COLUMN: Yeah, I’m a BYU reject
The mood at Utah State University was a somber one last month.
It was hard for me then to put my finger on why everyone was so sad, but now it has hit me: The application deadline for Spring Semester at BYU had just passed, and every USU student had just been rejected – again.
Yeah, right.
The students at USU are not BYU rejects, as some would have us believe. In reality, BYU serves as a great institution to take troublesome students off USU’s hands that don’t embrace diversity, tolerance and religious freedom.
Maybe that’s extreme, but the truth is, USU is a great school because of its student makeup.
While not the most diverse school in the nation, students of any race or religion can come to USU and make friends with hundreds of students, learning about other cultures and countries.
Yes, religion is important to most students at USU, and yes, most students at USU are LDS. That’s great. Some students at USU aren’t LDS. Some are Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Agnostic or Atheist. The thing is, no one really cares! Everyone at this institution of learning accepts their neighbor, and thinks no less of them based on how they choose to worship.
Maybe there are times when diversity isn’t as embraced on this campus as it should be. That’s too bad, but it happens wherever you go.
And maybe there are some students at USU who applied first to BYU and got rejected. That’s too bad, but ask them if they regret being here now.
Then there are those students who have transferred to USU from BYU, obviously having learned the error of their ways.
The point is, if an LDS student is dead-set on attending BYU and doesn’t make their cut, they have the option to attend the real Northern Brigham Young University – It’s in Rexburg, Idaho.
LDS students add an interesting dimension to the USU melting pot. Students who served missions to different areas of the world are able to contribute to in-class discussions and add value to their classes with their input. The difference between USU and BYU is that here, that input is taken with a grain of salt – it is the experience of being in a different culture that is added to the class discussion, not the experience of serving for their church.
Some claim that former missionaries adding their input to their classes introduces too much LDS-bias to the content. If that is the case, students who have served in the military, Peace Corps or lived abroad should not be able to introduce their ideas. We wouldn’t want to introduce more pro-military bias into classes would we?
USU is a great school. We can learn, play, have fun, make friends and enjoy life here in Logan while still holding on to any values that are important to our lives. But the best part about USU?
It’s NOT BYU.