A peak inside the far-right university that banned interracial dating until 10 years ago.

[Darnell 8,478]

I wonder how many BJU graduates wind up marrying other BJU graduates? seems a small demographic, a likely pool for that demographic to find partners?

Oh wait - this reporter is from Mother Jones. Geez - two camps so diametrically opposed - I wonder if he even put in the application to get permission to make the interview ?

Edited July 23, 2010 by Darnell

[KaiserD 12]

I knew that I would never be comfortable marrying her though because of her religion.

But it's not like all muslims are hardcore, Westboro style. There should be many things to take into account first, how it affects who she is as a person, her family e.t.c. I'm not going to claim knowing how common it is but I'm sure there are muslims who have married people of other faiths before.

I'd be more concerned about how my child's chosen behaved and dressed. Dress might not always be an indicator of a person but it's a start and is far more telling than skin colour/ethnicity, seeing as these are things a person can control. For example if I had a daughter who brought home a guy with his Adidas tracksuit, chunky jewelry and had the kind of body language as these people usually do I would be examining him very quickly to see if he exhibited behavior that chavs usually subscribe to.

[Peikko 1,575]

Yes indeed. I just did not have any other personal prejudices to spice up the post with.

Fair enough. I think nice people are nice people - when entertaining one's kids friends, I am sure the first thing we notice is how the friend behaves - at least so far that has been my experience.

[alienlovechild 75]

Any far-left universities in this country?

Bet they get federal dollars unlike BJU.

[Atencio 43]

Any far-left universities in this country?

Bet they get federal dollars unlike BJU.

UC Berkeley

hehe

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Any far-left universities in this country?

That what? Have banned interracial dating?

[Fandango 1,439]

I don't think this is much of an issue, tbh...they have a lot of 'rules' that seem crazy and off the wall that even still stand today. Now, if they had banned, or still ban any non-white students from enrolling, then that's an issue.

The southern school adopted its ban on interracial dating in the 1950s. Ironically, the policy was not instituted in response to concerns of white parents, but came after an Asian family threatened to sue the school when their son, who was a student at the school, nearly married a white girl.

^{http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/marchweb-only/53.0.html}

[BishopM 114]

Bob Jones University's Last Days

By Tim Murphy, Mother Jones

Greenville, South Carolina—Some of you may know Bob Jones University as the fun-loving school that briefly held the Guinness World Record for largest kazoo ensemble. More likely, though, you know it as a bastion of the far right: For decades, big-shot conservative politicians from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush have traveled to the self-described "fundamentalist" outpost to pander to the Christian right, all the while pleading ignorance to its institutional opposition to Catholicism ("a Satanic counterfeit") and its longstanding ban on interracial dating.

The dating policy was reversed in 2000 (provided you have parental consent and a chaperone, of course), but the school still has a pretty detailed personal conduct code, which bans, among other things, phones that have Internet access, "contemporary Christian music," Gmail, and "posters of movie and music stars." I stopped by BJU on Tuesday hoping to speak with some current students about what brought them there (the art program is supposed to be excellent), how they like the school, and what they make of the school's not-so-distant history. But, alas, when I approached a group of undergrads, they broke the bad news: "We're not technically allowed to talk to reporters unless we have the school's permission," as one of them explained.

So much for that. Instead, I ended up walking across campus, checking out the Renaissance art museum (quite impressive, in addition to being the only place at BJU where you'll find Catholics); the Shakespeare-centric theater; and the memorial to the school's namesake, which places him in the tradition of transcendent historical figures like George Whitefield and Billy Sunday.

BJU always insisted that the dating policy had nothing to do with delusions of racial superiority; instead, it was fueled by a paranoia over a one-world society—which, as any student of the Left Behind series knows, is the mark of Satan and the End of Days. The more people of different complexions intermingle, the fewer borders there will be between Lucifer and his ultimate goal. So much for "divide and conquer."

I'm not sure this explanation actually makes the policy any more palatable; if anything, I'd say racial fears become a lot more dangerous when they're enveloped into a grand, unifying theory of how the world is going to end. But it was consistent with the school's general message as articulated by its leaders, its rules for student life, and its areas of study: Don't trust anything you hear off campus. At the University bookstore (located right next door to "Great Awakenings" coffee shop), for instance, pamphlets about the Freemasons and the "the facts" about the Roman Catholic church are sprinkled in amongst anti-Darwin screeds and American exceptionalist tracts.

Even if politicians don't detour to Greenville as frequently as they used to, they're still very much speaking to Bob Jones when they talk about global warming, or about nuclear Iran, or about the need (or lack thereof) for diplomacy, or about the coming collapse of American currency: As the Tea Party movement ably demonstrates, BJU-style fears of global government are a driving force behind today's conservative fearmongering. Bob Jones lost the battle, but in some sense, the bigger struggle is ongoing.

Besides, according to Pew, 37 percent of Americans would still have "some problem" with a family member marrying someone of a different race. In 2010. The institution may have been broken, but the prejudice hasn't disappeared.

link

I have to admit, schools like this (and even my alma mater) really provide an excellent platform from which I TRULY enjoy being a Catholic Cult member and also married to an immigrant (even tho she is legal)

I just don't get fundamentalists like this, but even within my own family we've got 'em. They think I am the ghey!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I have to admit, schools like this (and even my alma mater) really provide an excellent platform from which I TRULY enjoy being a Catholic Cult member and also married to an immigrant (even tho she is legal)

I just don't get fundamentalists like this, but even within my own family we've got 'em. They think I am the ghey!

You and all your 'girlish' intelligence. You just need to chop them some wood....preferably in suspenders and shirtless, showing your glistening muscles.

Edited July 23, 2010 by El Buscador

[mawilson 2,133]

to imagine that one of the criteria for dislike is skin colour is pretty silly - in my opinion.

It's a physical characteristic, like any other. One can dislike short people or bald people,

white or black isn't any different.

[alienlovechild 75]

That what? Have banned interracial dating?

You've never heard of an historically black college before? Taxpayer funded no less.

[HAL 9000 96]

Hotbeds of communist thought.

[Peikko 1,575]

It's a physical characteristic, like any other. One can dislike short people or bald people,

white or black isn't any different.

Would you reject the partner or friend your child chose because they had a physical attributes that you were not that keen on? That's pretty objectionable.

[sandinista! 1,816]

You've never heard of an historically black college before? Taxpayer funded no less.

as if it's ever been equal. your comments are completely disingenuous.

In 1975, Jake Ayers Sr. filed a lawsuit against Mississippi for giving more financial support to its predominantly white public colleges. The state settled the lawsuit in 2002 and agreed to direct $503 million to three historically black colleges, collectively, over 17 years.

Following the enactment of Civil Rights laws in the 1960s, all educational institutions that receive federal funding have undertaken affirmative action to increase their racial diversity. Some historically black colleges now have non-black majorities, notably West Virginia State University and Bluefield State College whose student body has been roughly 90% white since the mid-1960s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historically_black_colleges_and_universities

historically black colleges had to remain almost exclusively black because when there were integrated schools, laws were passed to make it illegal to teach black and white students in the same place. this segregation was reinforced by the supreme court until brown v. board of education, which didn't happen until 1954(!).

Berea College is a coeducational and desegregated school founded in 1855, admitting both blacks and whites students and treating them without discrimination. In 1904, the "Day Law" was passed by the Kentucky legislature, prohibiting any person, group of people, or corporation from the teaching of black and white students in the same school, or from running separate branches of a school for the teaching of black and white students within twenty-five miles of each other. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state. The result of the ruling was to allow states to prohibit integrated schooling in private institutions, as well as in public schools. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berea_College_v._Kentucky

Edited July 24, 2010 by sandinista!

[mawilson 2,133]

Would you reject the partner or friend your child chose because they had a physical attributes that you were not that keen on? That's pretty objectionable.

I can easily imagine someone rejecting a person because he was too short or too fat, yes.