SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville News
Lyn Riddle, lnriddle@greenvillenews.com December 27, 2014
Cathy Harris quickly read through the report criticizing Bob Jones University leaders for the way they handled reports of sexual assault and abuse.
Now she’s making her way through it again, deliberately this time, trying to sort it all out, letting herself feel all the emotions she tries hard to hold back.
Harris is one of the survivors of sexual assault who spoke with investigators from GRACE, Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, which was paid by Bob Jones University to look into the school’s counseling practices.
GRACE’s two-year investigation found that counseling services were harmful, some students were dissuaded from making police reports, and sermons and classroom lectures made victims feel as if they had brought the abuse on themselves by what they wore or how they acted.
The report singled out Bob Jones III, the chancellor and former president, and Jim Berg, the former dean of students who counseled between 200 and 300 sexual abuse victims in 30 years. GRACE recommended personnel action against Jones and suggested that Berg not be allowed to counsel students, teach counseling and that his books on counseling be removed from the bookstore and online.
Jones and Berg could not be reached for comment.
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