BYU NewsNet reports the Harold B. Lee Library is reviewing its current policy which, over the last year, has apparently been to give research assistance to library patrons regardless of hair length or personal appearance! Now that the administration is aware of this heinous practice, "university and library officials say the policy may be revised and that in the future, the proper academic vice president will review Honor Code changes." At BYU, no good deed goes unpunished.
One librarian is quoted as saying that it was "extremely difficult to enforce and in terms of the spirit of the law, it was difficult to have students reporting on students.” Somehow I don't think these minor concerns (spirit, schmirit, we've got rules here, darnit!) will deter the motivated staff of the Honor's Code office from doing their duty to God and campus. Soon, only guys with really short hair — and only gals with just one modest body piercing per ear — will get their questions answered at the library.
[Button Pushing] Golly Dave, BYU wouldn't want to give improper-looking people assistance, information, and guidance would they? That wouldn't be Christ-like, now would it? [/Button Pushing]
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Posted by: Darren | Sep 13, 2005 at 11:57 PM
Am I the only one who gets chills from the phrase "Honor Code Office"? You just can't make this stuff up.
Posted by: NFlanders | Sep 14, 2005 at 12:52 AM
After taking a few moments to review the simple Honor Code that has endured for eight decades at Stanford, I am having a hard time understanding how the extraneous issues that the HBL Library has been ignoring can possibly be related to the subject of Honor Codes. I don't think that I ever really ran afoul of the ersatz Honor Code at the Zoo in the pleasant couple of years that I spent there, but I am still surprised that in its over-elaborate detail it manages to omit a key point of the Stanford Honor Code: "The faculty on its part manifests its confidence in the honor of its students by refraining from proctoring examinations and from taking unusual and unreasonable precautions to prevent the forms of dishonesty mentioned above." It probably makes a difference that the Honor Code at Stanford was originally written and adopted by students. I wonder if there is a way to combine the morality and decency that BYU tries to promote with the mutual respect that Stanford tries to promote. Even if it isn't easy, it will at least be a noble aim.
Posted by: Steve S | Sep 14, 2005 at 08:36 AM
Ned, maybe your reaction just shows what a shady character you really are. I'm sure they could provide some reeducation services to realign your thinking on the subject should you ever decide to further your education at the BYU.
Posted by: Dave | Sep 14, 2005 at 08:39 AM
Steve S, I'm sorry, I missed that. What school did you go to again?
Posted by: kristen j | Sep 14, 2005 at 09:24 AM
FWIW, BYU's "Honor Code" was developed in the 1940s by the Blue Key Honor Society -- one of the fraternity-like social organizations that has managed to remain at BYU because of its emphasis on academics.
The dress and grooming standards portion of the code was NOT developed by Blue Key -- it was added by the University during the Wilkinson years (1950s to early 1970s) after Blue Key gave management of the Honor Code to the University. It was originally very similar to the Standford code.
Posted by: Kent Larsen | Sep 14, 2005 at 09:40 AM
Dave, you know I'm a negative nelly. I need to be sent to the re-Neducation center, post-haste. It's bliss. (Apologies to those who don't watch the Simpsons.)
Posted by: NFlanders | Sep 14, 2005 at 10:13 AM
i still proudly have my letter from the honor code office stating that i attempted to take a test in the testing center w/ more than a 24-hour growth of facial hair.
i don't see what the dress and grooming standards have to do w/ honor.
Posted by: mike | Sep 14, 2005 at 12:04 PM
It's interesting that such a simple thing, years in my past, can still get my blood pressure rising.
While reading the story, several times the question came to my mind, "Is the honor code created for the students, or the students for the honor code?" (If BYU ever shuts down, look out Provo. The Honor Code must survive!)
The story says that students began wearing shorts in 1996, but I was there before then and shorts were not taboo. (Although they still were at Ricks.)
Gadzooks, I hope there is none of this silliness in the next life. I don't know if I can take it. ("Yeah, I made it to the celestial kingdom, but I hang out in the terrestrial a lot because I don't like to shave every day.")
Posted by: Jared | Sep 14, 2005 at 12:39 PM
The part of the whole honor code issue is the word honor. How can there be honor in being forced to conform or be expelled (maybe)? What honor is there in teaching young people to narc on other students?
I was so glad when a relative of mine decided not to go to BYU this year. She is flamboyant and would have suffered horribly there under such a stringent honor code.
Now they will deny library usage under the dress code? Horrible.
Posted by: gunner | Sep 14, 2005 at 06:19 PM
Does this mean they will interrogate me about whther or not I am a student before they don't answer my questions because of my beard, even though I stopped being a student there in the 1980s?
Posted by: R.W. Rasband | Sep 14, 2005 at 07:48 PM
So when Jesus comes to inspect the library at his university he's going to be kicked out.
To repeat my mot du jour:
This stuff is CRAZY, I tell you, CRAZY.
Posted by: Ronan | Sep 14, 2005 at 08:29 PM
What kind of lesson will we teach these adults who pay us several thousand dollars a year to be educated at this university if we allow them to check out books without conforming with the proper grooming standards that they signed and agreed with upon entering the university? Integrity can be a painful lesson.
(note: pandering, patronizing, paternalistic tone not my own)
Posted by: Nick | Sep 14, 2005 at 09:03 PM
Nick: Maybe the lesson we teach is that sometimes it is best to teach people correct principles about honesty and integrity and let them govern themselves. What lesson do we teach when we let people worship with us or receive welfare assistance from us when they fail to strictly comply with all the covenants they made at baptism or in the temple? I am rather attracted by that particular lesson.
Where does this idea come from that every promise must be enforced with whatever power we can bring to bear?
Posted by: gary | Sep 15, 2005 at 09:29 AM
So, why all the huff & puff? If the Board of Trustees at BYU is fine with the policy, who are we to criticize?
Posted by: lyle | Sep 16, 2005 at 08:46 AM
As most things that deal with administration at BYU are, this issue is all about organizational control. Really, how many bearded people trying to check out books does BYU get on the average day? Not enough for anyone to worry about. The biggest violation made here was that the Honor Code office was left out of the loop.
Posted by: brayden | Sep 16, 2005 at 11:38 AM
It saddens me to see that the commenters here are so devoid of the Spirit that they cannot see the righteous hand of the Lord working through the BYU administration's every edict. If you all would read your scriptures as President Hinckley as commanded, you'd be in tune enough to recognize that having long hair, multiple piercings and tattoos is part of Satan's plan to drag the Lord's children straight down to Hell. I mean, have you guys ever talked to men with long hair? I haven't, but from what I hear, they are all sex-crazed, drug-addicted predators, and they are likely to rob you of your virtue at the drop of a hat. Thank goodness the Honor Code Office keeps out the riff-raff. Now at least I can go to the library without having to worry about being assaulted.
I hear that men with earrings are all perverts, and that women with multiple piercings have loose morals too. Thank goodness BYU has rules that separate the righteous from the unrighteous. They help those of us who might not otherwise be able to tell the difference, and that is a valuable service.
Posted by: Prudence McPrude | Sep 16, 2005 at 02:22 PM
My child's elementary school has a dress code. Local, public school. What is the big deal! Schools have traditionally had dress codes if they feel it brings a better learning environment for the students.
Not everything at BYU is about the gospel. Where in the gospel does it say that if you fail lots of classes you can't be a member anymore. Yet, if you fail lots of classes you can get kicked out of BYU.
There is a difference!!! BYU is not the church.
No one has to go to BYU to be an active member. If you really enjoy having a beard, then don't go to BYU.
If you aren't compliant with the dress code of an educational institution, or any part of their honor code, then don't expect to go on campus and use the services of the school.
Posted by: JKS | Sep 18, 2005 at 08:45 PM
Its not about BYU's right to have an honor code, its about treating people like dirt.
This is what "enlightenment" and "fullness of the gospel" has led us to?
Not answering questions or offering assistance to those who do not "appear" correctly is hardly behavior that any group claiming to be "Christian" should be proud of. Wouldn't Jesus be proud of our actions and the love shown to those that do not comply with such petty laws. It is no wonder so many Latter-day Saints struggle with actually feeling the love and blessings of a loving Heavenly Father and the Atonment of a loving Savior.
What is the next Jello Jihad to be issued from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Pharisees?
Posted by: lsdblotterart | Sep 19, 2005 at 01:36 PM
lsdblotterart: C'mon, drop another tab and give up on the cutesy namecalling and scarequotes.
Posted by: antacid | Sep 20, 2005 at 06:51 PM
Corect me if I'm wrong, but didn't they try to extend the grooming code to sports teams visiting BYU?
Posted by: SDL | Oct 06, 2005 at 05:27 PM
The BYU library must serve the public, regardless of their appearance or adherence to any honor code, by virtue of the fact that the library is a selective federal depository for U.S. government documents. If they were to restrict access to the materials due to how one was dressed, or for any other reasons, they would be in violation of federal law, as well as discriminating against individuals whose tax dollars go to provide some of the materials in the library.
Posted by: Emilie | Nov 03, 2005 at 07:08 PM