Bob Jones University regrets handling of 2005 sex assault allegations after ex-pastor’s arrest

Bert, did you read this article because it seems like you missed an awful lot of it. Here’s what it says..

First, “regret” is the word that the author used. It is never attributed to BJU in a quotation. BJU may have used it but the article doesn’t say so. Even then, since regret means to feel sorrow or remorse for something it is not clear why that would be a problem to feel sorrow or remorse that they mishandled a situation 15 years ago. What would you like them to feel? And what all did they say that didn’t get quoted? We simply don’t know.

Second, BJU found out about this accusation in 2005 which was the same year that the church fired the pastor when the accusations became public. So the idea that BJU allowed this pastor to continue in ministry for 15 years is false. Yet you made the statement anyway. Why?

Third, BJU didn’t prevent anything from happening in 2005. In 2005, the year that BJU found out, the victim filed a police report with the police but she did not pursue charges. The article says that BJU did not find out about the event on their property (the 2001 episode) until “two weeks ago” (meaning, I presume two weeks prior to the article). In 2005, the proper authorities were Hyde Park police where the offense occurred and where the police report was made. It is unlikely that BJU was a mandatory reporter at that time since the victim was no longer a minor.

Fourth, BJU admitted not helping as they should have. This is about the only thing you got correct out of a very short article.

As for counseling, many people think that GRACE’s counseling recommendations were in error. BJU was being requested to change a fundamental part of the core doctrinal stance. They were well within their rights to reject that. GRACE’s counseling recommendations had a number of problems, not the least of which is the anthropology, bibliology, and harmartiology involved. So your blame on BJU is misguided on that front.

I mean, if you’re going to expel her, at least have enough decency to terminate her for “consensual sex” instead of using the hall pass thing as an excuse.

Why? It wasn’t consensual sex. It was assault.

Doesn’t it seem a little weird to you that lying would be a more actionable offense than being molested by your pastor?

It is more actionable. It is what they acted on so it sounds like you agree with them.

If you think she should not have been asked to withdraw for lying about where she was going off campus, what would have been the appropriate penalty?

1. Yes, it was technically a paraphrase, but if they’d used the wrong word, they’d have heard from BJU. The reporter’s probably got it on tape. For that matter, any Greenville area reporter familiar with the history of BJU would have heard the words “we apologize” as a bombshell, and if BJU had felt it was necessary to issue a real apology, they’d have used that word and publicized it.

Verdict; they said “regret”.

2. Yes, thankfully the pastor was out of ministry. Well, wait a minute; what’s he been doing since? Was his name added to a “do not hire” list? What did BJU do to prevent him from getting further ministry employment?

3. Regarding what BJU did, again, read the GRACE report! It’s in there, Larry. They actively discouraged dozens of victims, including this woman, from reporting to the police and pretty much expelled her for minor violations of BJU’s student conduct code.

4. Regarding the notion that BJU did not know about the 2001 assaults, wrong, Larry. From the article:

According to the GRACE report, a student told staff with Bob Jones University in 2005 that she had been abused by her pastor since she was 15 years old and that she was pregnant with his child, which is consistent with the report Clark filed with the Hyde Park police.

I guess I need to add something that BJU did in this case that is objectionable; they appear to have lied about knowing about the earlier assaults. They didn’t find out about this in 2020, but in 2005. It’s on page 153 and 154 of the GRACE Report. Read it.

5. Regarding counseling practices, I’d love to see what hamartiological distinctives ought to tell you you don’t make changes when your counseling practices lead your school to expel a girl for minor student code violations while ignoring the fact that one of its alumni raped her repeatedly. Do tell. Is it the criticality of “straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel”, Larry?

Sorry, but you are dead wrong on every point you made save one—and even that one, you’ve got some serious holes in what was done. It’s time for BJU to own what they did and apologize. And for that matter, they ought to provide some compensation for what their victim went through.

You are obviously very passionate as a warrior against the scourge of BJU. I presume you have contacted BJU and asked for a face to face meeting to address their careless, unloving, and unChristian behavior (as you have classified it)? If not, why bother writing line after line about something that does not concern you?

….I could care just about the truth to call not just BJU, but other brothers in Christ to repentance and encourage people to make amends for wrongs they’ve done? That my goal is not the destruction of BJU, but its repentance and improvement, and for them to set an example for other fundagelical entities to follow?

I’m seeing a lot of “us vs. them” in your comments lately, Mark. Maybe give people some credit and stop assuming that their goal is to destroy entities you would like to see defended?

Have you contacted BJU in any way? I am just curious since you obviously think BJU has done something seriously wrong.

Have you contacted BJU in any way?

If BJU was aware enough of this story to be interviewed for it and to defend themselves in the actual news article, knowing full well that went to thousands of people in Greenville and the surrounding area, how is this suddenly a “take it to your brother privately” offense?

Come on, man. Use logic.

[Jay]

Have you contacted BJU in any way?

If BJU was aware enough of this story to be interviewed for it and to defend themselves in the actual news article, knowing full well that went to thousands of people in Greenville and the surrounding area, how is this suddenly a “take it to your brother privately” offense?

Come on, man. Use logic.

I am not using a “take it to your brother privately argument.” I never mentioned that. I am asking Bert, who rants for page after page about how BJU is doing bad, if he ever bothered to contact BJU. That’s it. What is the point of an engineer who never went to BJU to rant for page after page and never contact the group he is so disappointed in? That is my question.

My take, after careful consideration, is that we are in the era of BJU 2.0 (or the BJU ‘reboot’) and that the Pettit administration should not be blamed for the priors’ errors.

….since apparently he cannot be bothered to read what I wrote the first time:

….I could care just about the truth to call not just BJU, but other brothers in Christ to repentance and encourage people to make amends for wrongs they’ve done? That my goal is not the destruction of BJU, but its repentance and improvement, and for them to set an example for other fundagelical entities to follow?

I’m seeing a lot of “us vs. them” in your comments lately, Mark. Maybe give people some credit and stop assuming that their goal is to destroy entities you would like to see defended?

And let’s be honest here: the mistakes BJU has made are, by and large, the same mistakes made at ABWE, New Tribes, MSU, Penn State, USAG, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and more. You start by downplaying the seriousness of the offense, and that leads you to think that it really doesn’t belong in the criminal justice system or the civil courts. You then make a hash of the investigation, and since you really don’t want to talk about the nature of the offense—that makes it hard to “minimize”, as Jay noted—you will automatically tend to play up minor offenses and ignore the big offense that led to the minor offenses. It’s called “victim blaming”.

[Bert Perry]

you will automatically tend to play up minor offenses and ignore the big offense that led to the minor offenses. It’s called “victim blaming”.

This will be the great reveal… What exactly is the “big offense” in this case?

The rape by the pastor of the girl.

Mark, there’s multiple layers of fail here. You can keep talking about the rape of the girl, but that’s not the point Bert and I are making. You’re trying to force everyone into a false dichotomy.

The girl was raped. Whatever the reason, she did not get or seek justice in the criminal justice system. Now, years later, the claim that BJU did something wrong.

My point is, why? I think because people have agendas to harm BJU. Its sensational… BJU told the girl to not complain, etc… They then want money or whatever from BJU.

And the problem is, the pastor is the criminal.

But, I get it. I’m backward.

I work for a certain secular university. In my time here we have had 4 rape cases that I know about at this school. NOT ONCE has the school ever admitted anything wrong in any case.

[Jim]

My take, after careful consideration, is that we are in the era of BJU 2.0 (or the BJU ‘reboot’) and that the Pettit administration should not be blamed for the priors’ errors.

Yes.