What’s going on at BJU? President and Board Chairman resign.
Jackson Gosnell, Staff Writer
In a surprising email on March 30, Bob Jones University President, Dr. Steve Pettit announced that he would resign, which shocked everyone. The resignation was to be effective after commencement in May. Students gathered in prayer the morning after Pettit’s announcement to pray for the University.
Pettit is widely liked by staff and students at Bob Jones University. Pettit renewed his contract earlier this year to stay at the University for three more years. The contract extension was approved unanimously by the University’s board.
The resignation came while a letter was circulating online between Pettit and the University’s Board. In the letter, Pettit said he could not continue to remain President if the Board Chairman stayed on the University’s board. The letter highlighted all the Board Chairman’s wrongdoings in Pettit’s eyes.
The letter discussed unofficial meetings that were allegedly conducted without the knowledge of all parties, failure to report a Title IX violation and hostility between Pettit and Lewis among other things.
Ultimately, the Board Chairman did not resign, so Pettit did just as his four-page letter said he would. Pettit sent a note to Bob Jones University students saying he would meet with them to share “what I can about what led to my resignation.” Students were not happy and began questioning the direction of the University’s future.
In an interesting shift of events, a week after Pettit announced his resignation, Board Chairman, Dr. John Lewis announced he would resign from his position. It’s unclear if all the public pressure led to his decision to leave.
Pettit released a statement shortly after Lewis announced his resignation saying in part “I wish Dr. Lewis God’s best.”
Following the Lewis resignation, the Bob Jones University community is now wondering if Pettit will stay at the University. The University so far is not answering that question. However, they did release a statement announcing the resignation of the Board Chairman.
Reaction to the news is growing across the Upstate and even on North Greenville University’s campus. Students at North Greenville University say they are hopeful that Bob Jones University will come back from all this negative publicity.
“For the sake of everyone who went to Bob Jones because of the President, I think he should remain the president.” said Chapman Stanley, freshman.
Stanley is not alone. Other students at North Greenville University believe the President should remain in the role.
“It is a little disturbing and I hope whatever they do next will be a reasonable step,” said Stanley.
When trying to reach those at Bob Jones, they declined to publicly comment on the situation. Additionally, when the president was contacted asking if he would stay, there was no comment.
As of now, no one is quite sure what will happen next or whether Pettit will stay at the University. The Vision will keep you posted on all the latest developments. For more information about Bob Jones University, check out their website: https://www.bju.edu/.
