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Wednesday, January 14, 2004
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According to this Deseret News story, the most recent Tuesday devotional address was devoted to the BYU dress code and the pressing problem of bare midriffs on campus. The new president addressed everything you'd expect your grandmother to say about fashion and modesty. He justified his remarks by reference to a parent who "reprimanded" him for not policing female fashion on campus with more vigor, and to a former student attending her 50-year reunion (see? a grandmother) who saw too many tummies on campus. Yes, I know you think I'm joking, but I checked the paper and this is not the April 1 edition. If you need two witnesses, see the BYU NewsNet story on the same topic. Gee, I wonder how he'd react if a parent complained about an academic issue rather than a fashion concern? For example, academic freedom concerns, mistreatment of professors, or the AAUP censure which followed an AAUP investigation in 1997? No, it's bare midriffs that are the real concern.
10:01:19 PM 
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This Salt Lake Tribune story begins: Some things about Brigham Young University basketball star Rafael Araujo are hard to miss: his determined rebounds, his monster dunks, his crowd-pleasing blocks -- and, well, his tattoos. BYU has apparently been airbrushing his tattoos out of PR photos--see the two photos in the story. Is this just the institutional equivalent of a sophomoric prank? Or is it an illustration of the general corporate principle that it's okay to lie if it makes the organization look good? Most disturbing is the fact that the BYU spokesman quoted in the article gives no indication he sees a moral problem with the misrepresentation. Sad when a journalist (quoted in the article) shows better moral sense than the the publications department of a church college.
UPDATE: In another story in the Deseret News on Jan. 15, BYU denies altering the photos, claiming the tattoo-free photo of the basketball player was from last year. But the follow-up story also includes new statements from a BYU cross-country runner whose photo was faked--her head was placed on a teammate's body for the media guide cover. It's hard to tell what all this means. Maybe we need more "I will tell the truth" lessons in Primary and Sunday School. Somehow that lesson gets lost in all the self-improvement and organizational maintenance lessons that pervade the LDS curriculum.
9:13:05 PM
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© Copyright 2004 Dave's Mormon Inquiry Weblog.
Last update: 3/3/2004; 12:04:32 AM.
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