Bob Jones University seeks black students in bid to improve its image

Jet, March 4, 2002

In trying to eradicate its racist image, Bob Jones University, the fundamentalist Christian college in Greenville, SC, that banned interracial dating until two years ago, recently began to recruit minorities.

More than 40 minority students have applied for aid through two new funds sponsored by private donations, and nine have won scholarships, a school spokesman said. The school said it had few Blacks, but no precise figures on its racial makeup. Officials said the numbers reflect a growing interest by minorities in the 4,200-student school.

The school first admitted Black students after the Internal Revenue Service moved to revoke its tax-exempt status in 1970, citing bias. A ban on interracial dating remained, however, and the university lost the tax exemption in 1983.

Bob Jones III, president of the university founded by his grandfather, announced that the school would drop its ban after a highly publicized visit in 2000 from presidential candidate George W. Bush. Bush had been criticized for addressing neither the dating issue nor statements by the founder which were perceived as anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon.