#PBJU

[wutbju]

Mike Harding continues his defense:

If anyone ever did such a thing, they would be removed from the board immediately. No one on the board has that kind of character." (Verbatim from Dr. Harding.)

Yeah, right. BJU has housed all kinds of unsavory characters on its Board. Where do we begin with this? There's always Chuck Phelps.

[shoemengi]

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[thelondontree]

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[reginaperes157]

Ankara city council decided last month to change the name to Malcolm X Street

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Officials in the Turkish capital of Ankara have renamed the street where the United States embassy will soon be located after the black nationalist leader Malcolm X, in what appears to be another rebuke of the Trump administration. 

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[wutbju]

Eric Hutton seems perplexed by Hantz Bernard's list-from-Strong's:

Even though we triple checked our facts with BJU insiders closest to the crisis, Dr. Bernard appears to believe that our updated open letter was full of lies. He replied to the concerns of alumni and friends with a list of bible verses about lying. See the text of his email: Psalm 15:1-3 - "Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? 2 He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; 3 He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;" Exodus 20:16 - "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." John 8:44 - "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." Ephesians 4:25 - "Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another." Proverbs 6:16-19 - "These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren." Matthew 15:19 - "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Isaiah 59:7 - "Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths." James 3:8-9 - "But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God." Colossians 2:8 - "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." (Verbatim from Dr. Bernard's email reply to a positive grad.)

Quelle Surprise, +++Positives+++.

[wutbju]

Even though we triple checked our facts with BJU insiders closest to the crisis, Dr. Bernard appears to believe that our updated open letter was full of lies.

Again -- you're surprised? This is their tactic. This has always been their tactic. Always. We've documented it for decades!

[wutbju]

We all know now that the +++Positive+++ push for John Lewis to resign did work. You have to give them that. They didn't know that yet.

Even with all their FB "engagements,"

And yet, Dr. Lewis still has not resigned. Dr. Lewis has refused to meet with us and has prevented other board members from meeting with us to discuss the content of the updated open letter and the first steps of fundamental board reform at BJU. He seems to have dug in.

I'm still really surprised that they were surprised. Have they met a fundamentalist pastor?

[wutbju]

So what can the +++Positives+++ do? According to Eric Hutton:

So, what can we do? As alumni and friends of BJU, we cannot stand by and let these nine board members destroy BJU. But we cannot write any more emails or letters. They are not moving Dr. Lewis to change. Here's an option: Will you join us March 27-28, 2023, for a "Prayer and Praise" homecoming in Greenville? We need to show up for the future of BJU. Save the date; Save the College. Please continue to pray for the faculty. Tomorrow is an important day. On March 1, each faculty member must decide if they will renew their annual employment contracts. It will be very interesting to see the actual outcome in faculty non-renewals for the 2023-2024 school year. Please pray for the students as well, as the decisions of faculty affect them too. We are the loving and loyal alumni and friends. We love BJU and are committed not only to its survival, but to its long-term success. We are trusting God as He continues to lead us forward.

That "Prayer and Praise" event became a "Prayer and Pivot" event. Remember?

[wutbju]

Welcome to the Disaffected, +++Positives+++.

I mean, friends, it was inevitable. I know you all thought that if you were just +++POSITIVE+++ enough, BJU would read and heed.

But BJU never listens. All of us out here know that. You all were just the latest.

FTR, however, here's their final statement:

Dear Positive BJU Grads & Friends, This is our last post. (At least for now.) We did what we could to shed light on the secret power politics of the BJU Board of Trustees aligned to remove Dr. Steve Pettit. We did what we could to expose the removing of board members who supported Pettit and his administration's appropriate change agenda from 2014 to 2023. We did what seemed right to expose the decisions and actions of the board in their effort to reverse course on several board-approved policy changes in alignment with the express wishes of the FBFI board and Dr. Bob Jones Ill, and to go back. We did make a positive difference with your help but now we believe that continuing will 1) NOT change the Board which is more unapologetically and unanimously separatist than it was two years ago, 2) not help BJU flourish under whatever new President the newly consolidated Board elects in the coming weeks or months, and 3) provide the Board, who exclusively owns accountability for any negative fallout from this strategic shift, an opportunity to blame the "apostate" alumni group on Facebook for whatever may come next. We want the new President, and the faculty, and staff, and students who choose to remain or join to succeed and thrive. We want the University to see better days, not worse. God will decide what falls out in the lap with the lots now cast. It is His University not any individual's, family's, or group's. We believe the newly consolidated board may have miscalculated the strength and potential of their so-called base strategically, but only time will tell. We believe Dr. Bob Ill and his long-standing loyalists may not care if the University declines or closes, but we cannot know their true aims and goals. We are proud to be the independent Alumni of BJU. We are proud of and thankful for you, the positive BJU grads & friends who dared to speak truth to power which had never been attempted en masse before. Together we have defended the simplicity and critical importance of the Bob Jones University Creed. Though we tried, we did not always get it right. And though we spent many hours in prayer, we may have occasionally fallen into the same divisive, unloving, high-minded, and mean-spirited pride we sought to speak out against. For that we ask for your forgiveness. We love you and we are praying for you. NEXT STEPS We are not shutting down the page. But we do not plan to post in the foreseeable future either. In 24 hours from the time of this post, you will no longer be able to comment on this private group page. Thank you again for your amazing engagement over the last year and a half! You really are the best alumni and friends in the world! Thank you to Eric Hutton who wrote the original open letter in October 2022. We would especially like to thank Brian Fuller and Kevin Inafuku for their original vision to start a love-and-unity oriented independent alumni Facebook page and for inviting others of us to join in. Thank you to Clinton Holden, George Clements, Lori Lane, and John Lane for their fearless and selfless leadership in the heat of the battle in late 2022 and early 2023. IM us individually if you want. We will do our best to get back with you, as always.

[wutbju]

And then there are details that would be interesting only in a historical sense:

Here is why this matter is so urgent: The annual board meeting is the week of March 27, with the Executive Committee (EC) meeting on Tuesday the 28th, and the full board meeting on the 29th and 30th. The EC is currently made up of six men (after the vice-chairman resigned one month ago.) The current EC members voted 4 to 1 (with John Lewis abstaining) to maintain John Lewis as chairman at the February 14th board meeting when the vote of the full board voted 8 to 6 to keep Dr. Lewis as chairman. The bylaws cannot be changed unless half the board agrees. With 9 votes out of 15, Lewis can block all bylaw changes, including the number of votes needed to remove a chairman which is currently 2/3. So, if the bylaws cannot be changed, three other risks are clear: 1) The EC has the power to renew or non-renew existing board members. At the March annual board meeting, the EC could vote to renew the two board members up for renewal who voted against removing Dr. Lewis on February 14th and non-renew the two board members up for renewal who voted in favor of removing Dr. Lewis on February 14th. 2) In order to further perpetuate their board control, the EC does not have to non-renew any board members at the annual meeting in March. The current bylaws permit the EC the exclusive right to nominate new board members, and there are currently six vacant board seats. It would be easier and less controversial for them to begin the process of resupplying the board with additional members aligned with Dr. Lewis and Dr. Bob Jones III. The nominees must be approved by a majority of the board, but Dr. Lewis already has a majority control. 3) Once Dr. Lewis has a clear 2/3 super majority, he can have Dr. Pettit removed as President for cause based on any alleged insubordination or lack of submission to authority. We believe Dr. Lewis will blame Dr. Pettit for the impact of the current crisis which he himself created. Please know that we have had dozens of private conversations and gathered much information behind the scenes and have good reason to believe that the intent of the board is to remove Dr. Pettit and to take the university in a different direction. This isn't just idle speculation. We have good reason to believe that what we are stating about their goals is possible if not probable.

The sentence there that I emphasized is the +++Positives'+++ concern. And that concern was valid and proven true.

We don't know about the direction part -- not yet anyway.

[wutbju]

3) The board (nine members of fifteen) do not seem to recognize the voice of the alumni or respect the views of the faculty/staff and students--only about returning the university to a place where BJU is more "conservative" and, based on their "principles," more "obedient."

This is Bob Jones University you're talking about. They've never cared about those things. Never, ever.

[wutbju]

2) The board (nine members of fifteen) do not seem to care about potential enrollment declines--only about re-establishing their legacy standards and preferences that they seem to hold equal with actual biblical doctrine, even if it means financial disaster for the University.

And we're not going to see the effects of that lower enrollment for another several months.

But +++Positives+++, this happens because BJU is, as they say, getting high on their own supply. They believe that they are divinely sanctioned by God and that God won't let them fail.

And you know what the Bible says about pride and falling.

[wutbju]

Here is why this matter is so disturbing: 1) The board (nine members of fifteen) do not seem to care about maintaining SACSCOC accreditation-only maintaining their power to dictate policy aligned with their "principles."

Quelle Surprise.

[wutbju]

Then Eric Hutton wraps up this Urgent letter in his own +++Positive+++ voice:

In our opinion nothing less than the future of the institution is at stake. It is time for BJU to become an institution with ethical and effective board governance that aggressively defends the true fundamentals of the faith but refrains from the divisive and dogmatic decisions of the former Jones-led leadership era. We believe the university should continue in the current positive path, not regress into the destructive decisions and policies of the past.

Okay, friends, this argument is a dud.

Imagine if I said, "America needs to refrain from the divisive and dogmatic decisions that forged the Constitution."

This isn't going to work. And frankly, it shouldn't work.

[wutbju]

You can just see the sparkle in Bob Jones III's eye when he writes this last part. He's relishing it:

America's landscape is littered with one-time good Christian colleges that have become the gates to hell because their boards eventually drank the Kool-Aid of characterlessness and compromise." (Verbatim from Dr. Bob Jones III email reply to a positive grad.)

It's strange to hear him talk about "drinking the Kool-aid" though.

[wutbju]

This is interesting. Of course, Bob III is presuming here that BJU is a place any alumni would send their child to BJU. Let's grant him that.

If BJU remains the kind of place to which you would want to send your children, it will be because it has a governing board with the understanding of what sort of school this is supposed to be and possesses the wisdom and courage to do its duty to keep it that way.

He's not wrong. That is the Board's job.