A History of the BYU Honor Code

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moksha
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A History of the BYU Honor Code

Post by moksha » Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:10 pm

"... a general obsession in the Church with control, and the effect of that control seems to be nothing so much as the ghettoization of Mormon intellectual and social life."
-- Professor Karl Sandberg
The Salt Lake Tribune has an excellent article on the history of the "Honor Code" at BYU. Many thanks go to the Tribune for making such a historical insight possible into an organization that would never list its own history accurately (remember the time they airbrushed the beard off BYU's first President Karl Maeser for the 1986 Fall Student Directory).

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3854493-155/ ... honor-code

More evidence of past BYU thinking:
1965 • After an unsuccessful U.S. Senate run, President Ernest L. Wilkinson returns to BYU and derides "go-go girls," "their pseudo-sophisticated friends" and "surfers," announcing that women at BYU should not wear slacks in academic or administrative meetings. He tells students in his fall address: "[W]e do not want on our campus any beetles, beatniks or buzzards. We have on this campus scientists who are specialists in the control of insects, beetles, beatniks and buzzards. Usually, we use chemical or biological control methods, but often we just step on them to exterminate them. For biological specimens like students, we usually send them to the dean of students for the same kind of treatment."
Take that you Surfers!!! BYU gives a thumbs down to Malibu Beach. Maybe this anger stemmed from that line in the Beach Boys song, "40 girls for every Prophet".
Good faith does not require evidence, but it also does not turn a blind eye to that evidence. Otherwise, it becomes misplaced faith.
-- Moksha

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Corsair
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Re: A History of the BYU Honor Code

Post by Corsair » Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:54 pm

moksha wrote:More evidence of past BYU thinking:
1965 • After an unsuccessful U.S. Senate run, President Ernest L. Wilkinson returns to BYU and derides "go-go girls," "their pseudo-sophisticated friends" and "surfers," announcing that women at BYU should not wear slacks in academic or administrative meetings. He tells students in his fall address: "[W]e do not want on our campus any beetles, beatniks or buzzards. We have on this campus scientists who are specialists in the control of insects, beetles, beatniks and buzzards. Usually, we use chemical or biological control methods, but often we just step on them to exterminate them. For biological specimens like students, we usually send them to the dean of students for the same kind of treatment."
Take that you Surfers!!! BYU gives a thumbs down to Malibu Beach. Maybe this anger stemmed from that line in the Beach Boys song, "40 girls for every Prophet".
Wilkinson seems like a real killjoy. Then he ends up naming a building on campus after himself while he is still in office which indicates an ego that wants to dictate the level of fun and interaction for everyone else.

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2bizE
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Re: A History of the BYU Honor Code

Post by 2bizE » Sun Oct 30, 2016 5:13 pm

I finally read the entire article. It made me proud. Not for the honor code, but that there are so many NOMs at BYU. It was the students who started the honor code. In 1967, the president of BYU took it from the students and then started to implement its Taliban-like regime. BYU even wanted to make birth control part of the honor code, but the FP put a stop to that. I really enjoyed Karl Sandbergs comments. He could see how the school had changed to become all about control and not about self integrity. NOMish students have continued to press the envelope with the honor code. They are winning ground with some of the recent changes being implemented as the result of lawsuits and formal complaints. That seems to be the best method. I think there will be future changes with gay students, athletics, and church membership. I look forward to these future changes.
~2bizE

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A New Name
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Re: A History of the BYU Honor Code

Post by A New Name » Sun Oct 30, 2016 6:44 pm

My avatar is Kelly Slater, 11 time world champion surfer. I surfed 6 times last week, and 5 times the week before. Needless to say I DID NOT attend BYU!!!

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fh451
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Re: A History of the BYU Honor Code

Post by fh451 » Wed Nov 02, 2016 6:01 am

Corsair wrote:Wilkinson seems like a real killjoy. Then he ends up naming a building on campus after himself while he is still in office which indicates an ego that wants to dictate the level of fun and interaction for everyone else.
That's putting it mildly. My brother-in-law's dad (who is a UofU alum) made the joke quite a few years ago that ol' Ernie W. wrote a couple of books about his time as BYU president. They were titled "Progress without Change" and "I the People".

fh451

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