#grace report

[wutbju]

Kathryn Post's article struck me again with how little has changed.

As far as I know, the only actual justice has come in the guilty plea from Pastor Jonathan Alan Weaver, BJU Class of 1986.

Do you remember how BJU actually responded to BJU Class of 1986 Jonathan Alan Weaver? WutBJU documented it. Here's the timeline:

2014: The GRACE Team confronts Bob Jones University administrators for their criminal handling of the sexual assault of a student in their care. Jim Berg claims it was some sort of “consensual” rape.

2015 December: The GRACE Report identified Shielagh Thompson Clark’s case as Case #777.

2019 May: Weaver is on the BJU campus for Commencement.

2020 March: Greenville County arrested Jonathan Alan Weaver on two counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

2021 April: Jonathan Alana Weaver took an Alford Plea against those two counts. He received 10 years probation.

WutBJU explained this before:

In 2014, Jim Berg and Bob Jones III knew what Weaver had committed. They knew. We all know they knew. Frankly they knew in 2005 when his church drummed him out (without calling the police, it appears). But in 2014 and again in 2015, the BJU administration KNEW what Weaver did. They knew his danger to young college-aged women. And in May 2019, he’s on campus. But get this. You ready? He’s arrested in March 2020 for sexual assault. BJU says they “regret” their actions in mishandling his crime that same month.

BJU is STILL not safe!

[itsjuliak5]

Some more Youtubers that are really cool and great, since we could all use that right now👍

{Here’s the first part I did, too.}

Let Me Explain - Does entertaining and in depth movie reviews. He’s funny and clearly has a lot of passion about film. His videos also include fun animations!

Swell Entertainment - She does a lot of insightful and entertaining commentary videos on a variety of subjects. She also does reviews on different products and TV shows along with movies. She also has a calming and relatable personality.

Film Theory / Game Theory - Their theories on movies and video games are so entertaining and well researched, as well as, well animated. I’ve never played Five Nights at Freddy’s, but I have consistently watched every single episode of their FNAF series (RIP to MatPat’s sanity).

GrayStillPlays - He plays a bunch of dumb video games and makes it super fun. He also plays a bunch of classic games like the Sims, badly, on purpose and just makes it super chaotic, which is a lot of fun to watch. 

Grace Report - Grace does in depth reviews of reality TV shows like “Teen Mom” and “90 Day Fiancée” along with other guilty pleasure reality shows, in a way that you don’t actually have to watch the shows yourself and give those trash people money and views. She also covers the drama that goes on behind the scenes of these shows and she has such a lovely personality that is very engaging to watch. 

Kendall Rae - Kendall does a lot of true crime and true crime mystery videos that help bring awareness to certain cases like the recent case of the Vallow children or the past Madeleine McCann case. She helps bring awareness to several issues that go on in the world like human trafficking and does a lot of fundraising for various charities that help protect vulnerable people like Thorn. Despite the heavy topics she covers, she has an awesome and easy going personality that is fun to watch.

Dylan Is In Trouble - Dylan does a lot of movie commentary videos on his channel and occasionally TV show reviews. They are a lot of fun to watch and he tries to do a bunch of different movies all the time. He’s very passionate about movies and books and it shows. He has a very fun personality to watch! {Don’t recommend stuff for him to watch tho, it gets overwhelming}

Mama Doctor Jones - Mama Doctor Jones is an OB/GYN that also does reaction videos to various medical dramas. She goes over a lot of issues that women may face without making awkward and/or uncomfortable. She is an inclusive queen that discusses a range of reproductive issues including trans health related questions.

Lucas and Jacob Cruikshank - Yes, Lucas is the guy that played FRED from ancient YouTube days. His content now is super funny and entertaining that mainly consists of him reacting to cringy TV shows and movies, or video games. Jacob is his brother who has his own channel, but they collab a lot together since they’re brothers. They’re both really funny to watch!

Corridor Crew - They are a group of special effects artists on YouTube that are super talented and passionate about their profession. They have a series where they react to special effects in movies, both good and bad ones. They also do videos where they react to good and bad stunt work in movies and sometimes they have special guests come on for both series like the stunt double for Chadwick Boseman in “Black Panther.” 

Cody Ko - First of all, Vine legend. Second, he’s really funny and his videos have made me snort with laughter before. Also he’s actually really smart and graduated from Duke University with a master’s degree so good for him, our short king. The “That’s Cringe” series he does with Noel is iconic and hilarious

Noel Miller - Also a Vine legend (it’s ya boy, skinny penis!). King of roasts, I’d honestly be both terrified and honored to get roasted by him. The series “Thirsty Tweets” that he does with his friends Cody and Spock is also super funny. Noel and Cody also have a podcast called “Tiny Meat Gang.”

Buzzfeed Unsolved / Watcher - Shane and Ryan are two of the funniest people on the internet in my opinion. If you love spooky stuff, supernatural stuff, and true crime, you will love their multiple series on Buzzfeed Unsolved. They also have their own channel and company now called Watcher with their friend where they do more spooky stuff, as well as other fun things like making their own custom soda.

Sim Mallec - This channel posts a lot of funny meme videos and crack videos about various TV shows and movies. I found them through their Riverdale videos, which are absolutely hysterical and can definitely provide you with a few laughs if you need them. 

[wutbju]

For whatever reason, GRACE no longer has the BJU GRACE Report on its site -- not even under their "archive."

We BJU alumni are always skeptical when we see such things.

But you can always get the BJU GRACE Report here.

[wutbju]

Let's take a moment to reflect on this decade since the GRACE Report's release.

Many props to Kathryn Post's article in the Religion News Service. She gathered a wide variety of sources here, and new voices too.

Personally I am overwhelmed that it's been a decade with so little accomplished.

I guess it should be no surprise that with a President-Elect who is a known rapist and who surrounds himself with accused rapists that America just doesn't give one whit about sexual assaults on college campuses.

But let's take a look back, shall we?

[wutbju]

Let's never forget that after Stephen Jones fired-and-then-rehired GRACE and after he got "sick," BJU called in Steve Pettit to "fix" their reputation. And remember what he said:

In the spirit of candor, it should be noted that the reviewers to date have found no evidence that the University protected any perpetrators or failed to comply with its reporting obligations. I am relieved by these conclusions. They are important. But they do not make up for the fact that we did not serve our students as well as we should have.

He was lying. And I listed out the lies at the time. But BJU and its loyalists went with a comfortable lie.

[wutbju]

However, survivors of Bob Jones University's mishandling of sexual assault persist. And Kathryn Post centered them and their words in her article

Sheri Cotuna, whose account of being sexually assaulted by a BJU student in the 1990s was referenced in the report, said her interview with GRACE employees was the first time she heard the abuse condemned as “not of God,” and ultimately empowered her to report her abuser to police nearly two decades after the incident. Erin Burchwell, another abuse survivor and GRACE participant, said the report was the “beginning of connecting victims through social media, giving people a little bit of a voice.”

But some abuse survivors involved in the initial investigation fear too little has changed since the report. They say the university continues to implement a biblical counseling method critiqued in the report and to employ faculty members the report says promoted harmful practices. Referencing an ongoing lawsuit filed against the university by a former Bob Jones student in August 2020, they continue to call on the university to implement trauma-informed policies that prioritize student safety and healing over correction. ...

For Shielagh Clark, a former Bob Jones student who participated in the 2014 GRACE report, the situation feels eerily familiar.

Shielagh Clark. (Photo by Rachael Thompson)

Clark, a student of Bob Jones University in 2005, was asked to withdraw from the university after she became pregnant from what she has said was a rape by her longtime pastor, who was later charged with two counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in relation to his crimes against Clark, which dated back to 2000.

Nearly a decade later, during the GRACE investigation, Jim Berg, who served as dean of students between 1981 and 2010 and oversaw the campus’s response to abuse disclosures, defended the university’s decision to remove her from school for lying to obtain a pass to leave the school the day of the alleged rape. The GRACE report called Clark’s case a “tragic example of someone who needed compassion and healing but instead received discipline.”

According to Clark, the university exhibits a pattern of being more concerned about “sin or obedience” than about people.

“It seems from the outside that they did the exact same thing,” said Clark about the lawsuit involving Jane Roe. “They prioritized the rules over the human being.”...

Cotuna recalls being counseled in this method by Berg after reporting her 1993 assault.

“Basically all of it was him asking the details about every little bit of what happened, and trying to get me to understand why God caused this. Because what kind of thing was in my life that would attract this, that would make this happen?” said Cotuna. “Yes, the offender caused me harm, but the greater harm was from the counseling and the school’s response, because they destroyed any hope I had of anything from God, any kind of comfort.”

Sheri Cotuna. (Courtesy photo)

[wutbju]

When listening to Episode #8 of the Surviving BJU: A Christian Cult podcast, I was struck by the account of the survivor of sexual assault after the GRACE Report.

Apparently Deneen Lawson has a habit of saying to female BJU students that, if they have no place to go after expulsion:

There's always a homeless shelter.

Do you want your daughter to experience that? If not, then don't send her to Bob Jones University!

[wutbju]

The infamous Benjamin Lawson Adams had a party tonight as all his allies gathered to “say goodbye.” Yes, these people partied Ben’s way to prison.