Letter to Bob Jones University
Dear Dr. Stephen Jones, Bob Jones University Board of Trustees, and Administration:
We are Bob Jones University alumni and students who care deeply about our alma mater. We recognize that God has used the University in our lives for good, and we pray that God preserves the university and uses it in the lives of those who come after us. We value our time there, the many wonderful faculty and staff members who taught us and touched our lives, the godly friends we met, and the school’s fearless stand for Jesus Christ.
We are troubled, though, by certain aspects of the school’s reputation regarding its attitude toward the topic of racial discrimination. The school is widely known as segregationist, bigoted, and racist. Some of us were not aware of this reputation while we attended the university and were baffled when we encountered negative perceptions from others after we graduated. Our ignorance may be to the University’s credit, since it suggests that the actual practices of the University have improved beyond the older perceptions that persist in the world at large.
Nevertheless, the reputation remains. We see it in people’s faces and hear it in their comments and reactions upon learning where we went to school. Sometimes we encounter it in job interviews–troubling times to be confronted about racial prejudice. For some of us, employees suspect our motives as employers. Those of us who are ministers and spiritual leaders must explain our association with the university to minority congregants. All of us are charged to present the Gospel, but must now do so in the context of this stigma. After a period of objective discussion and research, we begin to understand the origin of these negative impressions.
The University’s historical position on the topic of racial discrimination is deeply troubling, including stories of its founding leaders having connections to notoriously bigoted characters and organizations. Some of that history is disturbingly recent. Married black students were not admitted until 1971, and unmarried black students were not admitted until 1975. Even then a ban on interracial relationships lasted into the twenty-first century. Records from those years include vicious and embarrassing statements from people representing the University in an official capacity. The individuals on the receiving end of this treatment recounted those experiences to their tight-knit communities, and their stories provided a public record of the University’s attitude toward minorities. Finally, many of us have personally seen actions or heard statements from current members of the University community which seem to indicate that sensitivity toward this issue is not a priority of its administration or representatives.
We realize that other institutions have made mistakes as well. We do not excuse their mistakes, but neither are we concerned with them. They are responsible for what they have done, and many of them have issued public statements of regret and apology and have taken dramatic steps to demonstrate their commitment to change. Bob Jones University, to our knowledge, has never done so. We can find no record of a statement that admits that the university’s historical position on the topic of racial discrimination, while sincere, was mistaken, and God has granted a better perspective. We are writing to request that such a statement be made, backed up by concrete actions that demonstrate its seriousness.
We hope and believe that such a statement would be sincere and accurate. We recognize that it may be difficult to make and realize that it may attract criticism from other corners. That is why we want you to know that should such a statement be made, we will support it completely and joyfully.
God’s glory is the absolute supreme goal; and this behavior and unyielding “standing without apology” is not only unbecoming but completely undermining of that Gospel of grace to which the University so vehemently claims to adhere.
We request this not just to remove stumbling blocks in our dealings with others, or to improve appraisals of our resumes (though we believe it will do both). We hope that you will choose to address this issue because of your own conviction that all people, regardless of their skin color or ethnicity, are made in the image of God and that God desires unity in His Church.
We pray that you will do this, most of all, because it will be doing right and showing forth a true demonstration of the love and humility that God desires from His people.
Sincerely yours,