Making Eye Babies

A College That's Strictly Different
Secretive Pensacola Christian controls student life with tough regulations and unwritten rules
By THOMAS BARTLETT

Pensacola, Fla.

The campus looks just like the glossy brochure: clean, green, and beautiful. The students are well dressed and well groomed, not a pair of jeans or scrappy goatee in sight. Inside the Commons building, two students engage in a spirited game of Ping-Pong. When one of them misses an easy shot, he cries, "Praise the Lord!"

Pensacola Christian College prides itself on being different, not just from secular colleges, but from fellow Christian ones, too. Some of those differences, like the way students dress, are obvious to any visitor. Others are not. Since its founding, more than 30 years ago, Pensacola has blossomed from a tiny Bible college into a thriving institution of nearly 5,000 students. Along the way it has become known as among the most conservative — and most secretive — colleges in the country.

Not to mention one of the strictest. The rules at Pensacola govern every aspect of students' lives, including the books they read, the shoes they wear, the churches they attend, and the people they date. Many of those regulations are spelled out in a handbook sent to students after they enroll, but there are plenty of unwritten rules as well. Demerits are common and discipline swift.

It's all in the name of preserving Pensacola's "distinctives" — the word the college uses for what sets it apart. But many former students say the enforcement of the rules is often cruel and capricious. Dissent is never tolerated, they say, and expulsions for seemingly minor infractions are routine.

They also complain that Pensacola plays down (or never mentions) an important fact: It is not accredited. For many students, that lack of accreditation has not been a problem; for some, however, it has meant starting college over elsewhere or being rejected by employers.

In keeping with its distrust of outsiders, Pensacola's administration declined repeatedly to comment for this article. A spokesman says college officials "don't want to stir up a hornet's nest." But as interviews with dozens of current and former students make clear, the buzzing has already begun.

The Rule Book

Lisa Morris was walking to class with her boyfriend last October when something happened. At first Ms. Morris, a sophomore music major, is reluctant to divulge the details. Eventually, however, the truth comes out: He patted her behind.

Someone who witnessed the incident reported Ms. Morris and her boyfriend. At Pensacola any physical contact between members of the opposite sex is forbidden. (Members of the same sex may touch, although the college condemns homosexuality.) The forbidden contact includes shaking hands and definitely includes patting behinds. Both students were expelled.

Of Pensacola's many rules, those dealing with male-female relationships are the most talked about. There are restrictions on when and where men and women may speak to each other. Some elevators and stairwells may be used only by women; others may be used only by men. Socializing on particular benches is forbidden. If a man and a woman are walking to class, they may chat; if they stop en route, though, they may be in trouble. Generally men and women caught interacting in any "unchaperoned area" — which is most of the campus — could be subject to severe penalties.

Those rules extend beyond the campus. A man and a woman cannot go to an off-campus restaurant together without a chaperon (usually a faculty member). Even running into members of the opposite sex off campus can lead to punishment. One student told of how a group of men and a group of women from the college happened to meet at a McDonald's last spring. Both groups were returning from the beach (they had gone to separate beaches; men and women are not allowed to be at the beach together). The administration found out, and all 15 students were expelled.

Even couples who are not talking or touching can be reprimanded. Sabrina Poirier, a student at Pensacola who withdrew in 1997, was disciplined for what is known on the campus as "optical intercourse" — staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex. This is also referred to as "making eye babies." While the rule does not appear in written form, most students interviewed for this article were familiar with the concept.

As she tells it, Ms. Poirier was not gazing lovingly at her boyfriend; he had something in his eye. But officials didn't buy her explanation, and she and her boyfriend were both "socialed," she says.

There are three levels of official punishment at Pensacola (four, if you count expulsion). Students can be "socialed," "campused," or "shadowed." Students who are socialed are not allowed to talk to members of the opposite sex for two weeks. Those who are campused may not leave the college grounds for two weeks or speak to other campused students.

Being shadowed is the worst of the three. Shadowed students are assigned to a "floor leader" for several days. A floor leader is a student who is paid by the college and has the power to issue demerits. Shadowed students must attend the floor leader's classes and sleep in the floor leader's room. During this time, the shadowed student is not allowed to talk to anyone but the floor leader. Shadowing is usually a prelude to expulsion.

Ms. Poirier was later told she would be shadowed after being spotted riding in a car in mixed company. She tried to explain that it was an innocent outing, but to no avail. When told she would be shadowed, Ms. Poirier decided to withdraw. "I said 'screw it' and I left," she says.

There are plenty of other ways to run afoul of the rules. Last spring Timothy Dow was caught playing the video game Halo 2. Such games are banned by the college. Movies are also forbidden, including those rated G. Music is restricted to classical or approved Christian ("contemporary Christian" artists are deemed too worldly). Students are allowed to watch television news at 6 o'clock, but that's it. The TVs are controlled by college employees, who flip a switch to black out the commercials, lest students see anything inappropriate.

In the library, books and magazines are censored. One student says she saw a pair of black-marker boxer shorts on a photograph of Michelangelo's David. Any books that students wish to read that are not in the library must first be approved by administrators. Those containing references to "magic," for instance, are normally rejected. The rule book specifically prohibits "fleshly magazines and books."

For playing the video game, Mr. Dow was campused. Later, in the cafeteria, he ran into a friend who had just been expelled. Mr. Dow had been told not to talk to his friend, who had previously been campused. But he figured it would be OK now that his friend was leaving. "I gave him a hug and said, 'See you later, man,'" he says.

Someone witnessed the exchange and turned Mr. Dow in. Students routinely turn each other in for violating rules and are rewarded by the administration for doing so. According to several former students, those who report classmates are more likely to become floor leaders.

Mr. Dow was called to the office of the dean of men, where, he says, he waited for about four hours. Then he was expelled.

In The Beginning

Pensacola Christian College is "an idea that came from God," according to its Web site. The college was founded in 1974 by Arlin Horton, who remains its president. It is Baptist but is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention or any similar organization. Both Mr. Horton and his wife, Rebekah, are graduates of Bob Jones University. While it appears that he copied his alma mater's demerit system and some of its rules, there is a longstanding rift between the two institutions.

Several years ago, Pensacola publicly criticized Bob Jones University for using translations of the Bible other than the King James Version. (Pensacola's policy is that the King James is the only divinely inspired English translation.) A group of Bob Jones faculty members fired off a lengthy letter responding to the attack.

It is true that students at Bob Jones are permitted to consult other English translations of the Bible. In the letter, however, Bob Jones professors objected to the implication that the university was not faithful to the word of God. "PCC appears to be bent on claiming exclusive right to the higher ground of Fundamentalism — in lofty isolation, not only from BJU, but from virtually every other Fundamental Bible college and seminary," they wrote.

A representative of Bob Jones University declined to talk about the bad blood between the colleges.

When Pensacola opened its doors, it had one building and 100 students. Its mission was to offer an education "based on the Christian traditional approach in contrast to the humanistic, progressive systems of education." Since then, as it has grown to nearly 5,000 students, it has built a large, gated campus featuring an art-and-music center with a 140-seat recital hall and recording studio; a 137,000-square-foot sports center with a basketball court, ice-skating rink, 12-lane bowling alley, four-lane jogging track, miniature golf course, and racquetball courts. There is a cafeteria, an on-campus restaurant, and a 300,000-volume library.

The campus also has several computer labs and wireless Internet access, although there is a catch. In the mid-1990s, Pensacola had e-mail and limited Internet access, but it shut the services down after several students started an online newsletter criticizing the college. (Needless to say, the students who created the newsletter were expelled.) Internet access was not restored until last year, and it comes with significant restrictions. There are a few hundred ...

So?

Do you want me to come there and pat your bum for you?.

How much will you pay me (as well as first class flights)?

is there a bar on the campus??

whats the rules on getting pissed??

Originally posted by c99ux
So?

Do you want me to come there and pat your bum for you?.

How much will you pay me (as well as first class flights)?

Originally posted by XanthosNZ
[b]A College That's Strictly Different
Secretive Pensacola Christian controls student life with tough regulations and unwritten rules
By THOMAS BARTLETT

Pensacola, Fla.

The campus looks just like the glossy brochure: clean, green, and beautiful. The students are well dressed and well groomed, not a pair of jeans or scrappy goatee in sight. Insi ...[text shortened]... rictions. There are a few hundred ...[/b]

Xanth, did you check out the maths department?
First course of the day, new testament studies or old testament studies. Every day. Bible studies=50% of the maths study.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Thus totally ignoring the thrust of the post. Doesn't it sound like our own bit of Iranian educational system in America?. Xanth, the last sentence was 'There were a few hundred' which tells me through a convoluted leap of logic there is more to the article. Do you have the rest of it or the link to the whole thing? It sounds like the college from hell. As ...[text shortened]... your finger" and burst out in a laughing fit. But its no laughing matter anymore.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Xanth, did you check out the maths department?
First course of the day, new testament studies or old testament studies. Every day. Bible studies=50% of the maths study.

Originally posted by Nordlys
"No subject better reflects the glory of God than does mathematics. To study mathematics is to study God's thoughts after Him, for He is the great Engineer and Architect of the universe. Man's task is to search out the scientific and mathematical laws of the universe and to use them for man's benefit and the glory of God."

Oh my Cod.

Originally posted by LemonJello
Don't mock Cod. That's bassphemous.

Meh.........if this were an Islamic school, everybody'd be yakking about celebrating diversity and bending over backwards to not offend them by being critical, as they have a nasty habit of going on the offensive if someone shows pictures of their prophet or suggests they might be loony.

A couple of things AceholeNZ

1) You spend too much time dredging up mindless crap like this to bash America with.

2) This cut and paste job means ???????????????

3) You are doing ? to change the world? Let alone the country you live in? You are WAY too fixated on the American situation.

4) Bob Jones University!?

AceholeNZ, get outside and get the stink blown off ya ...

Thanks Xanthos, that helps explain a few things I've suspected about my representative in the U.S. Congress, who is a graduate of PBC. In other words, I have no representative in Congress.

I had lunch with her a couple times while she was in the state legislature, and although she has the formal manners of someone that's been to finishing school, she wore them uncomfortably, and indeed appeared socially inept. Her understanding of the issues revealed that she is easily led by those who can appeal to her naive and dogma-filtered understanding of the world. Needless to say, she is more in lockstep with the Bush Administration than most.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
Thanks Xanthos, that helps explain a few things I've suspected about my representative in the U.S. Congress, who is a graduate of PBC. In other words, I have no representative in Congress.

I had lunch with her a couple times while she was in the state legislature, and although she has the formal manners of someone that's been to finishing school, she wore ...[text shortened]... of the world. Needless to say, she is more in lockstep with the Bush Administration than most.

Originally posted by xs
Her understanding of the issues kept her in the state legislature for 10 years. She also has an MBA from University of Washington. And was elected to the House by 60% of the vote. She must be representing someone.