College apologizes for racist policies

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Bob Jones University has apologized for racist policies including a one-time ban on interracial dating that wasn't lifted until nine years ago and its unwillingness to admit black students until 1971.

The private fundamentalist Christian school said its rules on race were shaped by culture instead of the Bible, according to a statement posted Thursday on the university's website.

The university in northwestern South Carolina, which has about 5,000 students, was founded in 1927. It didn't begin admitting black students until nearly 20 years after the US Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that segregated public schools were unconstitutional.

"We failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful," the statement said.

The interracial dating ban was lifted in March 2000, not long after the policy became an issue in the Republican presidential primary that year. George W. Bush was criticized when he spoke at the school during a campaign stop in the state.

Stephen Jones, president of Bob Jones University, decided to issue the apology because the school still receives questions about its views on race.

Jones is the great-grandson of the school founder, Bob Jones. He took over for his father, also named Bob Jones, in 2005.

ASSOCIATED PRESS