Expelled Bob Jones Student Awaiting Appeals Process

In his four years at Bob Jones University Christopher Peterman of Bradenton learned a lot. But not all of the political science major's lessons were sanctioned by the college and for that, it seems, he will not graduate.

Peterman said he has appealed for doing things like organizing a protest on campus, posting song lyrics by contemporary Christian bands on his Facebook page, watching the television show "Glee" and reaching out to outside authorities for help in what he believes to be a case of targeted harassment for his on-campus activism. 

On Friday Carol A. Keirstead, chief communications officer with the school, said that Peterman must fill out specific paperwork for a formal appeal, and that sending an e-mail requesting a formal appeal was not sufficient. Once he completes the necessary documents, she said, his appeal will be considered by a committee.

The college senior had interned with Congressman Vern Buchanan for a semester and asked him about his options as his demerits were piling up. He also reached out to Sen. Marco Rubio and the Department of Education for help. That only got him more demerits — enough to get him kicked out of school.

Peterman was set to graduate on Saturday. He is more than $30,000 in debt with education loans and he said it is unlikely that his credits from Bob Jones University will transfer to most colleges because the accreditation agency for Bob Jones, Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, is used exclusively by Christian colleges. Still, the agency is authorized by the United States Department of Education.

He said even if his credits do transfer, he's nearly reached his maximum amount for student loans and can't afford to pay for more college. His mother, who is 75 and living on social security, can't help him.

Peterman, who had been paying the nearly $20,000 a year for the college, filed his formal appeal to Fisher on Monday, but has not heard back from the Provost or anyone else at the school.

"I want them to let me back in to take my final exams," Peterman said. "I would like to get my bachelor's degree and be done with Bob Jones University."

When Peterman applied to school at the University, he was excited about the opportunity to attend the school where most of his teachers at in Bradenton earned their degrees. And for the first few years he said he was the kind of student Bob Jones University expected.

He studied, he spent time with other students on campus, he read scripture and he followed the rules. Then when he ran out of money he took some time off to come home to Bradenton, work and save money. While working out in the secular world, he realized that there were people outside of the fundamental baptist religion who were good people and even good Christians.

And when he got back to school he saw that even fundamental baptists could be fallible. Peterman said that late last year, he started a group called "Do Right BJU," in reaction to reports that Chuck Phelps, a BJU trustee and New Hampshire pastor, had forced a woman named Tina Anderson to ask her church congregation for "forgiveness" after she'd been raped by a member of the church.

That struck a nerve, said Peterman, who has siblings who had been sexually assaulted. 

"After the 20/20 investigation, I started speaking out abuse, and that's when I started getting demerits," Peterman said.

Peterman organized a protest with Do Right BJU to raise awareness of sexual abuse and he also called for Phelps' resignation. He earned demerits for organizing the protest on campus. When he returned to school after Christmas break, he said, things had changed. He was required to meet with a dean at the college once a week because of the administrations' concern about his behavior.

That's when he began getting demerits for things like posting lyrics Christian Rock to his facebook page and for watching Glee on his computer off campus. While there's nothing in the handbook that says students can't watch television off campus, Peterman said that administrators said that the show was so "morally reprehensible" that demerits were warranted.

As his demerits added up he reached out to politicians in hope they could help him stay in college long enough to graduate. That was the end for Peterman. He accumulated enough demerits to be kicked out of school for going outside of Bob Jones University for help with what was considered an internal matter.

"None of that was against the rules," Peterman said. "There's a handbook and nowhere in there are there rules about posting lyrics or watching t.v. off campus."

He said he doesn't even know how the school would have known he was watching a television show on his laptop off campus unless the school had someone following him and reporting back on what he was doing — known as "shadowing" at Bob Jones University.

Peterman said all he wants is to get his bachelor's degree. But because he was forced to miss his exams this week, that's unlikely to happen.

"I really don' think they'll let me back in school but I hope they will,' Peterman said.

On Friday Carol A. Keirstead, chief communications officer with the school, said that Peterman must fill out specific paperwork for a formal appeal, and that sending an e-mail requesting a formal appeal was not sufficient. Once he completes the necessary documents, she said, his appeal will be considered by a committee.