Jones, Bob, Jr.

▪ 1998

      American clergyman and educator (b. Oct. 19, 1911, Montgomery, Ala.—d. Nov. 12, 1997, Greenville, S.C.), was board chairman and chancellor of Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian institution that gained attention in the 1970s when it opted to lose its federal tax-exempt status rather than allow interracial dating among its students. Bob Jones College was founded in College Point, Fla., in 1927 by Jones's father, evangelist Bob Jones, Sr. The school later relocated to Cleveland, Tenn., and then to Greenville in 1947, when it became known as Bob Jones University. Jones graduated from the college in 1930 and later taught a number of classes there. The nondenominational university, which in 1997 had an enrollment of about 5,000, enforced strict rules for students: a ban on interracial dating and a dress code that dictated ties for men and skirts for women. Jones held the posts of acting president (1932-47) and president (1947-71). In 1971 he was elected chancellor, and his son, Bob Jones III, succeeded him as president; in addition, Jones had held the post of chairman since 1964. He wrote a number of books, notably the autobiographical Cornbread and Caviar (1985).

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