Bob Jones University To Regain Tax Exempt Status

The State reported last week that Bob Jones University, will regain its tax exempt status on March 1, nearly 34 years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld stripping it of the exempt status.  The revocation stemmed from the University's policy, which at the time it claimed was Biblically-based, to deny admission to applicants engaged in an interracial marriage or known to advocate interracial marriage or dating.  The conservative Christian university dropped its interracial dating policy in 2000, but did not take steps to begin to regain full tax exempt status until 2014. It had previously created certain non-profit arms, such as its scholarship fund.  But now a reorganization will place most of the university's facilities under the umbrella of its existing BJU, Inc. (formerly Bob Jones elementary School, Inc.).  Some assets however will remain in a for-profit entity.  This reorganization did not require formal IRS approval, but the University has had formal correspondence and conversations with IRS about the reorganization.  One of the benefits of the reorganization will be that the University will move from a for-profit to a non-profit college as the Department of Education is giving added oversight to for-profit institutions. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Report Released On Counseling of Sex Abuse Victims At Bob Jones University

Last week, Bob Jones University released a 300-page Final Report (full text) growing out of an investigation by the non-profit organization GRACE of the University's inadequate counseling of students who disclosed that they were sexually abused as a child, or were sexually abused after they enrolled at Bob Jones University or its Academy. Calling attention to the Report, yesterday's Daily Beast says in part:

At this point, there are so many sex scandals among conservative religious organizations, we’re no longer surprised by any of them. The latest revelation—that for decades, the evangelical Bob Jones University blamed victims of sexual assault and discouraged the prosecution of predators—should be shocking, but probably isn’t.

Yet, the recent report on BJU’s misconduct is different. Unusually for such a document, it makes a theological case against sexual abuse—but in so doing, it points to the deep roots of rape culture that may not be so easily uprooted.