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Venerable Southern Institute

Monday 10 January 2005 | general

Willful Expose mentioned recently that bastion of liberal education, Bob Jones University.

Ah, Bob Jones, where interracial dating was only recently permitted.

Well, Willful pointed out a lot of the absurdities of the regulations there. Some of my favorites:

  • Residence hall students may not watch videos above a G rating when visiting homes in town and may not attend movie theaters.
  • Contemporary Christian music is not permitted (e.g., Michael W. Smith, Stephen Curtis Chapman, WOW Worship, and so forth).
  • [Men’s] sideburns should not extend past the middle of the ear. Men are expected to remain clean-shaven.
  • All wireless access to the Internet is forbidden since all Internet use must go through the University’s filtered access.

Basically, as Willful pointed out, a barbed-wire fence.

In her original post, she failed to mention one regulation that best shows BJU’s southern mentality:

All weapons must be turned in for storage. Trigger locks are required for pistols. Fireworks are not permitted on campus. (Source) Guns are as intregal to the southern mentality as grits. While it’s completely “rational” to forbid dates without chaperones, trampling on Second Amendment rights is just out of the question. Why, there’s no amendment regardin’ the holdin’ a hands, but son, we gotta God given right — right, I say — to keep an’ bear arms.

The south is, after all, where you’re most likely to see gun racks and to have students miss school on the opening day of some given hunting season. So while parents are not likely to raise hell — Godly, Christian hell, but hell nonetheless — about little Jamie not being allowed to access the internet with his wireless modem, they just might when Bubba Jones says, “Now, ya’ll gotta leave them there Colts and Winchesters at home, y’hear?”

2 Comments

  1. ViVi

    For the last seven years, I lived in Greenville, SC. You forgot the part where girls are only permitted to wear long skirts. You could spot a gaggle of BJU girls in the mall from a mile away.

  2. Rod Bell, Jr

    what is the big deal about a private christian college/university that sets policies and procedures for operation. Everyone that attends the school I am sure is aware of their rules and regulations. Last I checked anyone has the right to go to school where they want to go. This school does not even get one goverment dollar. Have you seen the campus, it is first class, clean, what most people would want for a good educational environment. They have an awesome art gallery that is probably worth millions of dollars. They have a grat appreciation for the arts, shakespearean plays are performed beautifully. Fortune 500 companies want their graduates because they are ladies and gentlemen with high values and a strong work ethic. All of that does not sound to shaby to me. Girls wearing long skirts, sideburns and internet, if these issues are clearly addressed in student handbooks why should you care. Tell me what environment would you want for your child? Sounds as though they may want the very best for my child. Thanks for listening and allowing me to share what I have seen. I admire BJU they have taken quite a licking but they just keep on ticking!