I spent far too many years at BYU, something which may partially explain my anger with the LDS Church. In my many years at BYU, I had some fine experiences, and a few that convinced me something is indeed rotten in Denmark. First, I was fortunate to have Hugh Nibley as a teacher. Regardless of what you may think of Dr. Nibley, the man was a genius. He may have been 'off' about many things, but he was off in that way that only the brilliant are capable of. We may disagree utterly with his methodology and conclusions, but we ought not to gainsay his intelligence.
Hugh Nibley described BYU best when he shared his vision of hell. "Hell is like Disneyland," he said, "filled with a bunch of nicely dressed Mormons telling you where to sit and when to laugh." I think that really sums up BYU nicely. BYU and Disneyland do have much in common. Both institutions are dedicated to the appearance of learning without the cultivation of critical thinking skills. Both strive to affect a sentimental emotional response that is carefully cultivated in the maintenance of an illusory image.
For BYU, it isn't just the dress code, or the Honor Code. The truth of the lie is located somewhere in the conjunction of many different restrictions and requirements that coalesce in the creation of an artificial Zion for public consumption. Where Disney offers an artificial utopia of mind-numbing entertainment, BYU offers the illusion of an educational Zion. In reality, Disney is devoted to a Brave New World of uncritical consumers, and BYU suffers from nearly the same malady, except in this case the institution equates unthinking obedience with true education. At BYU, integrity is the obligation of the individual and part of his or her sacrifice to the institution. The institution, on the other hand, takes no other commitment as more important than the insuring of students' continuing belief in the truth of Mormonism.
What makes such a pleasant place so odious?
1) Independent journalism has been harassed and effectively wiped from the community.
2) Academic freedom is not observed, or it is so severely limited as not to qualify for its own name.
3) Students have been required to write personal statements of loyalty to the university which smack of similar Nazi practices.
4) Students voluntarily police professors, holding them to a standard of adherence to Church commandments that curtails the professors' ability to cover their subject material in full.
5) Non-Mormons are not sought as permanent employees unless they are uniquely prestigious.
6) Mormon employees must qualify for a temple recommend to maintain their jobs, which also entails that they remit 10% of their income to the LDS Church.
7) The university acts as the intellectual attack dog and support for extreme conservative causes that promote inequality and the limitation of civil rights for certain groups.
8) The apologetic organization FARMS has been drawn under the BYU banner, thus compromising scholarly credibility for doctrinaire and polemical ends.
