Brigham Young University

This article is about Brigham Young University. For the German airport, see Bindlacher Berg Airport

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:

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Academic freedom - 1992 - September 14

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:1. contradicts or opposes, rather than analyzes or discusses, fundamental Church doctrine or policy;

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:2. deliberately attacks or derides the Church or its general leaders; or

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:3. violates the Honor Code because the expression is dishonest, illegal, unchaste, profane, or unduly disrespectful of others.

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"...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."

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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, which certified the faculty were temple-worthy. For example, in 1996, assistant professor Steven Epperson was dismissed after his local church leader refused to endorse him because of his failure to pay tithing, which made him ineligible for temple attendance.

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1992 - 1993 - LDS temples - 1996 - Tithing

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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. 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.

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1992 - Pulitzer Prize - Harvard University - 1993 - 1996

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In 1997, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a report documenting the cases of Houston, Farr, Knowlton, Evenson, Epperson, and others, concluding "that infringements on academic freedom are distressingly common and that the climate for academic freedom is distressingly poor". In 1998, 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.

Related Topics:
1997 - American Association of University Professors - 1998 - 2003

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