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Boolean satisfiability problem

In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfies a given Boolean formula. In other words, it asks whether the variables of a given Boolean formula can be consistently replaced by the values TRUE or FALSE in such a way that the formula evaluates to TRUE. If this is the case, the formula is called satisfiable. On the other hand, if no such assignment exists, the function expressed by the formula is FALSE for all possible variable assignments and the formula is unsatisfiable. For example, the formula "a AND NOT b" is satisfiable because one can find the values a = TRUE and b = FALSE, which make (a AND NOT b) = TRUE. In contrast, "a AND NOT a" is unsatisfiable.

SAT is the first problem that was proven to be NP-complete—this is the Cook–Levin theorem. This means that all problems in the complexity class NP, which includes a wide range of natural decision and optimization problems, are at most as difficult to solve as SAT. There is no known algorithm that efficiently solves each SAT problem, and it is generally believed that no such algorithm exists, but this belief has not been proven mathematically, and resolving the question of whether SAT has a polynomial-time algorithm is equivalent to the P versus NP problem, which is a famous open problem in the theory of computing.

Nevertheless, as of 2007, heuristic SAT-algorithms are able to solve problem instances involving tens of thousands of variables and formulas consisting of millions of symbols, which is sufficient for many practical SAT problems from, e.g., artificial intelligence, circuit design, and automatic theorem proving.

Definitions
A propositional logic formula, also called Boolean expression, is built from variables, operators AND (conjunction, also denoted by ∧), OR (disjunction, ∨), NOT (negation, ¬), and parentheses. A formula is said to be satisfiable if it can be made TRUE by assigning appropriate logical values (i.e. TRUE, FALSE) to its variables. The Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) is, given a formula, to check whether it is satisfiable. This decision problem is of central importance in many areas of computer science, including theoretical computer science, complexity theory, algorithmics, cryptography  and artificial intelligence.

Conjunctive normal form
A literal is either a variable (in which case it is called a positive literal) or the negation of a variable (called a negative literal). A clause is a disjunction of literals (or a single literal). A clause is called a Horn clause if it contains at most one positive literal. A formula is in conjunctive normal form (CNF) if it is a conjunction of clauses (or a single clause).

For example, $x_{1}$ is a positive literal, $¬x_{2}$ is a negative literal, and $x_{1} ∨ ¬x_{2}$ is a clause. The formula $(x_{1} ∨ ¬x_{2}) ∧ (¬x_{1} ∨ x_{2} ∨ x_{3}) ∧ ¬x_{1}$ is in conjunctive normal form; its first and third clauses are Horn clauses, but its second clause is not. The formula is satisfiable, by choosing x1 = FALSE, x2 = FALSE, and x3 arbitrarily, since (FALSE ∨ ¬FALSE) ∧ (¬FALSE ∨ FALSE ∨ x3) ∧ ¬FALSE evaluates to (FALSE ∨ TRUE) ∧ (TRUE ∨ FALSE ∨ x3) ∧ TRUE, and in turn to TRUE ∧ TRUE ∧ TRUE (i.e. to TRUE). In contrast, the CNF formula a ∧ ¬a, consisting of two clauses of one literal, is unsatisfiable, since for a=TRUE or a=FALSE it evaluates to TRUE ∧ ¬TRUE (i.e., FALSE) or FALSE ∧ ¬FALSE (i.e., again FALSE), respectively.

For some versions of the SAT problem, it is useful to define the notion of a generalized conjunctive normal form formula, viz. as a conjunction of arbitrarily many generalized clauses, the latter being of the form $R(l_{1},...,l_{n})$ for some Boolean function R and (ordinary) literals $l_{i}$. Different sets of allowed Boolean functions lead to different problem versions. As an example, R(¬x,a,b) is a generalized clause, and R(¬x,a,b) ∧ R(b,y,c) ∧ R(c,d,¬z) is a generalized conjunctive normal form. This formula is used below, with R being the ternary operator that is TRUE just when exactly one of its arguments is.

Using the laws of Boolean algebra, every propositional logic formula can be transformed into an equivalent conjunctive normal form, which may, however, be exponentially longer. For example, transforming the formula (x1∧y1) ∨ (x2∧y2) ∨ ... ∨ (xn∧yn) into conjunctive normal form yields

while the former is a disjunction of n conjunctions of 2 variables, the latter consists of 2n clauses of n variables.

However, with use of the Tseytin transformation, we may find an equisatisfiable conjunctive normal form formula with length linear in the size of the original propositional logic formula.

Complexity
SAT was the first problem known to be NP-complete, as proved by Stephen Cook at the University of Toronto in 1971 and independently by Leonid Levin at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1973. Until that time, the concept of an NP-complete problem did not even exist. The proof shows how every decision problem in the complexity class NP can be reduced to the SAT problem for CNF formulas, sometimes called CNFSAT. A useful property of Cook's reduction is that it preserves the number of accepting answers. For example, deciding whether a given graph has a 3-coloring is another problem in NP; if a graph has 17 valid 3-colorings, then the SAT formula produced by the Cook–Levin reduction will have 17 satisfying assignments.

NP-completeness only refers to the run-time of the worst case instances. Many of the instances that occur in practical applications can be solved much more quickly. See §Algorithms for solving SAT below.

3-satisfiability
Like the satisfiability problem for arbitrary formulas, determining the satisfiability of a formula in conjunctive normal form where each clause is limited to at most three literals is NP-complete also; this problem is called 3-SAT, 3CNFSAT, or 3-satisfiability. To reduce the unrestricted SAT problem to 3-SAT, transform each clause $(x_{1} ∨ x_{2} ∨ … ∨ x_{n}) ∧$ to a conjunction of $(y_{1} ∨ x_{2} ∨ … ∨ x_{n}) ∧$ clauses

where $(x_{1} ∨ y_{2} ∨ … ∨ x_{n}) ∧$ are fresh variables not occurring elsewhere. Although the two formulas are not logically equivalent, they are equisatisfiable. The formula resulting from transforming all clauses is at most 3 times as long as its original; that is, the length growth is polynomial.

3-SAT is one of Karp's 21 NP-complete problems, and it is used as a starting point for proving that other problems are also NP-hard. This is done by polynomial-time reduction from 3-SAT to the other problem. An example of a problem where this method has been used is the clique problem: given a CNF formula consisting of c clauses, the corresponding graph consists of a vertex for each literal, and an edge between each two non-contradicting literals from different clauses; see the picture. The graph has a c-clique if and only if the formula is satisfiable.

There is a simple randomized algorithm due to Schöning (1999) that runs in time (4/3)n where n is the number of variables in the 3-SAT proposition, and succeeds with high probability to correctly decide 3-SAT.

The exponential time hypothesis asserts that no algorithm can solve 3-SAT (or indeed k-SAT for any $(y_{1} ∨ y_{2} ∨ … ∨ x_{n}) ∧ ... ∧$) in $(x_{1} ∨ x_{2} ∨ … ∨ y_{n}) ∧$ time (that is, fundamentally faster than exponential in n).

Selman, Mitchell, and Levesque (1996) give empirical data on the difficulty of randomly generated 3-SAT formulas, depending on their size parameters. Difficulty is measured in number recursive calls made by a DPLL algorithm. They identified a phase transition region from almost-certainly-satisfiable to almost-certainly-unsatisfiable formulas at the clauses-to-variables ratio at about 4.26.

3-satisfiability can be generalized to k-satisfiability (k-SAT, also k-CNF-SAT), when formulas in CNF are considered with each clause containing up to k literals. However, since for any k ≥ 3, this problem can neither be easier than 3-SAT nor harder than SAT, and the latter two are NP-complete, so must be k-SAT.

Some authors restrict k-SAT to CNF formulas with exactly k literals. This does not lead to a different complexity class either, as each clause $(y_{1} ∨ x_{2} ∨ … ∨ y_{n}) ∧$ with j < k literals can be padded with fixed dummy variables to $(x_{1} ∨ y_{2} ∨ … ∨ y_{n}) ∧$. After padding all clauses, 2k–1 extra clauses must be appended to ensure that only $(y_{1} ∨ y_{2} ∨ … ∨ y_{n})$ can lead to a satisfying assignment. Since k does not depend on the formula length, the extra clauses lead to a constant increase in length. For the same reason, it does not matter whether duplicate literals are allowed in clauses, as in $(x ∨ x ∨ y) ∧ (¬x ∨ ¬y ∨ ¬y) ∧ (¬x ∨ y ∨ y)$.

Conjunctive normal form
Conjunctive normal form (in particular with 3 literals per clause) is often considered the canonical representation for SAT formulas. As shown above, the general SAT problem reduces to 3-SAT, the problem of determining satisfiability for formulas in this form.

Disjunctive normal form
SAT is trivial if the formulas are restricted to those in disjunctive normal form, that is, they are a disjunction of conjunctions of literals. Such a formula is indeed satisfiable if and only if at least one of its conjunctions is satisfiable, and a conjunction is satisfiable if and only if it does not contain both x and NOT x for some variable x. This can be checked in linear time. Furthermore, if they are restricted to being in full disjunctive normal form, in which every variable appears exactly once in every conjunction, they can be checked in constant time (each conjunction represents one satisfying assignment). But it can take exponential time and space to convert a general SAT problem to disjunctive normal form; to obtain an example, exchange "∧" and "∨" in the above exponential blow-up example for conjunctive normal forms.

Exactly-1 3-satisfiability
A variant of the 3-satisfiability problem is the one-in-three 3-SAT (also known variously as 1-in-3-SAT and exactly-1 3-SAT). Given a conjunctive normal form with three literals per clause, the problem is to determine whether there exists a truth assignment to the variables so that each clause has exactly one TRUE literal (and thus exactly two FALSE literals). In contrast, ordinary 3-SAT requires that every clause has at least one TRUE literal. Formally, a one-in-three 3-SAT problem is given as a generalized conjunctive normal form with all generalized clauses using a ternary operator R that is TRUE just if exactly one of its arguments is. When all literals of a one-in-three 3-SAT formula are positive, the satisfiability problem is called one-in-three positive 3-SAT.

One-in-three 3-SAT, together with its positive case, is listed as NP-complete problem "LO4" in the standard reference Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness by Michael R. Garey and David S. Johnson. One-in-three 3-SAT was proved to be NP-complete by Thomas Jerome Schaefer as a special case of Schaefer's dichotomy theorem, which asserts that any problem generalizing Boolean satisfiability in a certain way is either in the class P or is NP-complete.

Schaefer gives a construction allowing an easy polynomial-time reduction from 3-SAT to one-in-three 3-SAT. Let "(x or y or z)" be a clause in a 3CNF formula. Add six fresh Boolean variables a, b, c, d, e, and f, to be used to simulate this clause and no other. Then the formula R(x,a,d) ∧ R(y,b,d) ∧ R(a,b,e) ∧ R(c,d,f) ∧ R(z,c,FALSE) is satisfiable by some setting of the fresh variables if and only if at least one of x, y, or z is TRUE, see picture (left). Thus any 3-SAT instance with m clauses and n variables may be converted into an equisatisfiable one-in-three 3-SAT instance with 5m clauses and n + 6m variables. Another reduction involves only four fresh variables and three clauses: R(¬x,a,b) ∧ R(b,y,c) ∧ R(c,d,¬z), see picture (right).

Not-all-equal 3-satisfiability
Another variant is the not-all-equal 3-satisfiability problem (also called NAE3SAT). Given a conjunctive normal form with three literals per clause, the problem is to determine if an assignment to the variables exists such that in no clause all three literals have the same truth value. This problem is NP-complete, too, even if no negation symbols are admitted, by Schaefer's dichotomy theorem.

Linear SAT
A 3-SAT formula is Linear SAT (LSAT) if each clause (viewed as a set of literals) intersects at most one other clause, and, moreover, if two clauses intersect, then they have exactly one literal in common. An LSAT formula can be depicted as a set of disjoint semi-closed intervals on a line. Deciding whether an LSAT formula is satisfiable is NP-complete.

2-satisfiability
SAT is easier if the number of literals in a clause is limited to at most 2, in which case the problem is called 2-SAT. This problem can be solved in polynomial time, and in fact is complete for the complexity class NL. If additionally all OR operations in literals are changed to XOR operations, then the result is called exclusive-or 2-satisfiability, which is a problem complete for the complexity class SL = L.

Horn-satisfiability
The problem of deciding the satisfiability of a given conjunction of Horn clauses is called Horn-satisfiability, or HORN-SAT. It can be solved in polynomial time by a single step of the unit propagation algorithm, which produces the single minimal model of the set of Horn clauses (w.r.t. the set of literals assigned to TRUE). Horn-satisfiability is P-complete. It can be seen as P's version of the Boolean satisfiability problem. Also, deciding the truth of quantified Horn formulas can be done in polynomial time.

Horn clauses are of interest because they are able to express implication of one variable from a set of other variables. Indeed, one such clause ¬x1 ∨ ... ∨ ¬xn ∨ y can be rewritten as x1 ∧ ... ∧ xn → y; that is, if x1,...,xn are all TRUE, then y must be TRUE as well.

A generalization of the class of Horn formulas is that of renameable-Horn formulae, which is the set of formulas that can be placed in Horn form by replacing some variables with their respective negation. For example, (x1 ∨ ¬x2) ∧ (¬x1 ∨ x2 ∨ x3) ∧ ¬x1 is not a Horn formula, but can be renamed to the Horn formula (x1 ∨ ¬x2) ∧ (¬x1 ∨ x2 ∨ ¬y3) ∧ ¬x1 by introducing y3 as negation of x3. In contrast, no renaming of (x1 ∨ ¬x2 ∨ ¬x3) ∧ (¬x1 ∨ x2 ∨ x3) ∧ ¬x1 leads to a Horn formula. Checking the existence of such a replacement can be done in linear time; therefore, the satisfiability of such formulae is in P as it can be solved by first performing this replacement and then checking the satisfiability of the resulting Horn formula.

XOR-satisfiability
Another special case is the class of problems where each clause contains XOR (i.e. exclusive or) rather than (plain) OR operators. This is in P, since an XOR-SAT formula can also be viewed as a system of linear equations mod 2, and can be solved in cubic time by Gaussian elimination; see the box for an example. This recast is based on the kinship between Boolean algebras and Boolean rings, and the fact that arithmetic modulo two forms a finite field. Since a XOR b XOR c evaluates to TRUE if and only if exactly 1 or 3 members of {a,b,c} are TRUE, each solution of the 1-in-3-SAT problem for a given CNF formula is also a solution of the XOR-3-SAT problem, and in turn each solution of XOR-3-SAT is a solution of 3-SAT; see the picture. As a consequence, for each CNF formula, it is possible to solve the XOR-3-SAT problem defined by the formula, and based on the result infer either that the 3-SAT problem is solvable or that the 1-in-3-SAT problem is unsolvable.

Provided that the complexity classes P and NP are not equal, neither 2-, nor Horn-, nor XOR-satisfiability is NP-complete, unlike SAT.

Schaefer's dichotomy theorem
The restrictions above (CNF, 2CNF, 3CNF, Horn, XOR-SAT) bound the considered formulae to be conjunctions of subformulas; each restriction states a specific form for all subformulas: for example, only binary clauses can be subformulas in 2CNF.

Schaefer's dichotomy theorem states that, for any restriction to Boolean functions that can be used to form these subformulas, the corresponding satisfiability problem is in P or NP-complete. The membership in P of the satisfiability of 2CNF, Horn, and XOR-SAT formulae are special cases of this theorem.

The following table summarizes some common variants of SAT.

Extensions of SAT
An extension that has gained significant popularity since 2003 is satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) that can enrich CNF formulas with linear constraints, arrays, all-different constraints, uninterpreted functions, etc. Such extensions typically remain NP-complete, but very efficient solvers are now available that can handle many such kinds of constraints.

The satisfiability problem becomes more difficult if both "for all" (∀) and "there exists" (∃) quantifiers are allowed to bind the Boolean variables. An example of such an expression would be $l_{1} ∨ ⋯ ∨ l_{n}$; it is valid, since for all values of x and y, an appropriate value of z can be found, viz. z=TRUE if both x and y are FALSE, and z=FALSE else. SAT itself (tacitly) uses only ∃ quantifiers. If only ∀ quantifiers are allowed instead, the so-called tautology problem is obtained, which is co-NP-complete. If both quantifiers are allowed, the problem is called the quantified Boolean formula problem (QBF), which can be shown to be PSPACE-complete. It is widely believed that PSPACE-complete problems are strictly harder than any problem in NP, although this has not yet been proved. Using highly parallel P systems, QBF-SAT problems can be solved in linear time.

Ordinary SAT asks if there is at least one variable assignment that makes the formula true. A variety of variants deal with the number of such assignments:
 * MAJ-SAT asks if the majority of all assignments make the formula TRUE. It is known to be complete for PP, a probabilistic class.
 * #SAT, the problem of counting how many variable assignments satisfy a formula, is a counting problem, not a decision problem, and is #P-complete.
 * UNIQUE SAT is the problem of determining whether a formula has exactly one assignment. It is complete for US, the complexity class describing problems solvable by a non-deterministic polynomial time Turing machine that accepts when there is exactly one nondeterministic accepting path and rejects otherwise.
 * UNAMBIGUOUS-SAT is the name given to the satisfiability problem when the input is restricted to formulas having at most one satisfying assignment. The problem is also called USAT. A solving algorithm for UNAMBIGUOUS-SAT is allowed to exhibit any behavior, including endless looping, on a formula having several satisfying assignments. Although this problem seems easier, Valiant and Vazirani have shown that if there is a practical (i.e. randomized polynomial-time) algorithm to solve it, then all problems in NP can be solved just as easily.
 * MAX-SAT, the maximum satisfiability problem, is an FNP generalization of SAT. It asks for the maximum number of clauses which can be satisfied by any assignment. It has efficient approximation algorithms, but is NP-hard to solve exactly. Worse still, it is APX-complete, meaning there is no polynomial-time approximation scheme (PTAS) for this problem unless P=NP.
 * WMSAT is the problem of finding an assignment of minimum weight that satisfy a monotone Boolean formula (i.e. a formula without any negation). Weights of propositional variables are given in the input of the problem. The weight of an assignment is the sum of weights of true variables. That problem is NP-complete (see Th. 1 of ).

Other generalizations include satisfiability for first- and second-order logic, constraint satisfaction problems, 0-1 integer programming.

Finding a satisfying assignment
While SAT is a decision problem, the search problem of finding a satisfying assignment reduces to SAT. That is, each algorithm which correctly answers whether an instance of SAT is solvable can be used to find a satisfying assignment. First, the question is asked on the given formula Φ. If the answer is "no", the formula is unsatisfiable. Otherwise, the question is asked on the partly instantiated formula Φ{x1=TRUE}, that is, Φ with the first variable x1 replaced by TRUE, and simplified accordingly. If the answer is "yes", then x1=TRUE, otherwise x1=FALSE. Values of other variables can be found subsequently in the same way. In total, n+1 runs of the algorithm are required, where n is the number of distinct variables in Φ.

This property is used in several theorems in complexity theory:

 * NP ⊆ P/poly ⇒ PH = Σ2  (Karp–Lipton theorem)
 * NP ⊆ BPP ⇒ NP = RP
 * P = NP ⇒ FP = FNP

Algorithms for solving SAT
Since the SAT problem is NP-complete, only algorithms with exponential worst-case complexity are known for it. In spite of this, efficient and scalable algorithms for SAT were developed during the 2000s and have contributed to dramatic advances in the ability to automatically solve problem instances involving tens of thousands of variables and millions of constraints (i.e. clauses). Examples of such problems in electronic design automation (EDA) include formal equivalence checking, model checking, formal verification of pipelined microprocessors, automatic test pattern generation, routing of FPGAs, planning, and scheduling problems, and so on. A SAT-solving engine is also considered to be an essential component in the electronic design automation toolbox.

Major techniques used by modern SAT solvers include the Davis–Putnam–Logemann–Loveland algorithm (or DPLL), conflict-driven clause learning (CDCL), and stochastic local search algorithms such as WalkSAT. Almost all SAT solvers include time-outs, so they will terminate in reasonable time even if they cannot find a solution. Different SAT solvers will find different instances easy or hard, and some excel at proving unsatisfiability, and others at finding solutions. Recent attempts have been made to learn an instance's satisfiability using deep learning techniques.

SAT solvers are developed and compared in SAT-solving contests. Modern SAT solvers are also having significant impact on the fields of software verification, constraint solving in artificial intelligence, and operations research, among others.

title: Boolean satisfiability problem


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Bob Jones University

Bob Jones University (BJU) is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. It is known for its conservative and evangelical cultural and religious positions. The university, with approximately 3,000 students, is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. In 2017, the university estimated the number of its graduates at 40,184.

History

During the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 1920s, Christian evangelist Bob Jones Sr. grew increasingly concerned about what he perceived to be the secularization of higher education and the influence of religious liberalism in denominational colleges. Jones recalled that in 1924, his friend William Jennings Bryan had leaned over to him at a Bible conference service in Winona Lake, Indiana and said, "If schools and colleges do not quit teaching evolution as a fact, we are going to become a nation of atheists." Though Jones was not a college graduate, he was determined to found a college. On September 12, 1927, Jones opened Bob Jones College in Panama City, Florida, with 88 students. Jones said that although he had been averse to naming the school after himself, his friends overcame his reluctance "with the argument that the school would be called by that name because of my connection with it, and to attempt to give it any other name would confuse the people".

Bob Jones took no salary from the college. Jones supported the school with personal savings and income from his evangelistic campaigns. The Florida land boom had peaked in 1925, and a hurricane in September 1926 further reduced land values. The Great Depression followed. Bob Jones College barely survived bankruptcy and its move to Cleveland, Tennessee in 1933. In the same year, the college also ended participation in intercollegiate sports. Bankrupt at the nadir of the Depression, without a home and with barely enough money to move its library and office furniture, the college became the largest liberal arts college in Tennessee thirteen years later. With the enactment of the GI Bill at the end of World War II, the need for campus expansion to accommodate increased enrollment led to a relocation to South Carolina.

Though Jones had served as acting president as early as 1934, his son, Bob Jones Jr. officially became the school's second president in 1947 before the college moved to Greenville, South Carolina, and became Bob Jones University. In Greenville, the university more than doubled in size within two years and started a radio station, film department, and art gallery—the latter of which eventually became one of the largest collections of religious art in the Western Hemisphere.

During the late 1950s, BJU and alumnus Billy Graham, who had attended Bob Jones College for one semester and received an honorary degree from the university in 1948, engaged in a controversy about the propriety of theological conservatives cooperating with theological liberals to support evangelistic campaigns, a controversy that widened an already growing rift between separatist fundamentalists and other evangelicals. Negative publicity caused by the dispute precipitated a decline in BJU enrollment of about 10% in the years 1956–59, and seven members of the university board (of about a hundred) also resigned in support of Graham, including Graham himself and two of his staff members. When, in 1966, Graham held his only American campaign in Greenville, the university forbade any BJU dormitory student from attending under penalty of expulsion. Enrollment quickly rebounded, and by 1970, there were 3,300 students, approximately 60% more than in 1958.

In 1971, Bob Jones III became president at age 32, though his father, with the title of Chancellor, continued to exercise considerable administrative authority into the late 1990s. At the 2005 commencement, Stephen Jones was installed as the fourth president, and Bob Jones III assumed the title of chancellor. Stephen Jones resigned in 2014 for health reasons, and evangelist Steve Pettit was named president, the first unrelated to the Jones family.

In 2011, the university became a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) and reinstated intercollegiate athletics. In March 2017, the university regained its federal tax exemption after a complicated restructuring divided the organization into for-profit and non-profit entities, and in June 2017, it was granted accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

In March 2023, Pettit resigned, effective May 5, citing his inability to work with the chairman of the university's board of trustees. Shortly thereafter, the president of the board also resigned.

Academics
The university comprises seven colleges and schools offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, including fourteen associate degree programs. Many of the university employees consider their positions as much ministries as jobs. It is common for retiring professors to have served the university for more than forty years, a circumstance that has contributed to the stability and conservatism of an institution that has virtually no endowment and at which faculty salaries are "sacrificial".

School of Religion
The School of Religion includes majors for both men and women, although only men train as ministerial students. Many of these students go on to a seminary after completing their undergraduate education. Others take ministry positions straight from college, and juniors participate in a church internship program to prepare them for pastoral ministry. In 1995, 1,290 BJU graduates were serving as senior or associate pastors in churches across the United States. In 2017 more than 100 pastors in the Upstate alone were BJU graduates.

Position on the King James Version of the Bible
The university uses the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in its services and classrooms, but it does not hold the KJV to be the only acceptable English translation or that it has the same authority as the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The King-James-Only Movement became a divisive force in fundamentalism as conservative, modern Bible translations, such as the New American Standard Bible (NASB) and the New International Version (NIV), began to appear in the 1970s. BJU has taken the position that orthodox Christians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (including fundamentalists) agreed that while the KJV was a substantially accurate translation, only the original manuscripts of the Bible written in Hebrew and Greek were infallible and inerrant. Bob Jones Jr. called the KJV-only position a "heresy" and "in a very definite sense, a blasphemy".

Fine arts
The Division of Fine Arts has the largest faculty of the university's six undergraduate schools. Each year, the university presents an opera in the spring semester and Shakespearean plays in both the fall and spring semesters. The Division of Fine Arts includes an RTV department with a campus radio and television station, WBJU. More than a hundred concerts, recitals, and laboratory theater productions are also presented annually.

Each fall, as a recruiting tool, the university sponsors a "High School Festival" in which students compete in music, art, and speech (including preaching) contests with their peers from around the country. In the spring, a similar competition sponsored by the American Association of Christian Schools, and hosted by BJU since 1977, brings thousands of national finalists to the university from around the country. In 2005, 120 of the finalists from previous years returned to BJU as freshmen.

Science

Bob Jones University supports young-earth creationism, all their biology faculty are young Earth creationists and the university rejects evolution, calling it "at best an unsupportable and unworkable hypothesis".

According to the BJU website, "More than 80% of our premed graduates are accepted to medical or dental school within a year of graduation." The Department of Biology hosts two research programs on campus, one in cancer research, the other in animal behavior. Although ten of the sixteen members of the science faculty have bachelor's degrees from BJU, all earned their doctorates from accredited, non-religious institutions.

The university's nursing major is approved by the South Carolina State Board of Nursing, and a BJU graduate with a BSN is eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination to become a registered nurse. The BJU engineering program is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

Accreditation and rankings
Bob Jones Sr. was leery of academic accreditation almost from the founding of the college, and by the early 1930s, he had publicly stated his opposition to holding regional accreditation. Jones and the college were criticized for this stance, and academic recognition, as well as student and faculty recruitment, were hindered.

In 1944, Jones wrote to John Walvoord of Dallas Theological Seminary that while the university had "no objection to educational work highly standardized…. We, however, cannot conscientiously let some group of educational experts or some committee of experts who may have a behavioristic or atheistic slant on education control or even influence the administrative policies of our college." Five years later, Jones reflected that "it cost us something to stay out of an association, but we stayed out. We have lived up to our convictions."

Because graduates did not benefit from accredited degrees, the faculty felt an increased responsibility to prepare their students. Early in the history of the college, there had been some hesitancy on the part of other institutions to accept BJU credits at face value, but by the 1960s, BJU alumni were being accepted by most of the major graduate and professional schools in the United States. Undoubtedly helpful was that some of the university's strongest programs were in the areas of music, speech, and art, disciplines in which ability could be measured by audition or portfolio rather than through paper qualifications.

Nevertheless, by the early 2000s, the university quietly reexamined its position on accreditation as degree mills proliferated, and some government agencies, such as local police departments, began excluding BJU graduates because the university did not appear on appropriate federal lists. In 2004, the university began the process of joining the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. Candidate status—effectively, accreditation—was obtained in April 2005, and full membership in the Association was conferred in November 2006. In December 2011, BJU announced its intention to apply for regional accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC), and it received that accreditation in 2017.

In 2017, US News ranked BJU as #61 (tie) in Regional Universities South and #7 in Best Value Schools.

Political involvement
As a twelve-year-old, Bob Jones Sr. made a twenty-minute speech in defense of the Populist Party. Jones was a friend and admirer of William Jennings Bryan but also campaigned throughout the South for Herbert Hoover (and against Al Smith) during the 1928 presidential election. The authorized history of BJU notes that both Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr. "played political hardball" when dealing with the three municipalities in which the school was successively located. For instance, in 1962, Bob Jones Sr. warned the Greenville City Council that he had "four hundred votes in his pocket and in any election he would have control over who would be elected."

Bob Jones Sr.'s April 17, 1960, Easter Sunday sermon, broadcast on the radio, entitled "Is Segregation Scriptural?" served as the university position paper on race in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The transcript was sent in pamphlet form in fund-raising letters and sold in the university bookstore. In the sermon, Jones states, "If you are against segregation and against racial separation, then you are against God Almighty." The school began a long history of supporting politicians who were considered aligned with racial segregation.

Republican Party ties

From nearly the inception of Bob Jones College, a majority of students and faculty were from the northern United States, where there was a larger ratio of Republicans to Democrats than in the South (which was solidly Democratic). Therefore, almost from its founding year, BJU had a larger portion of Republicans than the surrounding community. After South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond switched his allegiance to the Republican Party in 1964, BJU faculty members became increasingly influential in the new state Republican party. BJU alumni were elected to local political and party offices. In 1976, candidates supported by BJU faculty and alumni captured the local Republican party with unfortunate short-term political consequences, but by 1980 the religious right and the "country club" Republicans had joined forces. From then on, most Republican candidates for local and statewide offices sought the endorsement of Bob Jones III and greeted faculty/staff voters at the University Dining Common.

National Republicans soon followed. Ronald Reagan spoke at the school in 1980, although the Joneses supported his opponent, John Connally, in the South Carolina primary. Later, Bob Jones III denounced Reagan as "a traitor to God's people" for choosing George H. W. Bush—whom Jones called a "devil"—as his vice president. Even later, Jones III shook Bush's hand and thanked him for being a good president. In the 1990s, other Republicans such as Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, Phil Gramm, Bob Dole, and Alan Keyes also spoke at BJU. Democrats were rarely invited to speak at the university, in part because they took political and social positions (especially support for abortion rights) opposed by the Religious Right.

2000 election
On February 2, 2000, then Texas Governor George W. Bush, as a candidate for president, spoke during school's chapel hour. Bush gave a standard stump speech, making no specific reference to the university. His political opponents quickly noted his non-mention of the university's ban on interracial dating. During the Michigan primary, Bush was also criticized for not stating his opposition to the university's anti-Catholicism. The McCain campaign targeted Catholics with "Catholic Voter Alert" phone calls, reminding voters of Bush's visit to BJU. New York Republican Representative Peter King, who was supporting John McCain in the presidential primary, called Bush a tool of "anti-Catholic bigoted forces", after the visit. King described BJU as "an institution that is notorious in Ireland for awarding an honorary doctorate to Northern Ireland's tempestuous Protestant leader, Ian Paisley." Bush denied that he either knew of or approved what he regarded as BJU's intolerant policies. On February 26, Bush issued a formal letter of apology to Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor of New York for failing to denounce Bob Jones University's history of anti-Catholic statements. Bush said at a news conference following the letter's release, "I make no excuses. I had an opportunity and I missed it. I regret that....I wish I had gotten up then and seized the moment to set a tone, a tone that I had set in Texas, a positive and inclusive tone." Also during the 2000 Republican primary campaign in South Carolina, Richard Hand, a BJU professor, spread a false e-mail rumor that John McCain had fathered an illegitimate child. The McCains have an adopted daughter from Bangladesh, and later push polling also implied that the child was biracial.

Withdrawal from politics
Although the March 2007 issue of Foreign Policy listed BJU as one of "The World's Most Controversial Religious Sites" because of its past influence on American politics, BJU has seen little political controversy since Stephen Jones became president. When asked by a Newsweek reporter if he wished to play a political role, Stephen Jones replied, "It would not be my choice." Further, when asked if he felt ideologically closer to his father's engagement with politics or to other evangelicals who have tried to avoid civic involvement, Jones answered, "The gospel is for individuals. The main message we have is to individuals. We're not here to save the culture." In a 2005 Washington Post interview, Jones dodged political questions and even admitted that he was embarrassed by "some of the more vitriolic comments" made by his predecessors. "I don't want to get specific," Jones said, "But there were things said back then that I wouldn't say today." In October 2007, when Bob Jones III, as "a private citizen," endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for president, Stephen Jones made it clear that he wished "to stay out of politics" and that neither he nor the university had endorsed anyone. Despite a hotly contested South Carolina primary, none of the candidates appeared on the platform of BJU's Founders' Memorial Amphitorium during the 2008 election cycle. In April 2008, Stephen Jones told a reporter, "I don't think I have a political bone in my body."

Renewed political engagement
In 2015 BJU reemerged as a campaign stop for conservative Republicans. Ben Carson and Ted Cruz held large on-campus rallies on two successive days in November. BJU president Steve Pettit met with Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, and Scott Walker. Jeb Bush, Carson, Cruz, and Rubio also appeared at a 2016 Republican presidential forum at BJU. Chip Felkel, a Greenville Republican consultant, noted that some candidates closely identified "with the folks at Bob Jones. So it makes sense for them to want to be there." Nevertheless, unlike BJU's earlier periods of political involvement, Pettit did not endorse a candidate.

According to Furman University political science professor Jim Guth, because Greenville has grown so much recently, it is unlikely BJU will ever again have the same political influence it had between the 1960s and the 1980s. Nevertheless, about a quarter of all BJU graduates continue to live in the Upstate, and as long-time mayor Knox White has said, "The alumni have had a big impact on every profession and walk of life in Greenville."

Campus
The university occupies 205 acres at the eastern city limit of Greenville. The institution moved into its initial 25 buildings during the 1947–48 school year, and later buildings were also faced with the light yellow brick chosen for the originals.

Museum and gallery
Bob Jones Jr. was a connoisseur of European art from his teen years and began collecting after World War II on about $30,000 a year authorized by the University Board of Directors. Jones first concentrated on the Italian Baroque, a style then out of favor and relatively inexpensive in the years immediately following the war. The museum's collection currently includes more than 400 European paintings from the 14th through the 19th centuries, period furniture, and a notable collection of Russian icons. The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities. The gallery is strong in Baroque paintings and includes notable works by Rubens, Tintoretto, Veronese, Cranach, Gerard David, Murillo, Mattia Preti, Ribera, van Dyck, and Gustave Doré. Included in the Museum & Gallery collection are seven large canvases, part of a series by Benjamin West painted for George III, called "The Progress of Revealed Religion", which are displayed in the War Memorial Chapel. The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities collected in the early 20th century by missionaries Frank and Barbara Bowen.

Every Easter, the university and the Museum & Gallery present the Living Gallery, a series of tableaux vivants recreating noted works of religious art using live models disguised as part of two-dimensional paintings.

BJU has been criticized by some fundamentalists for promoting "false Catholic doctrine" through its art gallery because much of Baroque art was created for the Counter-Reformation.

A painting by Lucas van Leyden that had been displayed in the gallery's collection for more than ten years and had been consigned to Sotheby's for sale was recognized by Interpol as art that had been stolen by the Nazis from the Mittelrhein-Museum in Koblenz. The painting was eventually returned to Germany after months of negotiations between the Mittelrhein-Museum and Julius H. Weitzner, a dealer in Old Master paintings.

After the death of Bob Jones Jr., Erin Jones, the wife of BJU president Stephen Jones, became director. According to David Steel, curator of European art at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Erin Jones "brought that museum into the modern era", employing "a top-notch curator, John Nolan", and following "best practices in conservation and restoration". The museum cooperates with other institutions, lending works for outside shows such as a Rembrandt exhibit in 2011.

In 2008, the BJU Museum & Gallery opened a satellite location, the Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green near downtown Greenville, which featured rotating exhibitions from the main museum and interactive children's activities. In February 2017, the Museum & Gallery closed both locations permanently. In 2018, the museum announced that a new home would be built at a yet undetermined located off the BJU campus. In 2021, Erin Jones said the museum was exploring a permanent home near the proposed downtown conference center.

Library

The 90000 sqft Mack Library (named for John Sephus Mack) holds a collection of more than 300,000 books and includes seating for 1,200 as well as a computer lab and a computer classroom. (Its ancillary, a music library, is included in the Gustafson Fine Arts Center.) Mack Library's Special Collections includes an American Hymnody Collection of about 700 titles. The "Jerusalem Chamber" is a replica of the room in Westminster Abbey in which work on the King James Version of the Bible was conducted, and it displays a collection of rare Bibles. An adjoining Memorabilia Room commemorates the life of Bob Jones Sr. and the history of the university.

The library's Fundamentalism File collects periodical articles and ephemera about social and religious matters of interest to evangelicals and fundamentalists. The University Archives holds copies of all university publications, oral histories of faculty and staff members, surviving remnants of university correspondence, and pictures and artifacts related to the Jones family and the history of the university.

Unusual Films
Both Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr. believed that film could be an excellent medium for mass evangelism, and in 1950, the university established Unusual Films within the School of Fine Arts. (The studio name derives from a former BJU promotional slogan, "The World's Most Unusual University".) Bob Jones Jr. selected a speech teacher, Katherine Stenholm, as the first director. Although she had no experience in cinema, she took summer courses at the University of Southern California and received personal instruction from Hollywood specialists, such as Rudolph Sternad.

Unusual Films has produced seven feature-length films, each with an evangelistic emphasis: Wine of Morning, Red Runs the River, Flame in the Wind, Sheffey, Beyond the Night, The Printing, and Milltown Pride. Wine of Morning (1955), based on a novel by Bob Jones Jr., represented the United States at the Cannes Film Festival. The first four films are historical dramas set, respectively, in the time of Christ, the U.S. Civil War, 16th-century Spain, and the late 19th-century South—the latter a fictionalized treatment of the life of Methodist evangelist, Robert Sayers Sheffey. Beyond the Night closely follows an actual 20th-century missionary saga in Central Africa, and The Printing uses composite characters to portray the persecution of believers in the former Soviet Union. According to The Dove Foundation, The Printing "no doubt will urge Christian believers everywhere to appreciate the freedoms they enjoy. It is inspiring!" In 1999, Unusual Films began producing feature films for children, including The Treasure Map, Project Dinosaur, and Appalachian Trial. They also released a short animated film for children, The Golden Rom. Unusual Films returned to their customary format in 2011 with their release of Milltown Pride, a historical film set in 1920s upstate South Carolina.

Unusual Films also maintains a student film production program. The Film and Digital Storytelling program provides professional training in motion picture production. This training combines classroom instruction with hands-on experience in various areas, including directing, editing, and cinematography. Before graduation, seniors produce high-definition short films which they write, direct, and edit.

BJU Press
BJU Press originated from the need for textbooks for the burgeoning Christian school movement. The press publishes a full range of K–12 textbooks. More than a million pre-college students worldwide use BJU textbooks, and the press has about 2,500 titles in print.

BJU Press also offers distance learning courses online, via DVD and hard drive. Another ancillary, the Academy of Home Education, is a "service organization for homeschooling families" that maintains student records, administers achievement testing, and issues high school diplomas. The press sold its music division, SoundForth, to Lorenz Publishing on October 1, 2012.

Pre-college programs
The university operates Bob Jones Academy, which enrolls students from preschool through 12th grade. With about 1100 students, the school's demographic makeup leans heavily white (90.3%), with non-Black minorities making up the bulk of other ethnicities. Black students make up 0.5% of enrollment.

Sexual abuse reports
In December 2011, in response to accusations of mishandling of student reports of sexual abuse (most of which had occurred in their home churches when the students were minors) and a concurrent reporting issue at a church pastored by a university board member, the BJU board of trustees hired an independent ombudsman, GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), to investigate. Released in December 2014, the GRACE report suggested that BJU had discouraged students from reporting past sexual abuse, and though the university declined to implement many of the report's recommendations, President Steve Pettit formally apologized "to those who felt they did not receive from us genuine love, compassion, understanding, and support after suffering sexual abuse or assault". The university's mishandling of sexual abuse in the past came into light again in August 2020 when a student filed a lawsuit against Bob Jones University and Furman University alleging both administrations ignored the sexual assault report and expelled the student for consuming alcohol, which is against the Student Code of Conduct handbook.

Racial policies and ban on interracial dating
Although BJU had admitted Asian students and other ethnic groups from its inception, it did not enroll Black students until 1971. From 1971 to 1975, BJU admitted only married Black people. However, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had already determined in 1970 that "private schools with racially discriminatory admissions policies" were not entitled to federal tax exemption. In 1975, the University Board of Trustees authorized a policy change to admit Black students, a move that occurred shortly before the announcement of the Supreme Court decision in Runyon v. McCrary (427 U.S. 160 [1976]), which prohibited racial exclusion in private schools. In May 1975, BJU expanded rules against interracial dating and marriage.

In 1976, the Internal Revenue Service revoked the university's tax exemption retroactively to December 1, 1970, because it practiced racial discrimination. The case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982. After BJU lost the decision in Bob Jones University v. United States (461 U.S. 574)[1983], the university chose to maintain its interracial dating policy and pay a million dollars in back taxes. The year following the Court decision, contributions to the university declined by 13 percent. In 2000, following a media uproar prompted by the visit of presidential candidate George W. Bush to the university, Bob Jones III dropped the university's interracial dating rule, announcing the change on CNN's Larry King Live. In the same year, Bob Jones III drew criticism after reposting a letter on the university's web page referring to Mormons and Catholics as being members of "cults which call themselves Christian".

In 2005, Stephen Jones, great-grandson of the founder, became BJU's president. Bob Jones III then took the title Chancellor. In 2008, the university declared itself "profoundly sorry" for having allowed "institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful". That year, BJU enrolled students from fifty states and nearly fifty countries, representing diverse ethnicities and cultures, and the BJU administration declared itself "committed to maintaining on the campus the racial and cultural diversity and harmony characteristic of the true Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world".

In his first meeting with the university cabinet in 2014, the fifth president Steve Pettit said it was appropriate for BJU to regain its tax-exempt status because BJU no longer held its earlier positions about race. "The Bible is clear," said Pettit, "We are made of one blood." By February 17, 2017, the IRS website had listed the university as a 501(c)(3) organization, and by May 2017, BJU had forged a working relationship with Greenville's Phillis Wheatley Center. In 2017, 9% of the student body was "from the American minority population".

Religious atmosphere
Religion is a major aspect of life and curriculum at BJU. The BJU Creed, written in 1927 by journalist and prohibitionist Sam Small, is recited by students and faculty four days a week at chapel services.

The university also encourages church planting in areas of the United States "in great need of fundamental churches", and it has provided financial and logistical assistance to ministerial graduates in starting more than a hundred new churches. Bob Jones III has also encouraged non-ministerial students to put their career plans on hold for two or three years to provide lay leadership for small churches. Students of various majors participate in Missions Advance (formerly Mission Prayer Band), an organization that prays for missionaries and attempts to stimulate campus interest in world evangelism. During summers and Christmas breaks, about 150 students participate in teams that promote Christian missions around the world. Although a separate nonprofit corporation, Gospel Fellowship Association, an organization founded by Bob Jones Sr. and associated with BJU, is one of the largest fundamentalist mission boards in the country. Through its "Timothy Fund", the university also sponsors international students who are training for the ministry.

The university requires the use of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in its services and classrooms, but it does not hold that the KJV is the only acceptable English translation or that it has the same authority as the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The university's position has been criticized by some other fundamentalists, including fellow conservative university Pensacola Christian College, which in 1998 produced a widely distributed videotape which argued that this "defiling leaven in fundamentalism" was passed from the 19th-century Princeton theologian Benjamin B. Warfield through Charles Brokenshire to current BJU faculty members and graduates.

Rules of conduct
Strict rules govern student life at BJU. Some of these are based directly on the university's interpretation of the Bible. For instance, the 2015–16 Student Handbook states, "Students are to avoid any types of entertainment that could be considered immodest or that contain profanity, scatological realism, sexual perversion, erotic realism, lurid violence, occultism and false philosophical or religious assumptions." Grounds for immediate dismissal include stealing, immorality (including sex between unmarried students), possession of hard-core pornography, use of alcohol or drugs, and participating in a public demonstration for a cause the university opposes. Similar "moral failures" are grounds for terminating the employment of faculty and staff. In 1998, a homosexual alumnus was threatened with arrest if he visited the campus.

For years, male students were required to wear slacks, dress shirts, and ties on campus during the day. This requirement has since been loosened; men are allowed to wear polo shirts or dress shirts on weekdays until 17:00 and are no longer required to wear ties. Effective in 2018, women are no longer required to wear skirts or dresses and can now wear pants. They are also required to attend chapel four days a week, as well as at least two services per week at an approved "local fundamental church".

Other rules are not based on a specific biblical passage. For instance, the Handbook notes that "there is no specific Bible command that says, 'Thou shalt not be late to class', but a student who wishes to display orderliness and concern for others will not come in late to the distraction of the teacher and other students." In 2008 a campus spokesperson said that one goal of the dress code was "to teach our young people to dress professionally" on campus while giving them "the ability to...choose within the biblically accepted options of dress" when they were off campus.

Additional rules include requiring resident hall students to abide by a campus curfew of 11:00 pm, with lights out at midnight. Students are forbidden to go to movie theaters while in residence; however, they may watch movies rated G or PG while in the residence halls. Students may not listen to popular contemporary music. Male students with upper-level privileges and graduate students may have facial hair that is fully grown before the start of the semester, neatly trimmed, and well maintained at approximately ½ inch or less. Women are expected to dress modestly and wear dresses or skirts that come to the knee to class and religious services.

Extracurriculars

After BJU abandoned intercollegiate sports in 1933, its intramural sports program included competition in soccer, basketball, softball, volleyball, tennis, badminton, flag football, table tennis, racquetball, and water polo. The university also competed in intercollegiate debate within the National Educational Debate Association, in intercollegiate mock trial and computer science competitions, and participated at South Carolina Student Legislature. In 2012, BJU joined Division I of National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and in 2014 participated in intercollegiate soccer, basketball, cross-country, and golf. The teams are known as the Bruins.

The university requires all unmarried incoming first-year students under 23 to join one of 45 "societies". Societies meet most Fridays for entertainment and fellowship and hold weekly prayer meetings. Societies compete with one another in intramural sports, debate, and Scholastic Bowl. The university also has a student-staffed newspaper (The Collegian), and yearbook (Vintage).

Early in December, thousands of students, faculty, and visitors gather around the front campus fountain for an annual Christmas carol singing and lighting ceremony, illuminating tens of thousands of Christmas lights. On December 3, 2004, the ceremony broke the Guinness World Record for Christmas caroling with 7,514 carolers.

Before 2015, the university required students and faculty to attend a six-day Bible Conference instead of a traditional Spring Break. However, the university announced that beginning in 2016, it would hold the Bible Conference in February and give students a week of Spring Break in March. The Conference typically attracts fundamentalist preachers and laypeople from around the country, and some BJU class reunions are held during the week.

Athletics

The Bob Jones (BJU) athletic teams are called the Bruins. The university is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), primarily competing in the South Region of the Division II level.

The Bruins previously competed as a member of the NCAA Division III ranks, primarily competing as an NCAA D-III Independent from 2020–21 to 2022–23.

BJU competes in 12 intercollegiate varsity sports. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross-country, golf, soccer, and track & field, while women's sports include basketball, beach volleyball, cross-country, soccer, track & field, and volleyball.

History
In 2012, the university inaugurated intercollegiate athletics with four teams: men's soccer, men's basketball, women's soccer, and women's basketball. The university added intercollegiate golf and cross-country teams during the 2013–2014 school year. Men's and women's shooting sports were added in 2016. Men's baseball began in the spring of 2021, and women's beach volleyball started in the spring of 2022. On January 31, 2023, director of athletics Neal Ring announced his resignation. Ring had overseen Bruins Athletics since inception.

Through its first 11 seasons, the athletic department amassed 22 NCCAA National Championships, nearly 100 All-Americans, and over 200 Scholar-Athletes. Bruins Athletics also received six straight Presidential Awards for Excellence, honoring the most successful NCCAA DII athletics program.

Move to NCAA Division III
In 2018, BJU explored National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) membership and applied for it in January 2020. The Bruins were accepted as Division III provisional members in June for three years, making it the only Division III school in the state. The school has been searching for a conference.

Alumni
A number of BJU graduates have become influential within fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity, including Ken Hay (founder of "The Wilds" Christian camps) Ron "Patch" Hamilton (composer and president of Majesty Music) Billy Kim (former president of Baptist World Alliance), and Moisés Silva (president of the Evangelical Theological Society). BJU alumni also include the third pastor (1968–1976) of Riverside Church (Ernest T. Campbell), the former president of Northland Baptist Bible College (Les Ollila), late president of Baptist Bible College (Ernest Pickering), and the former president of Clearwater Christian College (Richard Stratton).

One BJU alumnus, Asa Hutchinson, served as the governor of Arkansas and also served in the U.S. Congress; his brother Tim Hutchinson served in the U.S. Senate. Others have served in state government: Michigan state senator Alan Cropsey, Pennsylvania state representative Gordon Denlinger, Pennsylvania state representative Mark M. Gillen, former Speaker Pro Tempore of the South Carolina House of Representatives Terry Haskins, member of the South Carolina House of Representatives Wendy Nanney, Pennsylvania state representative Sam Rohrer, member of the Missouri House of Representatives Ryan Silvey, Maryland state senator Bryan Simonaire and his daughter, state delegate Meagan Simonaire, and South Carolina state senator Danny Verdin.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Bob Jones University


text:
Talk:Bob Jones University/Archive 1

introductory comments
While I don't disagree with any of the facts presented, shouldn't this article say a bit more about the university? If the only goal is to criticize it, then you could mention that they have also been criticized for denying that Catholics and Mormons are Christians. Personally, I think it would be much more helpful for Wikipedia to include some basic information like when the school was founded, whether they offer postgraduate degrees, which academic programs or sports teams are strongest, and so on. And who the heck is Bob Jones? If someone comes to Wikipedia to learn about Bob Jones University, it's probably because they already heard it was racist and want to learn more background information. And if a prospective college student is wanting to learn more about the university from third party sources, it's fine to point out its racism, but we can serve those people better by also providing more factual background information. And no, I'm not volunteering to do the actual research for this one. ;-) --Wesley

 * Agreed, but, again, my interest in finding out more about an institution (one struggles to accept it as a university, with such an illogical attitude) with such ridiculous rules is about zero.

Oh, well - other than the dates, I added what *I* care about, which is the Museum. I can't tell you how odd it is to find a museum like this in Greenville, SC. --MichaelTinkler

One question I'd like answered is "Do any African-American students actually attend the university?" --Robert Merkel

 * Yes, there's usually at least one N...er, Black student, usually one that believes in the same brand of Christianity that BJU espouses. When I was in Ghana in 1988 I ran into a guy who had been accepted to BJU, who was black, but I don't think he got a student visa. The guys who work for the State Department aren't that stupid: you can't get a visa if you're clearly planning on violating it. GregLindahl

Is it correct to say that Ronald Reagan "supported the school's racial discrimination", or that Ronald Reagan "supported the school's right to racially discriminate". There's a world of difference. I'm making the change right now on the assumption that Reagan, a semi-libertarian in some respects, might well have supported their right as a private institution to admit who they like, while at the same time not supporting their policy itself. --Jimbo Wales

Well, the issue was not about whether they had the right to racially discriminate; it was about whether they were entitled to a tax exemption if they were going to do so. Withdrawing the tax exemption still hasn't stopped the racial discrimination that lead to its withdrawal. Frankly, I think the main reason Reagan supported them was because of his desire to get conservative South Carolina voters, a significant percentage of whom like Bob Jones University. I agree though that he probably supported them being allowed to have the policy and still get a tax exemption, without actually agreeing with the policy. But I don't like the formulation "supported the school's right to racially discriminate" -- it seems to imply that they have a right to racially discriminate, and he was supporting their right -- it really should say he supported the school's alleged or claimed right to racially discriminate. -- SJK

I accept your change. My wording was based on my own view -- racial discrimination in any form is vile and despicable, immoral collectivist behavior -- but that private religious organizations do in fact have a right to engage in it if they so desire. Your wording is more limited and unless and until we find out what Reagan actually did say, is certainly less speculative.

 * For what it's worth, I am content to let any group adopt race as a standard for inclusion. I meet feel miffed about not being able to join, but freedom of association should take priority. I do think it strange that a church or university would have restrictions based on race, but I can think of no rule fair enough to apply to Bob Jones U., the "historically black" colleges of Atlanta, the senate's Black Caucus, etc. If a bunch of people want to isolate themselves from the mainstream, more power to them. But, the government shouldn't have to do them any favors. For universities, that means no tax-exemption unless they can convince the courts that their race policies (a) are an integral part of their religion and (b) . . . hmm, this issue is more complicated than I thought. I'm stuck between honoring freedom of religion on the one hand, and hating racial discrimintation with a vengeance on the other.

Anyway, good rewrite of the article.

Ed Poor

 * Ed, do you realize that there are many white people who go to historically black colleges? There are no race based rules. Big difference. I went to a school that's 70% Jewish, and they even gave me a scholarship in part because I'm not. GregLindahl

"traces its history to a school founded in 1927 by [Bob Jones, Sr.]?, an evangelist and revival-preacher."

 * Is "revival-preacher" even an English word?

It is understood by speakers of English. It is well formed (see Morphology (linguistics), entry compounding; still to be written)

 * I am a speaker of English and I don't understand it. :-)
 * OK, but at least you probably can deduce that it must mean a person who preaches revival (whatever that is specifically ;-) ). I just was opposing the question that it is not an English word. It is. Another thing is if it is understood here what it means. Anyhow this talk seems OT.

"After that it adopted its current racially discriminatory policy, which it retains to this day (2001)."

 * I would like very much to see some expansion/explanation re this policy.
 * The policy is the one mentioned in the article -- students who marry or date members of a different race from their own are expelled.

 * Added/clarified this in the entry. Thanks.

--

"The college, like many other fundamentalist Christian schools, is not accredited due to concerns about governmental control over policy or curriculum."

- changing this to: "The college, like many other fundamentalist Christian schools, has not sought accreditation due to concerns about governmental control over policy or curriculum."

I assume this is correct and more acurrately reflects that BJU's lack of acreditation is their idea rather than imposed by government. If this is wrong please correct.

BJU is getting accreditation http://www.bju.edu/aboutbju/studentlife/collegian/article.php?article_id=90 -- 209.20.226.xxx - I checked their website and I can find nothing about them dropping their policy against interracial marriage or dating. Can you please provide an exact reference? -- SJK

-

Removed from the main article:

 * Interracial Dating and Marriage:  Why is the focus being placed on something which is such a small and insignificant part of the University's whole, making it a media obsession? The last two or three generations of students who have graduated from this institution never once heard a discussion of this policy. It is not something that is preached or talked about. Because of its insignificance to us, it has been dropped in the interest of the greater good of the University's Gospel and Christian educational mission. ... Bob Jones University's policy regarding interracial dating was more of an opposition to the rebellious and defiant antichrist spirit of the promoters of one-worldism than to interracial dating itself. Many who date and marry interracially are just as opposed to one-worldism and the spirit of Antichrist as we are.

This is a commentary on the article, rather than something that can be integrated into it. If you want to comment, do so here on the talk page. If you wish to edit the article, do so, but do so in accordance with wikipedia policy, particularly the neutral point of view. --Robert Merkel 15:27 Sep 19, 2002 (UTC)

 * Whoops! I should read the article more carefully.  I assumed that this was just some random undergraduate's commentary on the article.  Sorry.  It takes a bit of getting used to a university that would make such a statement.... --Robert Merkel 15:30 Sep 19, 2002 (UTC)

A note on the University Creed:

The creed embodies the foundational truths of the Christian faith. While the students are required to memorize the creed, they are not required to sign it as a statement of faith, nor is an affirmation of this creed a prerequisite for admission.

On interracial dating:

The University's policy on interracial dating at one time was that such dating should not take place without parental permission. The history of the policy is as follows: A student of Oriental disposition began dating a Caucasian. The Oriental student's parents complained to the University about the fact that their child was dating someone from another race. In order to solve the problem, the University decided to require parental permission before dating between races could commence.

The University has since removed the policy. (By the way, the University is constantly reviewing and updating its rules and policies in order to better accomplish its goal of growing Christlike character.)

I'm curious as to why Mr. Merkel (above) is so concerned about the African-American students while he seems to be unconcerned about students whose origins are Asian, South American, Mexican, European, etc. Do I detect any racial bias on his part?

Many Asian students get their higher education at the University. There are also students from Africa, South America, Europe, etc.

--just some commentary from an undergraduate who actually knows what he or she is talking about 04:00 Aug. 24, 2003 (UTC)

 * The article does not suggest that BJU is racist, other than to point out its erstwhile policy against interracial dating, although this talk page does have some comments suggesting that BJU would be inhospitable to black people.
 * But, I find your story of the interracial dating ban as being a kind of convenience to solve the parents problems to be somewhat dubious. I should note that BJU's web site at  makes a similar-sounding claim: "Did the University?s dating policy originate to regulate black-white relationships? No. It was first stated in the mid-1950s when dealing with an Asian-Caucasian dating couple."
 * It might be helpful to verify this. I find the story rather strange because:
 * This would mean that BJU has invented a story about how interracial dating is related to "one-worldism" just as a favor to one student's parents in the 1950s. At the above page, they write "Bob Jones University's policy regarding interracial dating was more of an opposition to the rebellious and defiant antichrist spirit of the promoters of one-worldism than to interracial dating itself."  The "One-worldism" section of  suggests that a prevailing view at BJU is that one-worldism, a single world government, will make it easier for a corrupt ruler to do the Antichrist's work, and thus "The more divided the world, the easier it is to preach the gospel. A united world is not in the interest of God's people".  It strikes me as amazing that people at BJU would, to acquiesce to parents, either (1) make up a whole story of how concerning one-worldism is, just to justify the anti-interracial dating policy or (2) make an association they believe to be spurious between interracial dating and their true concerns about one-worldism.
 * The current Wikipedia article says that BJU lost its tax-exempt status because of the interracial dating ban, although the BJU site does not say why it lost its tax-exempt status. If the current Wikipedia article is correct, it's odd that BJU would go to the trouble of lengthy court cases in the 1980s for an event that happened in the 1950s.
 * I doubt many universities would make up racially based policies in order to serve parents' concerns.
 * For these reasons, it seems that the now-defunct BJU policy against interracial dating was based in some strong views, and not a simple innocent policy invented and forgotten. I should concede, of course, that the fact that BJU repealed the policy in the face of the negative media attention during the 2000 presidential election does suggest that the policy is not of totally absolute importance.  I wonder what the real history is.
 * Zashaw 05:13, 23 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Weakened the statement

 * He donated his paintings to a museum at the University. The BJU Museum & Gallery now is considered the greatest collection of religious art in the Western Hemisphere.

to say "...one of the greatest...". Saying "the greatest" sounds pretty suspicious, and would need more support or qualification: who says it's the greatest, and what criteria are they using (largest collection? largest building?  best curation?  etc.)? Based on a couple of google searches, I'm convinced that "one of the greatest" is reasonable, but the superlative requires more support.

Zashaw 23:06, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)

It may not be the greatest, but it is the largest.

Mydotnet] 5 Sep 2004

Fixed a number of things vs. the previous version in the campaign section: k.lee 20:34, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * The previous version gave the misleading impression that Bush's speech actually denounced the University's policies. Not true: the Bush campaign only denounced them afterwards, though perhaps on the same day (I'm unable to find documentation of this, so I wrote "promptly").
 * The previous version stated that Bush apologized for appearing at the University. Not true: Bush apologized for failing to speak out about the racism and anti-Catholicism.  (Even John McCain, Bush's opponent in a very hard-fought primary, said that it's fine to speak at places whose policies you disagree with, so long as you speak out against those policies.)
 * The previous version said "what some view as" BJU's anti-Catholic sentiment. Now, I'm all for NPOV, but when the University's founder calls it a "satanic cult" (there's a lot more where that came from, BTW), most reasonable people would conclude that there is at least a history of anti-Catholic sentiment.  I understand that BJU is currently officially ecumenical, so I changed the paragraph to say "history of".

Interracial dating, further notes
A couple of relevant links: An excerpt from the FindLaw summary of the case:
 * FindLaw notes on Bob Jones University v. United States
 * Discriminations.us notes
 * The sponsors of the University genuinely believe that the Bible forbids interracial dating and marriage. To effectuate these views, Negroes were completely excluded until 1971. From 1971 to May 1975, the University accepted no applications from unmarried Negroes, 5 but did accept applications from Negroes married within their race.
 * Following the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in McCrary v. Runyon, 515 F.2d 1082 (1975), aff'd, 427 U.S. 160 (1976), prohibiting racial exclusion from private schools, the University revised its policy. Since May 29, 1975, the University has permitted unmarried Negroes to enroll; but a disciplinary rule prohibits interracial dating and marriage. That rule reads:
 * "There is to be no interracial dating.
 * "1. Students who are partners in an interracial marriage will be expelled. [461 U.S. 574, 581]
 * "2. Students who are members of or affiliated with any group or organization which holds as one of its goals or advocates interracial marriage will be expelled.
 * "3. Students who date outside of their own race will be expelled.
 * "4. Students who espouse, promote, or encourage others to violate the University's dating rules and regulations will be expelled." App. in No. 81-3, p. A197.
 * The University continues to deny admission to applicants engaged in an interracial marriage or known to advocate interracial marriage or dating. Id., at A277.
 * The University continues to deny admission to applicants engaged in an interracial marriage or known to advocate interracial marriage or dating. Id., at A277.

And furthermore:

 * Petitioners contend that, even if the Commissioner's policy is valid as to nonreligious private schools, that policy cannot constitutionally be applied to schools that engage in racial discrimination on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs. 28  [461 U.S. 574, 603]   As to such schools, it is argued that the IRS construction of 170 and 501(c)(3) violates their free exercise rights under the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment. This contention presents claims not heretofore considered by this Court in precisely this context.

Judging, therefore, by the public, on-record statements of the University, its claim that the interracial dating ban was instituted at the request of the parents of an Asian student is at least misleading. The lawyers for the school argued quite specifically that, because they had a sincerely held religious belief that interracial dating was un-Christian, it should be constitutionally protected from being classified as a non-charitable organization. Furthermore, the specific prohibition on enrolling "unmarried Negroes" reveals quite clearly the primary aim of the restrictions in practice (namely, to prevent intermingling of black and white students), regardless of whence the policy was first invoked.

Moreover, the suggestion that interracial dating could occur "at one point" with parental permission is misleading. The ca.-1970's policy quoted in FindLaw makes the ban quite clear. Students who date or marry interracially shall be expelled. Students who advocate interracial dating shall be expelled. Students who associate with groups that advocate interracial dating shall be expelled.

Simply stated, judging by BJU's own statements in the public record, BJU's description of its interracial dating ban is revisionist history. k.lee 05:14, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Racism
Neilc, on your reversion. The text that had been inserted, looking at it, was pretty loaded and POV. But it would have been better to edit it into something constructive. Then again, do as I say not as I do; I guess I could be more helpful by actually doing that myself, but I'm not sure how. Just a passerby, don't know much about BJU. And you'd probably just revert me too? But the point is: the facts are, Bob Jones University is popularly associated, whatever the truth with racism and segregation, partly including/due to its interracial dating policy. This is a fact. In fact, it is probably what it is most known for to those who don't know much else about it. Leaving that out entirely of the article I think does a disservice to Wikipedia. Sorry for not contributing much actual text, but given that someone's reverting, there's clearly no point to it, and I'm not very keen up on BJU you can argue. But, thoughts? Shouldn't this be mentioned? D. G. 08:46, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * No response two days later. Apparantly you prefer to revert first and answer questions never. Neat. I've taken that as a mandate to revamp the article. Please, instead of reverting, do not remove information blanketedly but take the time to actually change the article to make it better, rewording or reforming what you believe needs to be done so. Obviously there's controversy; that is what this talk page is for. Communications solves problems! Communicate! Communicate, please! D. G. 09:58, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Again reverting "==Movie references== In the Tom Hanks motion picture remake of The Ladykillers, an old black woman makes frequent reference to donating frequently to Bob Jones University in a case of dramatic irony.".  Sorry to have not started the discussion on my previous reversion.  If you want to say that BJU is popularly associated with racism, then say that.  I think the current article does (and, for that matter, previous versions did).  I found the movie reference to be a bit smarmy and irrelevant (and, I admit, a bit entertaining).  Moreover, it requires the editorial judgement that the references are intended ironically -- if you know that the character must have intended the lines ironically, why not just say that many people think BJU racist?  Zashaw 23:38, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Actually, I thought about it; you're probably right. I'm not putting the movie reference back in. I wasn't entirely sure whether it was appropriate to put a movie references section for a university, but I had seen many such "movie references" sections on other articles, so, that lead me to it. But on more consideration, yeah, not really very relevant. It's just that I'm concerned at what looks to me like some sort of weird bizzaro-world revisionistic article. D. G. 00:22, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Word usage: Blacks/Negroes/Whatever?
Some dope edited "Negroes" to "Blacks", claiming it was a "typo." (While leaving the reference to Negroes just a line underneath intact, yeah, we love inconsistency.) I've reverted it-- I believe that's the term the school used, so that makes it the most appropriate. Still, I'm not sure. What word should be used? Tell me? In fact, are there any standards on this sort of thing on Wikipedia, does anyone know? I just don't want to end up putting some stupid long-winded total baloney like "persons of African-American descent." D. G. 10:11, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * The KKK has several choice words for black people, none of which are used in the article Ku Klux Klan. We don't follow the subject's choice of language in articles. We can say that BJU uses the word "negro" but we shouldn't use that word ourselves. I changed it to "black people." The manual of style prescribes that we use terms by which groups self-identify. "Black people" is preferable to "blacks" but in my opinion, both are acceptable. Both terms are much better than the term "negroes." Rhobite 21:01, Nov 29, 2004 (UTC)
 * Alright, thanks for pointing out the MoS. Not 100% sure it addresses the issue though, but, alright, this is good for now. D. G. 04:09, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I think using "persons" instead of "people" is very awkward. Why did you make this change? And I'm curious about how this doesn't address the issue. What is the issue? Obviously there's no perfect term here, but frankly "black people" or "blacks" are both about 100 times more preferable than "negroes."Rhobite 05:14, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

Blacks and black Americans are the best terms because it is most recognized around the world among all alternatives.

African/Afro-American is confusing, especially to non-Americans because it seems to imply actual recent African lineage. Negro is perceived by many (wrongly) to be derogatory, like Oriental (also wrongly). The time when American blacks thought that the term African-American was somehow empowering has past and most people (including blacks) think it sounds nearly as antiquated as negro.
 * If there is a direct quote from official BJU materials that says negro, then the term should be retained in the quote. But the term should not be used in the general text of the article. -Willmcw 10:02, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

"Official BJU materials" do not even mention race any longer.--RaiderRobert

 * That may be, but if they did so in the past then that is still relevant to this article. Regarding interracial dating, the article now concludes that section by noting:  In 2000, the policy was dropped in its entirety[1] (after some experimentation with a policy of parental consent for interracial dating) shortly after the State of South Carolina formally legalized interracial marriage. That seems to make it clear that the issue is no longer active. -Willmcw 19:27, Mar 28, 2005 (UTC)

Famous Alumni
Ian Paisley is NOT an alumni - he got an honorary degree but he is NOT an alumni. Mydotnet 18:22, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

Ian Paisley. Dear God! Birds of a feather, huh? (Ok, ok, I admit, there is no way I could ever write something NPOV about BJU because I am the product of a mixed marriage, in a mixed marriage, and an evolutionary biologist. I shuddered just driving past the place) Guettarda 01:57, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Likely he was a graduation speaker - they are usually awarded honorary degrees. -Willmcw 18:43, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * actually he was a very good friend of Bob Jones, Jr., has spoken many times in the chapel services. -Mydotnet 23:00, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)

 * If you can find a citation that would be an interesting fact to include. -Willmcw 23:05, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Accreditation & Being Black
Can we settle on the correct accreditation status of BJU? And is there a reason to keep deleting the "Being Black at BJU" link? It seemed like a solid article to me. , Cheers, -Willmcw 18:43, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Order of Paragraphs
A lot of people are making great changes, with no justification. Do we want to do this alphabetically, standardize all colleges, or what? -Mydotnet 04:49, May 24, 2005 (UTC)

Copying rules out of the student handbook
Hi, I'm one of the several people who's been doing a lot of work on the Pensacola Christian College article lately. PCC has some rules for students similar to what BJU has. I was wondering... it it ok to take rules verbatim out of the student handbook and put them in the article? Or is it copyvio? It looks like you've done that in the BJU article, but I (and the other editors on the PCC article) would like to know if that's ok, because we're trying to figure out the best way to word the rules section. Please reply at Talk:Pensacola Christian College. Thanks. --Idont Havaname 19:53, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Anti-Catholicism
If I'm not mistaken, isn't the school very anti-Catholic? Johhny-turbo 00:53, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Yes, BJU has historically taken a very anti-Catholic stance. I've no idea what their current rhetoric is in regards to Catholicism, but there is brief mention of this near the end of the article.--Isotope23 17:26, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bob Jones University/Archive 1