Camille Lewis (no relation), a former BJU faculty member who now runs a website dedicated to news about the school and its history, said Pettit’s popularity with students, faculty and staff likely played a role in his clash with board members. That was likely seen as a slight to Bob Jones Sr., his son Bob Jones Jr. and his grandson Bob Jones III, all of whom served as presidents of the school.
“Any affable, charismatic person who is more liked than Bob Jones (Sr, Jr, III) is going to be a target,” she said in an email to Religion News Service.
Camille Lewis also said the school’s leaders have been known for keeping secrets and for their desire to control the lives of students. The school long banned interracial dating, which cost the school its tax-exempt status for decades. The school also had apologized in the past for mistreating students who had reported sexual assaults, which makes the alleged recent comments about female students and the possibility that they had been photographed without consent even more troubling, said Lewis.
“This is creepy,” she said.
She also said there have been serious behind-the-scenes conflicts on the board.
Rick Altizer, a former Bob Jones board member, said he has been concerned about the conflict between Pettit and the current board for some time. Altizer, who graduated from the school in the 1980s, is one of the organizers of “Positive BJU Grads & Friends,” a Facebook group of alumni that claims about 8,000 members.
The group supports the changes Pettit made and wants to see the school flourish in the future, said Altizer. For that to happen, he said, the board needs to change.
In particular, he said, group members want more transparency on the board and better governance.
Altizer, a Greenville native, said Pettit is committed to the school’s creed, which is recited at every chapel service, and its conservative theological beliefs. But Pettit has been willing to adapt to modern culture on issues such as the dress code or other matters that are cultural, rather than biblical. For example, he said, the school once banned earbuds or other headphones but eventually changed that policy.
Bob Jones Sr., the university’s founder. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia/Bob Jones University
Under Pettit, the school also regained its nonprofit status in 2017.
Altizer also said that like the school’s founder, Pettit supported the liberal and creative arts. The school is known for its museum’s collection of Renaissance and baroque religious art, its devotion to Shakespeare and opera, and its theater productions.
“We saw a show recently that was as fine as any show I’ve seen on Broadway,” Altizer said.
Altizer, a tech entrepreneur who served on the board from 2012 to 2020, said he and other supporters of Pettit have been aware of tensions on the school’s board for months. Though in public the board seemed supportive of Pettit, some board members were working behind the scenes to undermine the president.
“There can be diverse opinions on the board,” he said. “But they need to act in an ethical manner.”
Altizer said the students who filed the Title IX complaint were courageous and he believes the school will handle the matter appropriately.
After news of Pettit’s resignation became public, nearly all the senior leadership at the university — including vice presidents, deans and the leaders of the faculty advisory committee — sent a letter to the board of trustees, asking for chairman Lewis to be removed, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by Religion News Service. The letter also asked that Hantz Bernard, another trustee, be removed as well.
“We respectfully request that the Board immediately and publicly acknowledge that the Board’s actions and lack of actions last week caused the majority of our constituency (on and off campus) to lose confidence in the board and in BJU.”
