TWO YEARS ago, during one of the most tumultuous presidential campaigns in American history, a small school in South Carolina became the focus of intense media scrutiny. Bob Jones University had made a school policy forbidding interracial dating. Following the national uproar over its controversial policies, the university abandoned its interracial dating ban. As of late, Bob Jones University has decided to begin pursuing minority applicants by offering scholarships. Although the going will be tough, this move is a welcome breeze of progressive thought at one of the nations most conservative institutions, and it hopefully will succeed.
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Bob Jones University has had an utterly awful track record regarding racial issues. They integrated their school in 1970 as a result of pressure from the IRS, which threatened to remove their tax-exempt status on the grounds that BJU was discriminating against minorities. The school prides itself on being a foremost institution in educating students in a Protestant Christian manner, and has at times been so fervent in its beliefs that statements from the university's president have been considered to be insulting to other religions. For example, the schools' founders previously have referred to Catholicism as a cult ("Bob Jones University ends ban on interracial dating," CNN.com, Mar. 4, 2000).
As mentioned before, the ban on interracial dating was dropped after it was exposed in the media frenzy. Not surprisingly, the university's unfriendly and intolerant image was taken to national prominence after it hosted a speech from President Bush during the presidential elections.
Officially, the school is unclear on exactly how many black students it has. According to CNN.com, Bob Jones University claims to have a few black students, but admits that it has no conclusive demographic information on the racial composition of its student body ("Bob Jones Univ. looks to recruit minorities," Feb 15.). Considering the emphasis that this institution has put on race in the past, it seems odd that they would not have some estimates, especially since our university - which has more than double the number of students at Bob Jones - is able to keep very accurate statistics. This deficiency in data hints at the low priority that student diversity has held in previous expectations about who is being admitted to compose the student body at the university.
This lack of information may lead to several questions as to the true motives of Bob Jones University's push for increased minority recruitment. Although it is possible that the school may genuinely wish to make its student body more diverse, it is more likely that they are engaging in these recruiting activities for the sole purpose of improving their image. The school has not released any statistics about their applicants and admissions in the last year, but it is possible that those may have suffered due to the negative publicity.
The spokesman for the university, Jonathan Pait, told CNN that the school is looking to increase minority enrollment because "we're so often pointed out as being so racist, we wanted to take a stab, at least, to overcome that stereotype." Perhaps the school wishes both to diversify and to improve its image. However, if minority applicants perceive the school motivation to be purely image-based, they may be less inclined to give the school a chance.
Nonetheless, regardless of the perception of the school's intent, they already have had some luck attracting applicants. Approximately 40 applicants have applied for scholarships, and nine minority students so far have been awarded them. Nine students constitutes less than one percent of the 4,200-student body at the university, but it's a start.
Hopefully, with that start, Bob Jones University will be able to begin changing its mindset. Although it may claim not to be racist, its interracial dating policies - which only were eliminated two years ago after a great deal of bad press - imply that school officials very recently held racist values. The ideals can take time to shift, but having more black students in the institution will quicken the process. Students, faculty and administrators will come to know black students better, as there will be more of them on campus. Similar processes occurred at several other universities including our own, which was integrated in 1950.
Currently, 10 percent of the student body at the University of Virginia is black. Perhaps, in time, Bob Jones will be able to boast comparable numbers. Still, its current push for minority recruitment is a step in the right direction.
(Alex Rosemblat's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at arosemblat@cavalierdaily.com.)
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