Sex abuse victims at the conservative Christian Bob Jones University encounter a victim-blaming culture that discourages reporting abuse, according to an independent report released on Thursday by a non-profit that fights sex abuse in the church.

Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (Grace) published the scathing 300-page report, which details the experiences of current and former students, employees, and others who have dealt with students’ sex abuse claims –such as pastors, counselors, and family members.

The report, which BJU commissioned Grace to produce, said the findings “support a possible conclusion” that childhood survivors of sex abuse may not consider the school a safe place to disclose such experiences or seek help. More than 60% of respondents who identified as victims characterized the “general attitude at BJU toward victims as one of blame and disparagement”.

BJU, which was founded in 1927 by Christian evangelist Robert Jones, has its students sign a “covenant” to indicate their intention to abide by the university’s policies, which include requiring that students abstain from premarital sex, strive towards a modest appearance, and be subject to curfews.

In November 2012, BJU’s board of trustees asked Grace to investigate the school in response to complaints about the its policies and procedures for handling abuse claims made by people abused while attending the school or earlier. It terminated the contract in late January, then reinstated it in late February. The investigation concluded in June, and Grace noted that it was an important step in improving how the school responds to sex abuse.

The report was created by a team of Grace investigators, including mental health professionals with expertise in child abuse, child abuse prosecutors, and clergy members. The investigators created an online survey, then conducted 116 interviews, approximately half of which were with people who self-identified as victims of sexual abuse. The others interviewed were staff members, pastors, counselors, former students, and other people who have dealt with sex abuse claims made by students.

BJU released a four-page summary of the report on Thursday. The university said it questioned some of the methodology of the report, but that the themes and recommendations it provides are ultimately valuable.

“Bob Jones University is committed to making needed, substantive changes to better reflect our values and show victims the love of Jesus Christ. These changes will take deliberate thought and planning and time to implement. We ask for patience as we work with victims and other current and former students and take the necessary steps over the coming weeks, months, and years to achieve these goals.”

School president Steve Pettit is set to appoint a committee to review the report over the next few days.

Because the school receives Title IX funding, it is required to report abuse claims under the Clery Act. The report, however, indicates that the university does not encourage individual reporting to the police.

In Grace’s survey, the 66 people who reported abuse were asked about the school’s stance toward the victim making an abuse report. Of these, only five were encouraged to make a report. Fourteen participants described BJU as “discouraging” the report, and, most damningly, 17 participants stated that they were directed by BJU personnel not to make a police report. Four did not know and 26 defined the school’s stance as “other”.

These findings correlate with the messages that were presented on campus and at meetings such as the mandatory chapels students attended. One survey participant wrote: “Victims heard, consistently, from chapel speakers and faculty/staff, that abusers should be forgiven, that they bore the sin of bitterness, and that they should not report abusers.”

While BJU officials have said they don’t believe sex abuse can be justified, the report concluded that blaming and shaming messages found their way to students. One participant noted the use of Biblical language in shifting blame onto victims: “If a girl is raped she must have done something to provoke it. It was ALWAYS made to be the woman’s fault. We were ‘stumbling blocks’ to the men.”

Grace also criticized the school’s dress code, which it said sends an institutional message that victims could be responsible for the abuse they suffered. It said this does “not only exonerate perpetrators for their actions, but these messages also fail to demonstrate love and compassion to those who needed Christ more than ever.”

Grace also said that symptoms of trauma, or, in some cases, PTSD, were regarded as sinful behaviour. This was not limited to private counseling sessions between survivors of sexual abuse and school counselors; it was also characteristic of material taught in psychology classes.

Some said they had left counseling sessions with school counselors feeling responsible and feeling as if they had been punished by God. One of these counselors, Dr Jim Berg, told investigators that the “revivalist flavor” of the school “does create an eagerness to bring real solutions to a person. And so that is stronger in my mind than having to make sure that I am pacing myself at the same pace that they are going.”

“My situation was not this long, drawn-out relationship where people can unfold things. For one thing, I am a man, and secondly, my time is limited,” Berg said. “But also my investigative manner – probably I jumped into things quicker and probably made someone uncomfortable.”

Grace issued a comprehensive list of recommendations for BJU, including offering a public apology, reviewing files of people who reported a criminal sexual offense to identify which disclosures must be reported to law enforcement, and offering tuition assistance to students who did not complete degrees after suffering trauma.

Dani Kelley, a former BJU student who is a sex abuse survivor and a critic of the school, said she is not confident that the university could change its ways. She has never approached the school about her past abuse because of her concerns about how she would be treated.

She is especially concerned about Grace’s recommendation that the school contact victims. “Not only would this require BJU reinserting themselves in the lives of those they hurt, I simply don’t trust them to be humble, caring, compassionate, or repentant enough for such a meeting to do any good,” Kelley told the Guardian in an email.

“The language that BJU has used all along about this investigation and those it has hurt has been distancing and minimizing, including their pre-emptive response to the report that they published yesterday, in which they admitted that ‘some’ people may have ‘felt’ like they didn’t receive the help they needed,” Kelley said. “That sort of language and attitude does nothing to inspire confidence in the university’s willingness to repair their mistakes.”