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Brigham Young University, often referred to as '''BYU''' (or in colloquial speech simply '''the Y'''), is the flagship University of the The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church; see also Mormon ). The students at BYU are overwhelmingly LDS ( Mormon ), and they commit to obey a stringent Honor Code while they attend BYU. BYU has remarkably low tuition, and a large number of its students have some sufficiency in a foreign language. BYU is located in Provo, Utah , approximately 50 miles to the south of Salt Lake City . Additional facilities include a study center in Israel (the BYU Jerusalem Center , not currently in operation due to the tension in the area); a satellite campus to the north in Utah's capital and largest city, Salt Lake City , (the BYU Salt Lake Center ); and study centers all over the world, including London and Washington, D.C. Until recently, BYU operated an academy for its students at Nauvoo, Illinois , a town that figures prominently in Latter-day Saint history (the Joseph Smith Academy ). The LDS Church also has sister four-year schools in Lā'ie , Hawai'i ( Brigham Young University-Hawaii ) and Rexburg , Idaho ( Brigham Young University-Idaho ). These schools enroll an additional 14,700 students. The church also runs LDS Business College , a two-year school in downtown Salt Lake City. All these schools are institutionally independent from Brigham Young University, with their own administrations and accreditation. HISTORY BYU's origin can be traced back to 1862. In that year, a man named Warren Dusenberry started a school in a prominent Provo building called Cluff Hall. Cluff Hall was located on the corner of 200 East and 200 North, and was made of adobe. Dusenberry paid $50 a month in rent for the use of Cluff Hall, and he manufactured the desks for the school himself. In 1865, he departed from his school to enter into private business and to go on a mission for the LDS Church . In 1869, he started another school in Provo with his brother, this time in a different building. This school flourished, so they relocated to a building called the Lewis Building on Center and 300 West. {Link without Title} When the student body of the Dusenberry brothers' school hit 300, the school became a part of the University of Deseret, based in Salt Lake City. The school in Provo was called the Timpanogos branch. {Link without Title} On October 16, 1875, Brigham Young , the president of the LDS Church , purchased the Lewis Building. This is the commonly held founding date of BYU. {Link without Title} Young broke the school off from the University of Deseret and christened it "Brigham Young Academy." {Link without Title} Young told one of his sons: "''I hope to see an Academy established in Provo... at which the children of the Latter-day Saints can receive a good education unmixed with the pernicious atheistic influences that are found in so many of the higher schools of the country''." {Link without Title} Classes at the new Brigham Young Academy commenced on the 3rd of January, 1876. Reed Smoot was the first of 29 students to regsiter for classes on that day. Warren Dusenberry served as the principal of the school until April of 1876, when he was replaced by a German immigrant named Karl Maeser. {Link without Title} In January of 1884, a chemistry-lab fire destroyed the Lewis Building. Students then temporarily had class in three separate locations before relocating to a warehouse on University Avenue. The students attended class in the warehouse until January 1892, when an elaborate sandstone building called the "BY Academy Building" was completed. {Link without Title} Brigham Young Academy was initially more like a present-day high school than a university. Some academy students were at the elementary level and they received tutoring from older students. The high school was broken off as a separate unit in 1895.[http://abc.eznettools.net/D300015/X329586/History/HistoryDecades/From1869to1903.html] High school students would outnumber the university students for a long time; in 1910, there were about 200 students at the university level, but more than 800 at the high school level. The high school class of 1907 was ultimately responsible for the famous giant "Y" that is to this day embedded on a mountain near campus.[http://www.byhigh.org/History/HistoryDecades/From1903to1920.html] In 1903, Brigham Young Academy changed its name to Brigham Young University. {Link without Title} In 1904, BYU bought 17 acres of land from Provo.[http://www.byhigh.org/History/HistoryDecades/From1903to1920.html] This land was called "Temple Hill," and many people had presumed that the LDS Church would build a temple on this property. Because of the expectation that a church temple would be built on Temple Hill, some people were opposed to BYU buying the land. But thanks to the leadership of a BYU student named Byron Owen Colton, the opposition to the land purchase was assuaged and the deal was consummated.[http://www.byhigh.org/History/TempleHill/ColtonByronO/ColtonByronO.html] It was on this Temple Hill land, north of the BY Academy Building, that present-day BYU was begun. In 1909, construction began on the first building on the current campus. {Link without Title} BYU was once the largest private university in the United States , but has since been surpassed by the nationwide University Of Phoenix (240,000), which has campuses around the world; it remains one of the world's largest church-affiliated universities, with an enrollment of roughly 30,200 undergraduate students during the 2004-05 school year. CAMPUS The main campus sits on approximately 600 acres (2.43 km²) nestled at the base of the Wasatch Mountains and includes 333 buildings. The buildings on the campus are mostly plain and utilitarian (with a few rare exceptions). However, the grass, trees, and flower beds on BYU's campus are impeccably maintained. Furthermore, spectacular views of the Wasatch Mountains, (including Mount Timpanogos ) can be seen from the campus. BYU's Harold B. Lee Library, which in 2004 the Princeton Review ranked as the #1 "Great College Library", has more than 6 million items in its collections, contains 98 miles of shelving, and can seat 4,600 people. Student Housing
Additionally, branches of the BYU Creamery provide basic food and general grocery products for students living in Deseret Towers, Heritage Halls, Wymount, and Wyview, though they are also frequented by visitors and members of the community, often for Ice Cream . OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL BYU is wholly owned and operated by The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints , and the church provides it with a large subsidy from Latter-day Saint Tithing funds, providing roughly 70% of the cost of education at BYU. The church subsidizes the education of both LDS and non-LDS students. Because of the church's subsidy, there is a two-tier tuition system, in which non-LDS students pay approximately 50% higher tuition than LDS students (for the 2005-2006 academic year, LDS members will pay $1705 to attend a semester full-time, while their non-LDS counterparts will pay $2558). The university is operated by its board of trustees, which is chaired by the church's First Presidency , and the majority of its other members are selected from the church's Quorum Of The Twelve Apostles . This board selects a president who, since 1996 , has been a member of the First Quorum Of The Seventy , chosen in part for his academic credentials. BYU has never had a female president, although typically there have been one or two female members of the board of trustees. Cecil O. Samuelson is currently (2006) the president of BYU. STUDENT AND FACULTY DEMOGRAPHICS Students from every state in the US and from many foreign countries attend BYU (in 2001 , 110 different countries were represented by more than 1,600 BYU students). About 99% of these students are active members of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints . Those who have never been members of the church are permitted to attend, while former members are excluded from consideration for admittance unless they are reinstated to full church fellowship. There are a number of non-LDS faculty. BYU students and faculty are predominantly conservative, although there are several relatively Left -leaning organizations, such as a small-but-active College Democrats organization as well as an organization called ''VOICE'', which is concerned with issues such as gender equality and violence against women. The student body is predominantly white, although there are growing populations of Latino s and Pacific Islander s, who are joining the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints in increasing numbers. RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY BYU mandates that its students be religiously active. Students and faculty who are LDS are required to submit an affidavit stating that they are active participants in the LDS ( Mormon ) Church. The affidavit must be signed by LDS church leaders, and it must be resubmitted annually. Non-LDS students are asked to provide a similar endorsement from an ecclesiastic leader of their choice with their application for admittance, as well as an annual review similar to the one LDS students undergo. HONOR CODE All students and faculty, regardless of religion, voluntarily agree to adhere to a strict Honor Code . When first implemented in the late 1940s, the code dealt mainly with academic issues, such as cheating and Plagiarism . It has since expanded (especially during the 1960s and 1970s) to become one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching honor codes at any college or university. There was some dissent from both students and teachers as the code was expanded, but by and large, the changes have held over the decades. The BYU honor code governs not only academic behavior, but morality, and dress and grooming standards of students and faculty, with the aim of providing an atmosphere consistent with LDS principles. The Honor Code mandates:
A signed commitment to live the honor code is part of the application process. The specifics of the honor code provide a perpetual topic for discussion among the students and alumni; Hugh Nibley offered an often-cited critique of the Honor Code, noting what he saw as some misguided portions. ACADEMICS BYU is organized into 11 colleges:
BYU also manages some courses through the following quasi-college departments:
BYU has 194 bachelors degree programs, 68 master's degree programs, and a juris doctorate program. {Link without Title} BYU does not have a medical school. Of all of BYU's programs, the undergraduate accounting one probably achieves the highest national rankings. . BYU runs the largest study-abroad program in the United States, with satellite centers in London , Jerusalem , and Paris , as well as more than 20 other sites. The Institute Of International Education ranks BYU as the number one university in the US to offer students study abroad opportunities; nearly 2,000 students take advantage of these programs yearly. (The BYU Jerusalem Center closed indefinitely in 2000 due to safety concerns related to the Second Intifada .) All undergraduate students, regardless of their religion, must take a handful of religious courses to graduate. Students have a degree of flexibility with these religious courses, although they must take at least two courses covering the Book Of Mormon , one covering the New Testament , and one covering the Doctrine And Covenants . PERFORMING ARTS BYU has a 500-member choral program, one of the largest in the United States. There are four BYU auditioned choirs:
There is also a non-auditioned University Chorale. The BYU Ballroom Dance Company is known as one of the best formation ballroom dance teams in the world. The NDCA National DanceSport championships have been held at BYU for many years, and BYU holds dozens of ballroom dance classes each semester, totalling thousands of students per semester, making it by far the largest ballroom dance program in the US. FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT BYU stands at the north end of campus]] One unique aspect of BYU is its abundance of foreign language study. Over three fourths of the student body speak a second language (numbering 107 languages in total), and many faculty are fluent in at least one language other than English . This is largely due to the fact that 82% of the men and 13% of the women at BYU have been Missionaries for the LDS Church , and many of them learned a foreign language as part of their mission assignment. The church's largest Missionary Training Center (MTC) is adjacent to the main BYU campus, and is known for its intensive language-training program for new missionaries. Most of the language instructors at the MTC are BYU students who recently returned from missions themselves. During any given semester, about one-third of the student body is enrolled in foreign language classes, a rate nearly four times the national average. BYU offers courses in 66 different languages, many with advanced courses which are seldom offered elsewhere. BYU also offers an intensive foreign language living experience, the Foreign Language Student Residence (FLSR). The FLSR is an on-campus apartment complex where students commit to speak a foreign language while in their apartments, often with native speakers. In 2005 Dr. Ray Clifford was named the director of the College of Humanities Center for Language Studies. Dr. Clifford was previously the chancellor of the US Defense Department's Defense Language Institute . BYU's International Cinema is the largest and longest-running foreign film program in the country, showing 20 screenings per week to roughly 1,000 people. Its main purpose is to supplement the curriculum of the College of Humanities and the Honors Program with culturally and linguistically diverse films. SPORTS PROGRAMS BYU Football From 1972-1998, BYU had an outstanding American Football program. Notable Football Accomplishments:
Former NFL great Steve Young played college football at BYU. The head football coach during BYU's football glory years was LaVell Edwards . Edwards is a legend among college football coaches, winning 257 games over a span of 29 years. Only five other head coaches have won more games. He was twice awarded with coach of the year awards ( 1979 and 1984 ). Edwards' last season as head coach was in 2000 ; upon his retirement, BYU renamed its football venue from Cougar Stadium to LaVell Edwards Stadium in his honor. [http://web.ksl.com/TV/byufb/01year.htm . During BYU's football glory days, the school colors were bright royal blue and white. In 1999, the school colors got a makeover, switching to dark blue and tan, with the football helmets switching from white to dark blue. The modern-styled football uniforms proved to be unpopular, and the traditional design with the white helmet was reinstituted for the 2005 season—although the darker blue remains on the home jerseys and the road pants. BYU vs. Utah Football Rivalry BYU has a historic and regional rivalry with the University of Utah. In 2005, the Wall Street Journal ranked this the number four rivalry in the nation. {Link without Title} Other Sports The BYU women's cross-country team won the and its primary conference is the Mountain West Conference . Its men's Volleyball team plays in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . BYU's men's soccer club participates as a university-owned franchise in the United Soccer Leagues ' Premier Development League . BYU also has a strong intramural sports program, offering more than 30 sports and involving more than 10,000 participants each year. ACADEMIC FREEDOM ISSUES Like many other religious schools, BYU is often at the center of controversies regarding Academic Freedom . In 1992 , the university drafted a new Statement on Academic Freedom. After receiving comment from faculty and others, the document was implemented by BYU administrators on September 14 , 1992 . This document specified that: "Because the gospel encompasses all truth and affirms the full range of human modes of knowing, the scope of integration for LDS scholars is, in principle, as wide as truth itself." However, citing BYU's role as a religious institution, the document allowed limitations to be placed upon "expression with students or in public that: :1. contradicts or opposes, rather than analyzes or discusses, fundamental Church doctrine or policy; :2. deliberately attacks or derides the Church or its general leaders; or :3. violates the Honor Code because the expression is dishonest, illegal, unchaste, profane, or unduly disrespectful of others. "...The ultimate responsibility to determine harm to the University mission or the church, however, remains vested in the University's governing bodies—including the University president and central administration and, finally, the board of Trustees." Also in 1992 , the university began including a clause in its faculty contracts requiring LDS faculty to "accept the spiritual and temporal expectations of wholehearted Church membership". In 1993 , contracts further required LDS faculty to "accept as a condition of employment the standards of conduct consistent with qualifying for temple privileges" (referring to entry into LDS Temples , for which one must meet standards of activity and behavior in the LDS Church). In 1996 , LDS faculty were required, as a condition of employment, to obtain the yearly endorsement of their local ecclesiastical leaders certifying that the faculty were temple-worthy. Since its adoption in 1992 , BYU's new academic freedom policy and its implementation have been widely criticized. In late 1992 , the university's board of trustees vetoed without comment a BYU proposal to invite Pulitzer Prize winner and Harvard University professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich , an active Mormon feminist, to address the annual BYU Women's Conference. The university also began to dismiss or deny tenure to a number of its more dissident professors. Although having agreed to the terms and conditions of the University's Academic Freedom policy when hired, actions deemed contradictory to that policy were considered significant for investigation. In 1993 , BYU denied tenure to Cecilia Konchar Farr, who had taken a personal pro-choice position on abortion, and to David Knowlton, who had critically discussed the church's missionary system at an independent Mormon forum. In 1996 , BYU denied tenure to Gail T. Houston, a feminist, despite overwhelmingly positive votes from her English Department and the College Committee. Also in 1996 , professor Brian Evenson resigned in protest after receiving a stern warning from BYU administration over some violent images in one of his short stories. In , the AAUP voted to enter BYU on its list of censured organizations, on which it remains to the present. The president of BYU at the time of the investigation and censure, Merrill J. Bateman, left office in 2003 ; the AAUP has subsequently sent the new president a description of the steps needed to have the censure removed. CULTURE BYU's social and cultural atmosphere is unique. The high rate of enrollment at the University by members of the LDS Church results in an amplification of LDS cultural norms which are often caricatured. One of the characteristics of BYU most often pointed out is its reputation for emphasizing a "marriage culture". LDS Church members highly value marriage and family, as well as marriage within the faith. Consequently, the enormous population of LDS single adults in and around Provo makes it a mecca for singles in the church, irrespective of their affiliation with BYU. BYU's reputation as a place to court potential mates is well known both within and without the BYU community, and is encouraged to some extent by the school's administrators and ecclesiastical leaders, who publicly highlight "successful" marriage statistics . Most BYU students are acutely aware of the marriage stereotype, and many female students contribute to it by dropping out before graduation due to marriage and subsequent pregnancy. 56.3% of the men and 42.4% of the women in BYU's class of 2004 were married (the average age at graduation being 24.3). An earlier study ending in 1990 showed that 65% of matriculated male students ended up graduating, while the rate among matriculated female students was only 35%. Marriage statistics for the state of Utah as a whole indicate that BYU's marriage rate falls well within that of the state in general, with the median age at marriage in Utah being 23 for men, and 21 for women. It should be noted, however, that the percentage of married students at BYU is much higher than at most other universities, and the median age of marriage in Utah is significantly lower than in the United States as a whole. In regard to marriage, BYU is thus best described as a reflection of the cultural practices of the Mormon population as a whole (and particularly that of the Mountain West, which is significantly more culturally conservative than Mormon populations elsewhere within the United States), rather than as an outlier. BYU's large body of students who have served as missionaries for the LDS Church significantly shapes the institution's culture. Young men are strongly encouraged to serve full-time two-year Missions for the LDS Church after turning 19. Consequently, men typically attend BYU for their Freshman year and then take a two year break from school to serve a mission. Thus, the average male Sophomore at BYU is 21 years old. Although LDS women can also serve full-time missions, the church does not press them to do so. Additionally, missions for LDS females are only 18 months in duration, and females may not serve full-time missions until after reaching 21 years of age. PERCEPTIONS Many visitors to BYU, and the Utah Valley as a whole, report being surprised at the genuinely wholesome environment. Very few BYU students consume alcohol, tobacco or illegal substances. According to the ) have become ever more important to the school's teams, BYU's wholesomeness is often attractive for prospective students who prefer an academic or social environment without the distractions of alcohol or drug use. NOTABLE ALUMNI Art
Business
Education
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