Bob Jones University President Resigns Amid Battle with Board Chairman

A battle over who will control Bob Jones University, America’s flagship fundamentalist school, has been won by board chairman John Lewis in a sustained power play some alumni are calling a “coup.”

Photo of Steve Pettit and BJU campus via Change.org petition calling for Lewis’ resignation

Steve Pettit, the school’s president since 2014, and the first BJU president from outside the Jones family, has resigned just four months after his contract was renewed for another three years.

“The future of BJU requires the chairman and the president to work together,” wrote Pettit in a March 21 letter that called for Lewis to resign. “It is not happening now, and I can’t see it happening in the future…things are dysfunctional and our working relationship is irreparably broken.”

The Collegian, the BJU student paper, reported that Pettit had the “widespread support” of the student body, and more than 1,000 alumni showed up to show support for Pettit before the vote on his contract renewal last year.

Pettit and members of a Facebook group called “positive bju grads & friends,” which now has more than 7,000 members, sought to force Lewis to resign, but Lewis prevailed. Pettit will leave May 5.

As MinistryWatch reported in November and February, Lewis has led the resistance to Pettit, who is accused of being insufficiently fundamentalist because of the style of worship music played at student chapel services, performances in the fine arts program, Pettit’s participation in a bluegrass music band, and uniforms for female athletes that reveal their “boobs and butts.”

Lewis allegedly resorted to illegal means to keep power, including stealing documents from Pettit’s office, replacing pro-Pettit board members with opponents, and replacing BJU attorney Miles Coleman with a more compliant attorney who confers with Lewis and his supporters.

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Pettit raised additional charges against Lewis in his resignation letter:

• Board meetings have been held in secret.
• Executive Committee meetings have moved off campus to the home of Bob Jones III, a committed critic of Pettit, and meeting minutes have not been provided to trustees.
• Board documents are now stored off-campus using a new computer Lewis authorized, and request for board info must now go through Jones.

Pettit said Lewis has been “uncaring or cavalier” about “troubling financial numbers triggered by the ongoing dysfunction and uncertainty…that are directly linked to a loss of confidence in the university’s direction under the current board leadership… the chairman seems completely disinterested in the financial stability of the university.”

Lewis also pressured the school’s athletic club to cancel an appearance by acclaimed Christian NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence, resulting in the loss of up to $1 million in potential donations. Dr. Neal Ring, who launched BJU’s successful athletic program in 2012, has since resigned. Other faculty have also resigned amid the chaos.

Pettit also drew condemnation for orchestrating two consequential changes in 2017 that altered BJU’s historic DNA and caused significant division:

• He helped the school regain its federal tax-exempt status decades after the school’s ban on interracial dating led to the loss of that status. (The school, founded in 1927, admitted its first Black student in 1971.)
• BJU earned accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. This change makes BJU more attractive to prospective students while making it easier for alumni to pursue graduate degrees, but previously the school had opposed accreditation by a secular agency.

Only a month ago, Pettit’s supporters were hailing his contract renewal as a victory over Lewis. “Dr. John Lewis chose to create a private campaign to replace Dr. Steve Pettit (but) his campaign failed,” they said then.

Now, more than 2,000 of Pettit’s supporters have signed a petition calling on Lewis to resign.

“Steve Pettit has resigned due to the immoral and unethical behaviors of the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees,” they claim.