http:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/news\/2288397-155\/byu-graduates-complain-to-accrediting-board?fullpage=1<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve now formally appealed to accreditation authorities\u00a0in an attempt to bring pressure against BYU.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
They do it in the name of religious freedom and fairness.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll state my own position on this, in brief:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The existence of BYU is<\/em> an expression of religious freedom \u2014 as is the existence of Notre Dame, Baylor, Yeshiva, Ave Maria University, Brandeis, Georgetown, Oral Roberts University, Benedictine College, Liberty University, Gonzaga, Hebrew Union College, the Catholic University of America, and many other such schools.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I would hate to see all of those colleges and universities homogenized.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet, in my opinion, admitting\u00a0people to BYU who haven\u2019t accepted its foundational claims is a distinctly different proposition from leaving it entirely open to people who, having once accepted those claims, now openly reject them. \u00a0Choosing the latter course would, over time, erode and very possibly destroy BYU\u2019s distinctive character.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Complete freedom of thought and expression as the filers of this complaint seem to envision it has much to commend, of course. \u00a0(In my classes, we routinely \u2014 and sympathetically \u2014 consider ideas different from, and sometimes plainly incompatible with, Mormon belief, and I\u2019m not only fine with that but enthusiastic about it.) \u00a0But it can easily and quickly shade into the perception that the institution stands for nothing, and that everything is up for grabs. \u00a0That\u2019s more or less okay at public institutions (even there, though, some ideas \u2014 such as advocacy of a second Holocaust and claims of racial inferiority \u2014 are out of bounds) but it would be the death knell of religious colleges and universities, including BYU. \u00a0They might well survive such a change, but they would be dead nonetheless.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I doubt that that would bother those who\u2019ve petitioned for the change. \u00a0But it would bother me enormously, and it would represent a serious and irreparable loss to American education and culture.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 A small group of (I believe) formerly active members of the Church are complaining that, while BYU welcomes non-LDS students, merely charging them a slightly higher rate of tuition (functionally equivalent to out-of-state tuition at a public college or university), students who leave the Church aren\u2019t permitted to continue at BYU: \u00a0 http:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/news\/2288397-155\/byu-graduates-complain-to-accrediting-board?fullpage=1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>