GREENVILLE, S.C. (February 10, 2017) – Bob Jones University President Steve Pettit announced today that Bob Jones University, Inc. of Greenville, S.C., the University’s current taxable entity, will be renamed BJU Education Group, Inc., and on March 1, will donate approximately 50 percent of its assets to a tax exempt South Carolina non-profit corporation known as BJU, Inc.
“Organizing as a tax-exempt entity is something BJU has needed to do for quite some time,” said Pettit. “In consultation with legal counsel and accountants with many years of experience in assisting tax exempt organizations—as well as input from members of the BJU community and our congressional delegation—we have reorganized and are looking forward to operating the University as a tax-exempt entity.”
The process began in late 2014 when the administration began conducting a thorough study of how to achieve tax exemption and consulted with the finance and executive committees of the Board of Trustees. On May 5, 2016, the Board of Trustees approved the final plan for pursuing tax exemption and the administration has been working on its implementation since that time.
BJU, Inc. will continue to be known as Bob Jones University. It will retain its current mission, educational objectives and policies. It will be governed by the current 25-member Board of Trustees. All board members, officers (except for the Chief Publication Officer), administrators and academic deans will remain as they are currently.
On February 17, the Board of Trustees is expected to elect a new eight-member board to govern BJU Education Group, which remains a taxable entity. Four of the eight trustees will be related to BJU—either current board members or administrators. The other four members will be independent of the current organization.
As this was a potential substantive change, BJU has consulted with our accrediting agencies, TRACS and SACSCOC, as we would not wish to put our TRACS accreditation or SACSCOC candidacy status at risk. Both agencies have been informed and consented to the restructuring plans.
