries] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430001429/http://www.aaccs.info/members.asp |date=April 30, 2013 }}.</ref> In December 2011, BJU announced its intention to apply for regional accreditation with the [[Southern Association of Colleges and Schools]] (SACSCOC), and it received that accreditation in 2017.<ref>''Greenville News'', December 7, 2011; Paul Hyde, "Bob Jones University earns accreditation, boosting prestige," ''Greenville News'', June 15, 2017, 1. The university said that "significant changes" in SACS' approach to accreditation, including "respect [for] the stated mission of the institution, including religious mission", had addressed its earlier concerns about regional accreditation. [http://www.bju.edu/news/2011-12-05-regional-accreditation.php BJU website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208014211/http://www.bju.edu/news/2011-12-05-regional-accreditation.php |date=December 8, 2011 }}.</ref>

In 2025, ''[[U.S. News & World Report|US News]]'' ranked BJU as #17 (tie) in Regional Universities South and #4 in Best Value Schools.<ref>[https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/bob-jones-university-666997/overall-rankings US News website].</ref>

===Political involvement===
As a twelve-year-old, Bob Jones Sr. made a twenty-minute speech in defense of the [[Populist Party (United States)|Populist Party]]. Jones was a friend and admirer of [[William Jennings Bryan]] but also campaigned throughout the South for [[Herbert Hoover]] (and against [[Al Smith]]) during the [[1928 United States presidential election|1928 presidential election]]. The authorized history of BJU notes that both Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr. "played political hardball" when dealing with the three municipalities in which the school was successively located. For instance, in 1962, Bob Jones Sr. warned the Greenville City Council that he had "four hundred votes in his pocket and in any election he would have control over who would be elected."<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=3, 10, 78, 246, 428}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}}

Bob Jones Sr.'s April 17, 1960, [[Easter Sunday]] sermon, broadcast on the radio, entitled "Is Segregation Scriptural?" served as the university position paper on race in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The transcript was sent in pamphlet form in fund-raising letters and sold in the university bookstore. In the sermon, Jones states, "If you are against segregation and against racial separation, then you are against God Almighty." The school began a long history of supporting politicians who were considered aligned with racial segregation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Manis|first1=Andrew M.|title=Southern civil religions in conflict : civil rights and the culture wars|date=2002|publisher=Mercer University Press|location=Macon, Ga.|isbn=0865547963}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/evangelical-history/2016/07/26/is-segregation-scriptural-a-radio-address-from-bob-jones-on-easter-of-1960/|title=Is Segregation Scriptural? A Radio Address from Bob Jones on Easter of 1960|website=thegospelcoalition.org|date=26 July 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://samanthabee.com/dr-bob-jones-sr-is-segregation-scriptural/|title=Full Frontal with Samantha Bee|access-date=2016-08-01|archive-date=2016-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829024529/http://samanthabee.com/dr-bob-jones-sr-is-segregation-scriptural/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Republican Party ties====
[[File:Ron Strom.jpg|thumb|[[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Strom Thurmond]] both played influential roles in the political life of BJU.]]

From nearly the inception of Bob Jones College, a majority of students and faculty were from the [[Northern United States#Historical term|northern United States]], where there was a larger ratio of Republicans to Democrats than in [[Southern United States|the South]] (which was [[Solid South|solidly]] Democratic). Therefore, almost from its founding year, BJU had a larger portion of Republicans than the surrounding community.<ref>Turner, 246; Interviews of Mary Gaston Stollenwerck Jones by Margaret Beall Tice, (September–October 1973), University Archives, Mack Library, BJU. Bob Jones Sr. had held many evangelistic campaigns in the North before founding the college, and he correctly guessed that a new college in Florida would be more attractive to northerners than a new college in his home state of Alabama.</ref> After South Carolina Senator [[Strom Thurmond]] switched his allegiance to the Republican Party in 1964, BJU faculty members became increasingly influential in the new state Republican party. BJU alumni were elected to local political and party offices. In 1976, candidates supported by BJU faculty and alumni captured the local Republican party with unfortunate short-term political consequences, but by 1980 the [[Christian right|religious right]] and the [[country club Republican|"country club" Republicans]] had joined forces.<ref>Alan Ehrenhalt, ''The United States of Ambition: Politicians, Power and the Pursuit of Office'' (New York: Random House, 1991), 98–99. "With its factions bitterly opposed to each other, the Republican party lost virtually all its state legislative seats in Greenville County, even as Gerard Ford was carrying the county against Jimmy Carter by more than 3,000 votes." (98)</ref> From then on, most Republican candidates for local and statewide offices sought the endorsement of Bob Jones III and greeted faculty/staff voters at the University Dining Common.<ref>"As late as 1978 the state representative for most of the Bob Jones precincts was Sylvia Dreyfus, a liberal Jewish Democrat. That does not happen anymore. These days, when elections are held in the districts that surround the university, anybody who does not have a Bob Jones connection does not have a realistic chance." Ehrenhalt, 99.</ref>

National Republicans soon followed. [[Ronald Reagan]] spoke at the school in 1980, although the Joneses supported his opponent, [[John Connally]], in the South Carolina primary.<ref>"GOP debaters politick in state," ''Greenville News'', February 29, 1980. Reagan said he was "surprised" by Jones's endorsement of Connally.</ref> Later, Bob Jones III denounced Reagan as "a traitor to God's people" for choosing [[George H. W. Bush]]—whom Jones called a "devil"—as his vice president. Even later, Jones III shook Bush's hand and thanked him for being a good president.<ref name=wapo>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/04/AR2005050402413.html|title=Taking the Bob Out of Bob Jones U.|first=Peter|last=Carlson|date=May 5, 2005|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> In the 1990s, other Republicans such as [[Dan Quayle]], [[Pat Buchanan]], [[Phil Gramm]], [[Bob Dole]], and [[Alan Keyes]] also spoke at BJU.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=248}}</ref> Democrats were rarely invited to speak at the university, in part because they took political and social positions (especially support for [[abortion rights]]) opposed by the [[Christian right|Religious Right]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=246–248}}. As Bob Jones Jr. wrote in his memoirs, "While the lecture platform of Bob Jones University will never be open to dishonest Liberals like [[Ted Kennedy]], conservative politicians and honorable statesmen have been speaking from that platform for many years." {{cite book|author=Jones Jr., Bob|title=Cornbread and Caviar|publisher=BJU Press|year=1985|page=197}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}}

====2000 election====
On February 2, 2000, then Texas Governor George W. Bush, as a candidate for president, spoke during school's chapel hour.<ref name="nohtva">{{Cite news |title=The Learning Network |url=https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning |access-date=2025-03-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His political opponents quickly noted his non-mention of the university's ban on interracial dating. During the Michigan primary, Bush was also criticized for not stating his opposition to the university's anti-Catholicism. The [[John McCain|McCain]] campaign targeted Catholics with "Catholic Voter Alert" phone calls, reminding voters of Bush's visit to BJU.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Election 2000 - The Republican National Convention |url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/features/turning.points/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218193105/http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/features/turning.points/ |archive-date=2008-12-18 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=www.cnn.com |url-status=live }}</ref> New York Republican Representative [[Peter T. King|Peter King]], who was supporting John McCain in the presidential primary, called Bush a tool of "[[anti-Catholic]] bigoted forces", after the visit. King described BJU as "an institution that is notorious in Ireland for awarding an honorary doctorate to Northern Ireland's tempestuous [[Protestant]] leader, [[Ian Paisley]]."<ref name="2005-nysun.com">{{cite news|newspaper=New York Sun|url=http://www.nysun.com/national/rep-king-and-the-ira-the-end-of-an-extraordinary/15853|title=Rep. King and the IRA: The End of an Extraordinary Affair?|date=June 25, 2005|first=Ed|last=Moloney|access-date=January 2, 2021|archive-date=November 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104055320/http://www.nysun.com/national/rep-king-and-the-ira-the-end-of-an-extraordinary/15853|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bush denied that he either knew of or approved what he regarded as BJU's intolerant policies. On February 26, Bush issued a formal letter of apology to Cardinal [[John O'Connor (cardinal)|John Joseph O'Connor]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York|New York]] for failing to denounce Bob Jones University's history of anti-Catholic statements. Bush said at a news conference following the letter's release, "I make no excuses. I had an opportunity and I missed it. I regret that....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."<ref name="nohtva"/> Also during the 2000 Republican primary campaign in South Carolina, Richard Hand, a BJU professor, spread a false e-mail rumor that [[John McCain]] had fathered an [[illegitimate]] child. The McCains have an adopted daughter from [[Bangladesh]], and later [[push poll]]ing also implied that the child was biracial.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0002/14/ip.00.html|title=CNN Transcript – Inside Politics: GOP Candidates Trade Vitriol Instead of Valentines; Bush Firewall in Danger in Michigan; Bradley Lashes Out at Gore Over Policy Distortions – February 14, 2000|website=transcripts.cnn.com|access-date=February 4, 2006|archive-date=April 22, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060422164754/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0002/14/ip.00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Withdrawal from politics====
Although the March 2007 issue of ''[[Foreign Policy]]'' listed BJU as one of "The World's Most Controversial Religious Sites" because of its past influence on American politics,<ref>[https://foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3754&page=1 "The World's Most Controversial Religious Sites"]. The others mentioned were the [[Yasukuni Shrine]] in Tokyo; [[Potala Palace]] in Tibet; [[Ayodhya]], Uttar Pradesh state, India; and the [[Temple Mount]]/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem.</ref> BJU has seen little political controversy since Stephen Jones became president. When asked by a ''[[Newsweek]]'' reporter if he wished to play a political role, Stephen Jones replied, "It would not be my choice." Further, when asked if he felt ideologically closer to his father's engagement with politics or to other evangelicals who have tried to avoid civic involvement, Jones answered, "The gospel is for individuals. The main message we have is to individuals. We're not here to save the culture."<ref>Susannah Meadows, "Passing the Torch at Bob Jones U." ''Newsweek'' "Web Exclusive" [MSNBC link expired], January 29, 2005, hard copy at [http://158.158.239.51:81/search?/YPassing+&SORT=D/YPassing+&SORT=D&SUBKEY=Passing%20/1%2C282%2C282%2CB/frameset&FF=YPassing+&SORT=D&12%2C12%2C Fundamentalist File, Mack Library, BJU]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref> In a 2005 ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' interview, Jones dodged political questions and even admitted that he was embarrassed by "some of the more vitriolic comments" made by his predecessors. "I don't want to get specific," Jones said, "But there were things said back then that I wouldn't say today."<ref name=wapo /> In October 2007, when Bob Jones III, as "a private citizen," endorsed [[Mitt Romney]] for the Republican nomination for president, Stephen Jones made it clear that he wished "to stay out of politics" and that neither he nor the university had endorsed anyone.<ref>[http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071021/NEWS01/710210319 Greenville News, October 21, 2007]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref> Despite a hotly contested South Carolina primary, none of the candidates appeared on the platform of BJU's Founders' Memorial Amphitorium during the 2008 election cycle.<ref>Candidate [[Ron Paul]] did speak in a large classroom to an overflow crowd. BJU's vice president for administration said, "We purposefully chose a room in the Alumni building because we do not want candidates to hold rallies on campus. We want interested students, faculty and staff to benefit from the educational experience of listening to a candidate, and hopefully, as a result, be able to make a more informed voting decision." ''BJU Collegian'', January 25, 2008.</ref> In April 2008, Stephen Jones told a reporter, "I don't think I have a political bone in my body."<ref>''Greenville Journal'' (April 4, 2008), 32.</ref>

====Renewed political engagement====
In 2015 BJU reemerged as a campaign stop for conservative Republicans. [[Ben Carson]] and [[Ted Cruz]] held large on-campus rallies on two successive days in November. BJU president [[Steve Pettit]] met with [[Marco Rubio]], [[Rick Perry]], [[Mike Huckabee]], and [[Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker]]. [[Jeb Bush]], Carson, Cruz, and Rubio also appeared at a 2016 Republican presidential forum at BJU. Chip Felkel, a Greenville Republican consultant, noted that some candidates closely identified "with the folks at Bob Jones. So it makes sense for them to want to be there."  Nevertheless, unlike BJU's earlier periods of political involvement, Pettit did not endorse a candidate.<ref>Tim Smith and Rudolph Bell, "Bob Jones University Back in Political Limelight," ''Greenville News'', November 15, 2015, 1, 4;[https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-candidates-return-to-bob-jones-university-as-party-shifts-right-1447453662 Reid J. Epstein, "GOP Candidates Return to Bob Jones University as Party Shifts Right," ''Wall Street Journal'', November 13, 2015]; Nathaniel Cary, "GOP candidates headed to forum at BJU," ''Greenville News'', January 30, 2016, 1A, 4A; "Trump, Kasich no-shows at BJU presidential forum," ''Greenville News'', January 13, 2016, 1.</ref>

According to [[Furman University]] political science professor Jim Guth, because Greenville has grown so much recently, it is unlikely BJU will ever again have the same political influence it had between the 1960s and the 1980s. Nevertheless, about a quarter of all BJU graduates continue to live in the [[Upstate South Carolina|Upstate]], and as long-time mayor [[Knox H. White|Knox White]] has said, "The alumni have had a big impact on every profession and walk of life in Greenville."<ref>''Greenville Journal'', April 14, 2017, 16.</ref>

==Campus==
The university occupies 205 acres at the eastern city limit of Greenville. The institution moved into its initial 25 buildings during the 1947–48 school year, and later buildings were also faced with the light yellow brick chosen for the originals.<ref>BJU Catalog (2011–12), 235; John Matzko, "'This is it, Isn't it, Brother, Stone?' The Move of Bob Jones University from Cleveland, Tennessee, to Greenville, 1946–47", ''South Carolina Historical Magazine'' 108:3 (July 2007), 255–56. The University updated its dining common and snack bar, which includes a Chick-fil-A, Brody's Grill, and Papa Johns.</ref>

===Museum and gallery===
{{Main|Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery}}

[[Bob Jones Jr.]] was a connoisseur of European art from his teen years and began collecting after [[World War II]] on about $30,000 a year authorized by the University Board of Directors.<ref name="art">{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=193–196}}{{cite book|author=Jones Jr., Bob|title=Cornbread and Caviar|publisher=BJU Press|year=1985|pages=48–49}} "A Collector's Dream" ''Greenville Piedmont'', 9 February 1989, A1.</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} Jones first concentrated on the [[Baroque painting|Italian Baroque]], a style then out of favor and relatively inexpensive in the years immediately following the war.<ref name="art"/> The museum's collection currently includes more than 400 European paintings from the 14th through the 19th centuries, period furniture, and a notable collection of Russian icons.<ref name="MandG">{{cite web|url=http://bjumg.org/the-collection/|title=The Collection – M&G|work=M&G|access-date=June 14, 2015}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities.<ref name="MandG"/> The gallery is strong in Baroque paintings and includes notable works by [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]], [[Tintoretto]], [[Paolo Veronese|Veronese]], [[Lucas Cranach the Elder|Cranach]], [[Gerard David]], [[Bartolomé Esteban Murillo|Murillo]], [[Mattia Preti]], [[Jusepe de Ribera|Ribera]], [[van Dyck]], and [[Gustave Doré]].<ref name="MandG"/> Included in the Museum & Gallery collection are seven large canvases, part of a series by [[Benjamin West]] painted for [[George III]], called "The Progress of Revealed Religion", which are displayed in the War Memorial Chapel.<ref>[http://bjumg.org/the-benjamin-west-collection/ BJU Museum & Gallery website history of the West paintings].[http://bjumg.org/the-benjamin-west-collection/ BJU Museum & Gallery website history of the West paintings].</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities collected in the early 20th century by missionaries Frank and Barbara Bowen.<ref name="MandG"/>

Every Easter, the university and the Museum & Gallery present the ''Living Gallery'', a series of [[tableaux vivants]] recreating noted works of religious art using live models disguised as part of two-dimensional paintings.<ref>[http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060409/ENT01/604090313 ''Greenville News'', April 9, 2006]{{dead link|date=November 2016|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}; "A dramatic transformation: BJU's 'Living Gallery' breathes life into religious masterworks", [http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080323/ENT01/80321068/1056/ENT ''Greenville News'', March 25, 2008]{{dead link|date=March 2015}}.</ref>

BJU has been criticized by some fundamentalists for promoting "false Catholic doctrine" through its art gallery because much of [[Baroque painting|Baroque art]] was created for the [[Counter-Reformation]].<ref name="cc">[http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/bju/fundam.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614135853/http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/bju/fundam.htm|date=2006-06-14}} David Gibson, [http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-11/looking-catholic-art-fundamentalist-bob-jones-university-has-it "Looking for Catholic art? Fundamentalist Bob Jones University has it" ''Christian Century'', Nov 22, 2011].</ref>

A painting by [[Lucas van Leyden]] that had been displayed in the gallery's collection for more than ten years and had been consigned to [[Sotheby's]] for sale was recognized by [[Interpol]] as art that had been stolen by the Nazis from the Mittelrhein-Museum in [[Koblenz]]. The painting was eventually returned to Germany after months of negotiations between the Mittelrhein-Museum and Julius H. Weitzner, a dealer in Old Master paintings.<ref>The Museum and Gallery was approached about two other paintings that the Nazis might have stolen, but in those cases, no theft could be proved.{{Cite web |last=Landrum |first=Cindy |date=2016-01-08 |title=Bob Jones once owned Nazi-looted painting |url=https://greenvillejournal.com/arts-culture/bob-jones-owned-nazi-looted-painting/ |access-date=2022-08-07 |website=GREENVILLE JOURNAL |language=en-US}}</ref>

After the death of Bob Jones Jr., Erin Jones, the wife of BJU president Stephen Jones, became director. According to David Steel, curator of European art at the [[North Carolina Museum of Art]], Erin Jones "brought that museum into the modern era", employing "a top-notch curator, John Nolan", and following "best practices in conservation and restoration". The museum cooperates with other institutions, lending works for outside shows such as a Rembrandt exhibit in 2011.<ref name="cc" />

In 2008, the BJU Museum & Gallery opened a satellite location, the Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green near downtown Greenville, which featured rotating exhibitions from the main museum and interactive children's activities.<ref>"Extraordinary art made more accessible", ''Greenville News'', March 17, 2008; "Sacred art museum opens today", ''Greenville News'', April 19, 2008.</ref> In February 2017, the Museum & Gallery closed both locations permanently. In 2018, the museum announced that a new home would be built at a yet undetermined located off the BJU campus.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hyde |first=Paul |title=BJU closes museums: one for renovation, one permanently |url=https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2017/01/27/bju-closes-museums-one-renovation-one-permanently/97136874/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Greenville News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Donna Isbell |title=Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery moving to new location |url=https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/entertainment/2018/05/16/bob-jones-university-museum-gallery-moving-new-location/614950002/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Greenville News |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2021, Erin Jones said the museum was exploring a permanent home near the proposed downtown conference center.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Laughlin |first=Kathy |title=BJU Museum & Gallery tries to keep renowned collection accessible-seeks a downtown home |url=https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/money/business/2021/11/30/museum-gallery-bob-jones-university-seeks-downtown-greenville-sc-home/8794700002/ |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=The Greenville News |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Library===
[[File:JerusalemChamberBJU.JPG|thumb|right|Jerusalem Chamber, Mack Library, containing a collection of rare Bibles]]

The {{convert|90000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} Mack Library (named for [[John Sephus Mack]]) holds a collection of more than 300,000 books and includes seating for 1,200 as well as a computer lab and a computer classroom.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=434}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} (Its ancillary, a music library, is included in the Gustafson Fine Arts Center.) Mack Library's Special Collections includes an American [[Hymnody]] Collection of about 700 titles.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Shawn |title=LibGuides: Library Areas of Interest: Home |url=https://libguides.bju.edu/c.php?g=27181&p=167216 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=libguides.bju.edu |language=en}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} The "Jerusalem Chamber" is a replica of the room in [[Westminster Abbey]] in which work on the [[King James Version]] of the Bible was conducted, and it displays a collection of rare Bibles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://libguides.bju.edu/content.php?pid=208773&sid=1739649|title=Home – Library Areas of Interest – LibGuides at Bob Jones University|work=bju.edu|access-date=June 14, 2015}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}} An adjoining Memorabilia Room commemorates the life of [[Bob Jones Sr.]] and the history of the university.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/library/collections/archives.html J.S. Mack Library – Archives]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221103922/http://www.bju.edu/library/collections/archives.html |date=December 21, 2010 }}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=May 2025}}

The library's Fundamentalism File collects periodical articles and ephemera about social and religious matters of interest to evangelicals and fundamentalists.<ref>The Fundamentalism File, created in 1978, has more than 100,000 non-book items, mostly articles listed under 5,000 subject headings; it also contains the papers of three notable 20th-century fundamentalists: G. Archer Weniger (1915–1982), W. O. H. Garman (1899–1983), and Gilbert Stenholm (1915–1989). [http://libguides.bju.edu/ffile BJU Library website, Fundamentalism File, Introduction to the File]</ref> The University Archives holds copies of all university publications, [[oral histories]] of faculty and staff members, surviving remnants of university correspondence, and pictures and artifacts related to the Jones family and the history of the university.<ref>[http://libguides.bju.edu/content.php?pid=208607&sid=1738606 BJU Archives Research]. For instance, the archives hold decades of working scripts for university stage performances.</ref>

==Ancillary ministries==

===''Unusual Films''===
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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=196–197}}</ref> (The studio name derives from a former BJU promotional slogan, "The World's Most Unusual University".)<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=143}}</ref> [[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]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=196–199}}</ref>

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''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bjupress.com/nav/category/Unusual%20Films%20Productions?parent_category_rn=281459|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721055631/http://www.bjupress.com/nav/category/Unusual%20Films%20Productions?parent_category_rn=281459|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 21, 2012|title=Videos – BJU Press|work=bjupress.com|access-date=June 14, 2015}}</ref> ''Wine of Morning'' (1955), based on a novel by Bob Jones Jr., represented the United States at the [[Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>"''Wine of Morning'' was selected by the University Film Producers Association to represent the United States at the International Congress of Motion Picture and Television Schools in Cannes, France, and following a showing at the Congress, garnered praise from the international film community. ''Wine of Morning'' was also awarded four 'Christian Oscars' from the National Evangelical Film Foundation for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Producer." {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=198}}. There may have been some [[Cold War]] posturing involved in this film's nomination. The president of the UFPA wrote to Stenholm that the "excellence of your production, ''Wine of Morning''...will provide the high quality which it is desirable to use in these international showings. We feel that the contrast between your film with its religious background and [the Russian entry] would be most revealing and that the contrast would reflect credit on our way of life." ("Bob Jones Religious Film To Represent US Colleges", ''The (Columbia, SC) State'', May 2, 1958, 12C).</ref> 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 Sheffey|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!" <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dove.org/review/8704-the-printing/|title=The Printing – Dove Family Friendly Movie Reviews|website=dove.org}}</ref> In 1999, Unusual Films began producing feature films for children, including ''The Treasure Map'', ''Project Dinosaur'', and ''Appalachian Trial''.<!-- Not a typo. -->

===BJU Press===
{{Main|BJU Press}}

[[BJU Press]] originated from the need for textbooks for the burgeoning [[Christian school]] and homeschool movements.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=236, 264}}</ref> It, along with [[A Beka Books]], are the dominant companies in the Christian school/homeschool textbook industry.  BJU Press publishes a full range of K–12 textbooks.

BJU Press also offers distance learning courses online, via DVD and hard drive.<ref>Until May 2009, [[BJU Press]] offered elementary and high school classes via satellite over the BJ HomeSat Network and BJ LINC (Live Interactive Network Classroom). This interactive satellite system allowed a teacher in Greenville to communicate with [[Christian school]] students across the country. In 2006, about 45,000 students participated in BJU's distance-learning programs.{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=264–266}}; ''Greenville News'', 20 September 2006, 9A; ''BJU Catalog'', 2007–08, 329.</ref> Another ancillary, the Academy of Home Education, is a "service organization for homeschooling families" that maintains student records, administers achievement testing, and issues high school diplomas. The press sold its music division, [[SoundForth]], to [[Lorenz Publishing]] on October 1, 2012.<ref>{{cite web|title=Christian Music from BJU Press|url=http://www.bjupress.com/category/Music|access-date=January 10, 2013}}</ref>

===Pre-college programs===
{{Anchor|Bob Jones Academy}}

The university operates Bob Jones Academy, which enrolls students from preschool through 12th grade.<ref>[http://www.bobjonesacademy.net/ BJA website].</ref> With about 1100 students, the school's demographic makeup leans heavily white (90.3%), with non-Black minorities making up the bulk of other ethnicities. Black students make up 0.5% of enrollment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search for Private Schools – School Detail for BOB JONES ACADEMY |url=https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/privateschoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&Zip=29683&Miles=10&ID=X1932087 |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=nces.ed.gov |language=EN}}</ref>

==Controversies==

===Sexual abuse reports===
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,<ref>[[Trinity Baptist Church Sex Scandal|Trinity Baptist Church]], Concord, New Hampshire, Rev. [[Chuck Phelps]], senior pastor {{cite news|author=Trent Spiner|date=June 19, 2010|title=Man accused in rape admitted paternity; Adoption records released by woman|newspaper=Concord Monitor|url=http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/man-accused-in-rape-admitted-paternity|url-status=dead|access-date=May 24, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226001635/http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/man-accused-in-rape-admitted-paternity|archive-date=December 26, 2010}}</ref> the BJU board of trustees hired an independent ombudsman, GRACE ([[Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment]]), to investigate.<ref name="grace">{{cite web|date=December 11, 2014|title=Investigatory Review of Sexual Abuse Disclosures and Institutional Responses at Bob Jones University|url=http://netgrace.org/wp-content/uploads/Final-Report.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208123855/http://netgrace.org/wp-content/uploads/Final-Report.pdf|archive-date=February 8, 2015|access-date=December 16, 2014|publisher=G.R.A.C.E.}}</ref> 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".<ref name="grace" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Bob Jones University Blamed Victims of Sexual Assaults, Not Abusers.|work=The New York Times |date=11 December 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/us/bob-jones-university-sex-assault-victim-study.html|last1=Pérez-Peña |first1=Richard }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=President Pettit Responds to GRACE Recommendations|url=http://www.bju.edu/grace/|access-date=June 14, 2015|work=Bob Jones University}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=BJU faulted for response to GRACE report|url=http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2015/03/23/bju-faulted-response-grace-report/70349122/|website=greenvilleonline.com}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Walters|first=Haley|title=Former student sues Bob Jones, Furman universities, alleges negligence in sexual assault case|url=https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2020/08/06/woman-sues-bob-jones-furman-university-sexual-assault-case/3307226001/|access-date=August 9, 2020|website=The Greenville News|date=August 6, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|agency=Associated Press|date=August 8, 2020|title=Bob Jones University expelled student soon after reporting sexual assault, lawsuit claims|url=https://abcnews4.com/news/local/bob-jones-university-expelled-student-soon-after-reporting-sexual-assault-lawsuit-claims|access-date=August 9, 2020|website=WCIV}}</ref>

===Racial policies and ban on interracial dating===
Although BJU had admitted Asian students and other ethnic groups from its inception, it did not enroll Black 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=226–227}}</ref> In May 1975, BJU expanded rules against interracial dating and marriage.<ref>[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=461&invol=574 ''Bob Jones University v. United States''] (461 U.S. 574, 581)</ref>

In 1976, the [[Internal Revenue Service]] revoked the university's tax exemption retroactively to December 1, 1970, because it practiced racial discrimination.<ref>[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=461&invol=574 ''Bob Jones University v. United States''] (461 U.S. 574 @725)</ref> The case 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=236}}</ref>  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]]''.<ref>"Dances with Compromise" (April 2000), [http://multiracial.com/index.php/2000/04/01/dances-with-compromise-the-bob-jones-university-twist/ The Multiracial Activist].</ref> In the same year, Bob Jones III drew criticism after reposting a letter on the university's web page referring to [[Mormons]] and [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] as being members of "cults which call themselves Christian".<ref>{{cite web|title=Bob Jones Reposts Mormon, Catholic 'Cult' Reference|url=http://www.beliefnet.com/story/15/story_1544_1.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010115803/http://www.beliefnet.com/story/15/story_1544_1.html|archive-date=October 10, 2008|access-date=June 14, 2015|work=Beliefnet}}</ref>

In 2005, [[Stephen Jones (administrator)|Stephen Jones]], great-grandson of the founder, became BJU's president. 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".<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-11-24-bob-jones-university-race_N.htm USA Today, November 24, 2008]; [http://www.bju.edu/communities/ministries-schools/position-statements/race-statement.php Statement about Race at Bob Jones University] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023091117/http://www.bju.edu/communities/ministries-schools/position-statements/race-statement.php|date=October 23, 2012}}. In the statement, the university admitted to having "conformed to the culture" rather than providing "a clear Christian counterpoint to it". Earlier that year, some BJU alumni expressed concern that the university had never repudiated its racist past and petitioned the school to make a formal apology. [http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20081122/NEWS01/311220002&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL Greenville News, November 22, 2008]{{dead link|date=September 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}.</ref> That year, BJU said it had enrolled students from fifty states and nearly fifty countries,{{Primary source inline|date=April 2025}} claimed that these represented diverse ethnicities and cultures,{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}{{POV statement|date=April 2025}} and that 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".<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/communities/ministries-schools/position-statements/race-statement.php Statement about Race at Bob Jones University]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023091117/http://www.bju.edu/communities/ministries-schools/position-statements/race-statement.php|date=October 23, 2012}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=I mean, it is Bob Jones University itself saying these things, and [[WP:MANDY|of course they would]]|date=April 2025}}

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]],<ref>Nathaniel Cary, "Bob Jones regains nonprofit standing," ''Greenville News'', February 17, 2017, 1A, 5A.</ref> and by May 2017, BJU had forged a working relationship with Greenville's [[Phillis Wheatley]] Center.<ref>Angelia Davis, "Wheatley Center, BJU Work Together," ''Greenville News'', May 13, 2017, 1. Director Darian Blue said the sight of a BJU bus in the Wheatley Center parking lot "brought tears to the eyes" of a 70-year-old Baptist deacon.</ref> In 2017, 9% of the student body was "from the American minority population".<ref>''BJU 2016–17 Annual Report—Advancement'', 14.</ref>

==Student life==

===Religious atmosphere===
{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:50em; max-width: 75%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;"|
"I believe in the [[Biblical inspiration|inspiration of the Bible]] (both the [[Old Testament|Old]] and the [[New Testament]]s); the [[Creationism|creation]] of man by the direct act of [[God in Christianity|God]]; the [[Incarnation (Christianity)|incarnation]] and [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]] of [[Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament|our Lord and Saviour]], [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]]; His identification as the [[Son of God (Christianity)|Son of God]]; His [[Substitutionary atonement|vicarious atonement]] for the [[sin]]s of mankind by the shedding of His blood on the cross; the [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] of His body from the tomb; [[Salvation in Christianity|His power to save men from sin]]; the [[Born again|new birth]] through the [[Regeneration (theology)|regeneration]] by the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]]; and the gift of [[Eternal life (Christianity)|eternal life]] by the [[Grace in Christianity|grace]] of God."
|-
| style="text-align: left;"|— BJU Creed
|}
Religion is a major aspect of life and curriculum at BJU. The BJU Creed, written in 1927 by journalist and prohibitionist [[Samuel W. Small|Sam Small]], is recited by students and faculty four days a week at chapel services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/about-bju/creed.php|title=What We Believe|work=Bob Jones University|access-date=June 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917140508/http://www.bju.edu/about-bju/creed.php|archive-date=September 17, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The university also encourages [[church planting]] in areas of the United States "in great need of fundamental churches", and it has provided financial and logistical assistance to ministerial graduates in starting more than a hundred new churches.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/communities/ministries-schools/church-planting/ BJU website on church planting] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928122650/http://www.bju.edu/communities/ministries-schools/church-planting/ |date=September 28, 2012 }}</ref> Bob Jones III has also encouraged non-ministerial students to put their career plans on hold for two or three years to provide lay leadership for small churches.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=270–271}}</ref> Students of various majors participate in Missions Advance (formerly Mission Prayer Band), an organization that prays for missionaries and attempts to stimulate campus interest in world evangelism.<ref name="studentlife">[http://www.bju.edu/campus/life/orgs.html BJU Student Life]; ''Collegian'', 24 (February 4, 2011), 1. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119213822/http://www.bju.edu/campus/life/orgs.html |date=January 19, 2009 }}</ref> During summers and Christmas breaks, about 150 students participate in teams that promote Christian missions around the world.<ref name="Eternity 2008"/> Although a separate nonprofit corporation, Gospel Fellowship Association, an organization founded by Bob Jones Sr. and associated with BJU, is one of the largest fundamentalist mission boards in the country.<ref>[http://www.gfamissions.org/ GFA Missions website][http://www.bju.edu/about-bju/additional-ministries.php BJU website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920065837/http://www.bju.edu/about-bju/additional-ministries.php |date=September 20, 2012 }}. BJU's website calls it an "additional ministry".</ref> Through its "Timothy Fund", the university also sponsors international students who are training for the ministry.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/giving/students.html BJU website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215042018/http://www.bju.edu/giving/students.html |date=February 15, 2009 }}; "Timothy program offers foreign students Bible training", [http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=70&article=679 ''Collegian'', April 12, 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215042018/http://www.bju.edu/giving/students.html |date=February 15, 2009 }}     .</ref>

The university requires the use of the [[King James Version]] (KJV) of the Bible in its services and classrooms, but it does not hold that the KJV is the only acceptable English translation or that it has the same authority as the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.<ref name="turner244">{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|pages=244–245}} [http://www.bju.edu/communities/ministries-schools/position-statements/translation.php "Statement about Bible Translations", BJU website]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020142718/http://www.bju.edu/communities/ministries-schools/position-statements/translation.php |date=October 20, 2012 }}</ref> The university's position has been criticized by some other fundamentalists, including fellow conservative university [[Pensacola Christian College]], which in 1998 produced a widely distributed videotape which argued that this "defiling leaven in fundamentalism" was passed from the 19th-century Princeton theologian [[Benjamin B. Warfield]] through Charles Brokenshire to current BJU faculty members and graduates.<ref>[http://www.troyandjessica.com/node/20 Documents on the BJU-Pensacola controversy archived on a private website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021133031/http://troyandjessica.com/node/20 |date=2007-10-21 }}.</ref><ref name="Turner 244">{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=244}}</ref>

===Rules of conduct===
Strict rules govern student life at BJU.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/life-faith/student-handbook.pdf Student Handbook (pdf)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712022601/http://www.bju.edu/life-faith/student-handbook.pdf |date=2015-07-12 }} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120504235242/http://www.bju.edu/student-life/2011-student-handbook.pdf Archive])</ref> The 2015–16 Student Handbook states, "Students are to avoid any types of entertainment that could be considered immodest or that contain profanity, scatological realism, sexual perversion, erotic realism, lurid violence, occultism and false philosophical or religious assumptions." Grounds for immediate dismissal include stealing, immorality (including sex between unmarried students), possession of hard-core pornography, use of alcohol or drugs, and participating in a public demonstration for a cause the university opposes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/life-faith/student-handbook.pdf|title=BJU Student Handbook, 2014–15, 33,52.|website=bju.edu|access-date=2015-06-26|archive-date=2015-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712022601/http://www.bju.edu/life-faith/student-handbook.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Similar "moral failures" are grounds for terminating the employment of faculty and staff. In 1998, a homosexual alumnus was threatened with arrest if he visited the campus.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ctlibrary.com/1504|title=In Brief |work=Christianity Today magazine |access-date=June 14, 2015|archive-date=June 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627071110/http://www.ctlibrary.com/1504|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Men are allowed to wear polo shirts or dress shirts on weekdays until 17:00. As of 2018, women are not required to wear skirts or dresses and now business professional attire. All students are also required to attend chapel three days a week, as well as at least two services per week at an approved "local fundamental church".<ref name=Handbook>{{Cite web|title=Student Handbook|url=https://studenthandbook.bju.edu/|access-date=August 28, 2025|website=studenthandbook.bju.edu}}</ref>

Other rules are not based on a specific biblical passage. For instance, the Handbook notes that "there is no specific Bible command that says, 'Thou shalt not be late to class', but a student who wishes to display orderliness and concern for others will not come in late to the distraction of the teacher and other students."<ref>''BJU Day Student Handbook'', 2007–08, 7.</ref> In 2008 a campus spokesperson said that one goal of the dress code was "to teach our young people to dress professionally" on campus while giving them "the ability to...choose within the biblically accepted options of dress" when they were off campus.<ref>"BJU Changes Dress Code", ''Greenville Journal'', May 2, 2008, 18.</ref>

Additional rules include requiring resident hall students to abide by a campus curfew of 11:00 pm on class days and 12:00 am on weekends.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/become-a-student/accepted-students/expectations/residence.php "Student Expectations", BJU website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125043737/http://www.bju.edu/become-a-student/accepted-students/expectations/residence.php |date=January 25, 2012 }}</ref> Students are requested to limit the ratings of movies they watch in both their dorms and at movie theaters to G or PG to discourage the entertainment of language and sexual content that is not encouraged by the university. Students are also requested to avoid popular contemporary music that is not conservative in nature.<ref name=Handbook/> Male students may have facial hair that is neatly trimmed and well maintained.<ref name=Handbook/> Men and women are expected to dress modestly and wear business professional attire to class and religious services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/life-faith/student-handbook.pdf|title=BJU Student Handbook, 2014–15, 38–40.|website=bju.edu|access-date=2015-06-26|archive-date=2015-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712022601/http://www.bju.edu/life-faith/student-handbook.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Extracurriculars===
[[File:DavisFieldHouse.JPG|thumb|Davis Field House]]

After BJU initially abandoned intercollegiate sports in 1933,<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Daniel|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|page=41}}</ref> its intramural sports program included competition in [[soccer]], [[basketball]], [[softball]], [[volleyball]], [[tennis]], [[badminton]], [[flag football]], [[table tennis]], [[racquetball]], and [[water polo]]. The university also competed in intercollegiate [[debate]] within the [[National Educational Debate Association]], in intercollegiate [[mock trial]] and [[computer science]] competitions, and participated at South Carolina Student Legislature.<ref>BJU Catalog (2008–09), 323–27; [http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080424/NEWS01/80424091/-1/YOURUPSTATE "BJU debate team wins national award"]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Greenville News'', April 25, 2008. The BJU debate team "received NEDA's President's Award three years in a row in recognition of the school's outstanding debate program". "Investing in Lives for Eternity", BJU Advancement brochure (2008), 6, Bob Jones University Archives, Mack Library.</ref> In 2012, BJU joined Division I of [[National Christian College Athletic Association]] (NCCAA) and in 2014 participated in intercollegiate soccer, basketball, cross-country, and golf.<ref>[http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20111206/SPORTS/312060019/Bob-Jones-University-ready-establish-athletics-program?odyssey=nav%7Chead ''Greenville News'', December 6, 2011]{{dead link|date=March 2015}}.</ref> The teams are known as the Bruins.

The university requires all unmarried incoming first-year students under 23 to join one of 33 "societies".<ref>''BJU Catalog, 2011–12'', 243.</ref> Societies meet most Fridays for entertainment and fellowship and hold weekly prayer meetings. Societies compete with one another in intramural sports, debate, and Scholastic Bowl.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/life-faith/societies/ |title=Societies &#124; Bob Jones University |access-date=December 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224103808/http://www.bju.edu/life-faith/societies/ |archive-date=December 24, 2015 }}</ref>  The university also has a student-staffed newspaper (''The Collegian''),<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/collegian/ The Collegian Online] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060511184818/http://www.bju.edu/collegian/ |date=May 11, 2006 }}</ref> and yearbook (''Vintage'').<ref name="BJU Catalog, 2011–12, 244">''BJU Catalog, 2011–12'', 244.</ref>

[[File: Bob Jones University Fountains.png|thumb|right|Location of the world record for most carolers]]
Early in December, thousands of students, faculty, and visitors gather around the front campus fountain for an annual Christmas carol singing and lighting ceremony, illuminating tens of thousands of Christmas lights.<ref>Jeanne Petrizzo, [http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=84&article=833 "Nearly 100,000 lights to illuminate campus"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527152841/http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=84&article=833 |date=May 27, 2010 }} ''Collegian'' article</ref> On December 3, 2004, the ceremony broke the [[Guinness Book of Records|Guinness World Record]] for [[Christmas carol]]ing with 7,514 carolers.<ref>[http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=58128 Guinness World Records] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216212809/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=58128 |date=December 16, 2014 }}. In November 2007, BJU also broke a previous record (set a year earlier in [[Rochester, New York]]) for the largest [[kazoo]] ensemble. That year during the annual Turkey Bowl game in [[Alumni Stadium (BJU)|Alumni Stadium]], 3,800 students, staff, and visitors played kazoos as part of the halftime entertainment. [http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008307250010 "BJU enters Guinness Book for second time"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216212809/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=58128 |date=2014-12-16 }}  , ''Greenville News'', July 25, 2008.</ref>

Before 2015, the university required students and faculty to attend a six-day Bible Conference instead of a traditional Spring Break.<ref>BJU Catalog, 2007–08, 320–21.</ref> However, the university announced that beginning in 2016, it would hold the Bible Conference in February and give students a week of Spring Break in March.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/events/calendar/year-overview.php|title=Year Overview|website=Bob Jones University}}</ref> The Conference typically attracts fundamentalist preachers and laypeople from around the country, and some BJU class reunions are held during the week.<ref>BJU Catalog, 2007–08, 326, 329.</ref>

==Athletics==
[[File:Bob Jones University Bruin Mascot.jpg|thumb|Mascot, Brody the Bruin, at a soccer game]]

The Bob Jones (BJU) athletic teams are called the Bruins. The university is a member of the [[National Christian College Athletic Association]] (NCCAA), primarily competing in the South Region of the Division II level.

The Bruins previously competed as a member of the [[NCAA Division III]] ranks, primarily competing as an [[NCAA Division III independent schools|NCAA D-III Independent]] from 2020–21 to 2022–23.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bjubruins.com/news/2023/5/26/general-update-on-bju-membership-in-ncaa-diii.aspx | title=Update on BJU Membership in NCAA DIII | date=26 May 2023 }}</ref>

BJU competes in 11 intercollegiate varsity sports. Men's sports include basketball, baseball, cross-country, golf, soccer, and track & field, while women's sports include basketball, cross-country, soccer, track & field, and volleyball.

===History===
In 2012, the university inaugurated intercollegiate athletics with four teams: men's soccer, men's basketball, women's soccer, and women's basketball. The university added intercollegiate golf and cross-country teams during the 2013–2014 school year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bju.edu/athletics/|title=BJU athletics|access-date=July 24, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811011910/http://www.bju.edu/athletics/|archive-date=August 11, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Men's and women's shooting sports were added in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bjubruins.com/|title=Bob Jones University Athletics – Official Athletics Website|website=Bob Jones University Athletics|language=en|access-date=October 20, 2019}} Although Bob Jones College theoretically participated in intercollegiate sports between 1927 and 1933–notably in football—the BJC sports teams mostly played high schools rather than other colleges. Turner, 40–41.</ref> Men's baseball began in the spring of 2021, and women's beach volleyball started in the spring of 2022.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bjubruins.com/news/2018/7/16/casteel-named-head-coach-of-bruins-baseball-program.aspx|title=Casteel Named Head Coach of Bruins Baseball Program|website=Bob Jones University Athletics|language=en|access-date=October 20, 2019}}</ref> Director of athletics Neal Ring resigned in 2023; he had overseen Bruins Athletics since inception.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bjubruins.com/news/2023/1/31/ring-to-step-down-as-director-of-athletics-at-bob-jones-university.aspx | title=Ring to Step Down as Director of Athletics at Bob Jones University | date=31 January 2023 }}</ref>

Through its first 11 seasons, the athletic department amassed 22 NCCAA National Championships, nearly 100 All-Americans, and over 200 Scholar-Athletes. Bruins Athletics also received six straight Presidential Awards for Excellence, honoring the most successful NCCAA DII athletics program.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://greenvillejournal.com/sports/bob-jones-university-announces-upcoming-departure-of-director-of-athletics-neal-ring/#:~:text=In%20the%20past%2011%20years,Athletic%20Association%20DII%20National%20Championships | title=BJU announces upcoming departure of Director of Athletics Neal Ring | date=31 January 2023 }}</ref>

===Move to NCAA Division III===
In 2018, BJU explored [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA) membership and applied for it in January 2020. The Bruins were accepted as [[NCAA Division III|Division III]] provisional members in June for three years, making it the only Division III school in the state. The school has been searching for a conference.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bruins Transition to NCAA DIII |url=https://today.bju.edu/perspective/bruins-transition-to-ncaa-diii/ |access-date=August 14, 2020 |work=BJU Today |date=January 24, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bob Jones University earns provisional NCAA membership |url=https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/sports/2020/06/23/bob-jones-university-earns-provisional-ncaa-membership/3241716001/ |access-date=August 14, 2020 |work=Greenville News |date=June 23, 2020}}</ref>

==Notable people==
{{Main|List of Bob Jones University people}}

===Alumni===
<!-- Please do not add more people here unless of earth-shaking importance. Rather add them to the larger list in [[List of Bob Jones University people]].-->
A number of BJU graduates have become influential within [[evangelical]] Christianity, including [[Ken Hay]] (founder of "[[The Wilds Christian Association|The Wilds]]" Christian camps)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wilds.org/staff/fulltime|title=Staff profile|publisher=The Wilds|access-date=March 20, 2012}}</ref> [[Ron "Patch" Hamilton]] (composer and president of [[Majesty Music]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ministry127.com/contributors/dr-ron-hamilton|title=Dr. Ron Hamilton – Ministry127|website=ministry127.com|access-date=2015-11-12|archive-date=2015-11-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117030425/http://ministry127.com/contributors/dr-ron-hamilton|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Billy Kim]] (former president of [[Baptist World Alliance]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/288/118/ |title=Billy Kim retires as pastor of Korean megachurch |date=January 4, 2005 |publisher=ABP |access-date=March 20, 2012 }}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> and [[Moisés Silva]] (president of the [[Evangelical Theological Society]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crossway.org/bibles/esv/translation/reviewscholars/ |title=Translator profiles |publisher=Crossway |access-date=March 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130918194928/http://www.crossway.org/bibles/esv/translation/reviewscholars/ |archive-date=September 18, 2013 }}</ref> BJU alumni also include the third pastor (1968–1976) of [[Riverside Church]] ([[Riverside Church|Ernest T. Campbell]]), the former president of [[Northland Baptist Bible College]] ([[Les Ollila]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ni.edu/About-Us/Administration-Dr-Ollia/ |title=Chancellor bio |publisher=NI |access-date=March 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004203520/http://www.ni.edu/About-Us/Administration-Dr-Ollia/ |archive-date=October 4, 2011 }}</ref> late president of [[Baptist Bible College & Seminary|Baptist Bible College]] ([[Ernest Pickering]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=12274|title=The Making of Biblical Separation|date=May 1, 2008|publisher=Baptist Bulletin|access-date=March 20, 2012}}</ref> and the former president of [[Clearwater Christian College]] ([[Richard Stratton (college president)|Richard Stratton]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clearwater.edu/news/DrStrattonbio.asp |title=Stratton bio |publisher=Clearwater |access-date=March 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818071705/http://www.clearwater.edu/news/DrStrattonbio.asp |archive-date=August 18, 2011 }}</ref>

BJU alumnus [[Asa Hutchinson]] served as the governor of Arkansas and also served in the U.S. Congress;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H001014|title=Hutchinson bio|publisher=U.S. Congress|access-date=March 20, 2012}}</ref> his brother [[Tim Hutchinson]] served in the U.S. Senate. Others have served in state government: Michigan state senator [[Alan Cropsey]], former Pennsylvania state representative [[Gordon Denlinger]] (subsequently Pennsylvania Deputy Auditor General for Audits), Pennsylvania state representative [[Mark M. Gillen]], former Speaker Pro Tempore of the South Carolina House of Representatives [[Terry Haskins]], member of the South Carolina House of Representatives [[Wendy Nanney]], Pennsylvania state representative [[Sam Rohrer]], member of the Missouri House of Representatives [[Ryan Silvey]], Maryland state senator [[Bryan Simonaire]] and his daughter, state delegate [[Meagan Simonaire]], and South Carolina state senator [[Danny Verdin]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|author=Dalhouse, Mark Taylor|title=An Island in the Lake of Fire: Bob Jones University, Fundamentalism & the Separatist Movement|url=https://archive.org/details/islandinlakeoffi00dalh|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=1996|isbn=0-8203-1815-9|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|author=Johnson, R.K.|title=Builder of Bridges: The Biography of Dr. Bob Jones Sr.|publisher=BJU Press|year=1982|isbn=0-89084-157-8}}
* {{cite book|author=Jones Jr., Bob|title=Cornbread and Caviar|publisher=BJU Press|year=1985|isbn=0-89084-306-6}}
* {{cite book|author=Turner, Daniel L.|title=Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University|publisher=BJU Press|year=1997|isbn=1-57924-710-5}}
* {{cite book|author=Wright, Melton|title=Fortress of Faith: The Story of Bob Jones University|publisher=BJU Press|year=1984|isbn=0-89084-252-3}}

==External links==
{{Portal|United States}}
* {{Official website|http://www.bju.edu/}}
* [http://www.bjubruins.com Official athletics website]

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