Bob Jones University

===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 presidential election. Even 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>

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>

====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">[https://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/pop/articles/022800wh-gop-bush.html ''New York Times'' website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517184003/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/pop/articles/022800wh-gop-bush.html |date=May 17, 2013 }}</ref> Bush gave a standard stump speech, making no specific reference to the university. 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>[http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/features/turning.points/ CNN website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041213143936/http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/features/turning.points/ |date=December 13, 2004 }}</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>