Those of you who are regular readers here are by now quite familiar with Bob Jones University, and even a little bit of the drama that’s been going on there the past year. For those unaware of the drama (and who don’t want to click the previous link and read about it) I’ll post a little synopsis here.
Bob Jones University has expelled graduating senior Christopher Peterman just days before he was to graduate. Allegedly, the expulsion is a penalty for watching Glee and for posting lyrics to a Christian song on his Facebook page. His posts to Facebook were being heavily monitored by Dean of Men, John Daulton.
Christopher Peterman was the founder of a Facebook protest at BJU, Do Right BJU, the first student-led protest in the university’s history. The goal of that protest was to remove Board of Trustees member Pastor Chuck Phelps, who famously failed to take proper measures in reporting a child rapist in his New Hampshire church for years (see ABC’s 20/20 episode Shattered Faith, 4/8/2011 http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/scarred-childhood-13334532).
At the time of that protest, Peterman was promised by school administrators that he would suffer no penalties for taking a stand against Chuck Phelps. Although Phelps resigned under enormous pressure in the days leading up to the protest last December, former students and alumni predicted that Peterman would, in fact, be the target of administrators’ scrutiny and that they would eventually find a reason to expel him before graduation. This has now occurred.
Despite this assurance, Christopher Peterman was expelled this past Tuesday evening, just ten days before he was to graduate from Bob Jones University. Peterman released this public statement last evening on YouTube, which has since gone viral, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGRowXhO99c and on the Do Right BJU Facebook page, found here: https://www.facebook.com/DoRightBJU.
Stitching up the Seams 