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Guest Post
Exponent II features the work of guest authors writing about issues related to Mormonism and feminism. Submit a guest post Write for Exponent II.

Guest Post: Losing Our Agency as We Work at BYU

by Anonymous

I am a BYU employee, but I don’t feel like I can write much without revealing too much beyond that. It’s of utmost importance to me that my identity isn’t revealed, and that I would feel this way says volumes.

I will say that after reading this article it angers me that a faculty member would buy into the idea that there are professors and staff who are actively trying to undermine students’ faith. In my very long experience with BYU staff and students, this is simply not the case. College is a time of exposure to new, uncomfortable ideas — both those learned in class and those learned outside of class. A time of growth and questioning. The open cultural age in which we live makes this even more true. Even professors whose faith is complicated, even broken, do their best to support students’ emotional wellbeing and spirituality as they confront these new ideas. They would do this even were their employment not threatened if they acted in any other way, because they value their students. To insinuate that BYU professors are somehow responsible for purposefully influencing students’ choices to distance themselves from the church ignores valid concerns these young people have with church history, leadership, and theology. It also echoes recent right-wing mistrust of higher education, with an LDS twist.

Recent requirements to perform church membership in specific ways honestly remind me of Satan’s plan to take away people’s agency. I know families who are one sympathetic bishop’s release away from disaster. I know people seriously considering career change and people who have already left. People are afraid to support their LGBTQ family publicly; I know people who have suffered career consequences for doing so. I know an employee with non-LDS family who was terrified someone would see beer cans in her garbage can and think they belonged to her. Faithful faculty members trying their best, even those who are quite orthodox, are afraid they’ll be perceived as not being quite orthodox enough. And everyone is afraid to talk about their fears with each other or their leadership, not knowing who they can trust.

Gilbert, Baughman, and others who say that employees who don’t conform should go elsewhere ignore the fact that jobs in higher education are extremely difficult to find, effectively forcing employees to perform their faith in prescribed ways — whether they agree with the policies or not — or face job loss. People end up having to choose between losing their jobs and performing in ways that feel dishonest to them. Our Heavenly Parents knew that forcing conformity results in stunted spirituality, but church education administrators seem to have missed this Sunday School lesson.

Exponent II features the work of guest authors writing about issues related to Mormonism and feminism. Submit a guest post Write for Exponent II.

4 Responses

  1. Well written, excellent summary of these challenges. As a BYU alumni, it saddens me and is deeply concerning that this is how professors are being treated.
    I wish there was something alumni could do. BYU needs to better to honor and appreciate professors and other instructors who have lives that include loved ones in a variety of situations.. Jesus loves and cares about these brothers and sisters, as should BYU.

  2. I’ve not even read the article yet and want to say it’s toxic environment you must work in if you feel you have to hide your identity to speak freely.

  3. I am so sad watching this all go down. I hope at some point the process can be stopped before too much damage is done. Galileo’s discoveries (which I learned about at BYU) didn’t bring down the Catholic church. The LDS church doesn’t need to be afraid of truth and the free exploration of ideas. Truth stands up to scrutiny. Most of us can accept that institutions don’t have perfect histories and have many flaws. Watching this hurts my connection to the church much more than any unorthodox/challenging ideas that might come up in a byu space.

    Thank you to you and all of the BYU faculty and staff who are working to do what you do with integrity. Your love for the institution and the students bursts through all of this and gives me so much hope.

  4. Fake it till you make it is the motto of all who are in pursuit of the truth.

    Ironic that Jesus said the truth will make you free and yet here we are in 2025.

    Being held captive by one committee’s version of the truth.

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