Brigham Young University

The origin of Brigham Young University can be traced back to 1862, when Warren Dusenberry started a Provo school in Cluff Hall, a prominent adobe building in the northeast corner of 200 East and 200 North.[21] After some financial difficulties, the school was recreated in the Kinsey and Lewis buildings on Center street in Provo, and after gaining some recognition for its quality, was adopted to become the Timpanogos branch of the University of Deseret. When financial difficulty forced another closure, on October 16, 1875, Brigham Young, then president of the LDS Church, deeded the property to trustees to create Brigham Young Academy after earlier hinting a school would be built in Draper, Utah, in 1867.[22] Hence, October 16, 1875, is commonly held as BYU's founding date.[23] Brigham Young had been envisioning for several years the concept of a church university.[24] Said Young about his vision: "I hope to see an Academy established in Provo... at which the children of the Latter-day Saints can receive a good education unmixed with the pernicious atheistic influences that are found in so many of the higher schools of the country."[25]

The Brigham Young Academy building circa 1900

Classes at Brigham Young Academy[25] commenced on January 3, 1876. Warren Dusenberry served as interim principal for several months until April 1876, when Brigham Young's choice for principal arrived—a German immigrant named Karl Maeser.[23] Under Maeser's direction, the school educated many luminaries, including future U.S. Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland and future U.S. Senator Reed Smoot. The school, however, did not become a university until the end of Benjamin Cluff's term at the helm of the institution. At that time, the school was also still privately supported by members of the community and was not absorbed and sponsored officially by the LDS Church until July 18, 1896.[26] A series of odd managerial decisions by Cluff led to his demotion; however, in his last official act, he proposed to the Board the Academy be named "Brigham Young University". The suggestion received a large amount of opposition, with many members of the Board saying the school was not large enough to be a university, but the decision ultimately passed. One opponent to the decision, Anthon H. Lund, later said, "I hope their head will grow big enough for their hat."[27]

In 1903, Brigham Young Academy was dissolved and replaced by two institutions, Brigham Young High School and Brigham Young University.[26] The BY High School class of 1907 was ultimately responsible for the famous giant "Y" that is to this day embedded on a mountain near campus.[26] The Board elected George H. Brimhall as the new President of BYU. He had not received a high school education until he was forty. Nevertheless, he was an excellent orator and organizer.[27] Under his tenure in 1904 the new Brigham Young University bought 17 acres (69,000 m²) of land from Provo called "Temple Hill".[26] After some controversy among locals over BYU's purchase of this property, construction began in 1909 on the first building on the current campus, the Karl G. Maeser Memorial.[28] Brimhall also presided over the University during a brief crisis involving the theory of evolution. The religious nature of the school seemed at the time to collide with this scientific theory. Joseph F. Smith, LDS Church president, settled the question for a time by asking that evolution not be taught at the school. A few have described the school at this time as nothing more than a "religious seminary". However, many of its graduates at this time would go on to great success and become well renowned in their fields.[27]

The Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building

In 1921, Franklin S. Harris was appointed president of the university. He was the first BYU president to have a doctoral degree. Harris made several important changes to the school, reorganizing it into a true university, whereas before, its organization had remnants of the Academy days. At the beginning of his tenure, the school was not officially recognized as a university by any accreditation organization. By the end of his term, the school was accredited under all major accrediting organizations at the time. He was replaced by Howard S. McDonald, who received his doctorate from the University of California. When he first received the position, the Second World War had just ended, and thousands of students were flooding into BYU. By the end of his stay, the school had grown nearly five times to 5,440 students. The university did not have the facilities to handle such a large influx, so he bought part of an Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah and rebuilt it to house some of the students.[27] The next president, Ernest L. Wilkinson, also oversaw a period of intense growth, as the school adopted an accelerated building program. Wilkinson was responsible for the building of over eighty structures on the campus, many of which still stand.[29] During his tenure, the student body increased six-fold, making BYU the largest private school at the time. The quality of the students also increased, leading to higher educational standards at the school.[27] Finally, Wilkinson reorganized the LDS Church units on campus, with ten stakes and over 100 wards being added during his administration.[29]

Overlooking North Campus

Dallin H. Oaks replaced Wilkinson as president in 1971. Oaks continued the expansion of his predecessor, adding a law school and proposing plans for a new School of Management. During his administration, a new library was also added, doubling the library space on campus.[30] Jeffrey R. Holland followed as president in 1980, encouraging a combination of educational excellence and religious faith at the university. He believed one of the school's greatest strengths was its religious nature and this should be taken advantage of rather than hidden. During his administration, the university added a campus in Jerusalem, now called the BYU Jerusalem Center. In 1989, Holland was replaced by Rex E. Lee.[31] Lee was responsible for the Benson Science Building and the Museum of Art on campus.[32] A cancer victim, Lee is memorialized annually at BYU during a cancer fundraiser called the Rex Lee Run.[33] Shortly before his death, Lee was replaced in 1995 by Merrill J. Bateman.[34]

Bateman was responsible for the construction of 36 new buildings for the university both on and off campus, including the expansion of the Harold B. Lee Library. He was also one of several key college leaders who brought about the creation of the Mountain West Conference, which BYU's athletics program joined — BYU previously participated in the Western Athletic Conference. A BYU satellite TV network also opened in 2000 under his leadership.[35] Bateman was followed by Cecil O. Samuelson in 2003.[36] Samuelson was succeeded by Kevin J Worthen in 2014.[37]

Museum of Art north entrance

The campus is home to several museums containing exhibits from many different fields of study. BYU's Museum of Art, for example, is one of the largest and most attended art museums in the Mountain West. This museum aids in academic pursuits of students at BYU via research and study of the artworks in its collection. The museum is also open to the general public and provides educational programming.[49] The Museum of Peoples and Cultures is a museum of archaeology and ethnology. It focuses on native cultures and artifacts of the Great Basin, American Southwest, Mesoamerica, Peru, and Polynesia. Home to more than 40,000 artifacts and 50,000 photographs, it documents BYU's archaeological research.[50] The BYU Museum of Paleontology[51] was built in 1976 to display the many fossils found by BYU's James A. Jensen. It holds many vertebrate fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, and is one of the top five vertebrate fossil collections in the world from the Jurassic. The museum receives about 25,000 visitors every year.[52][53] The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum was formed in 1978. It features several forms of plant and animal life on display and available for research by students and scholars.[54]

The campus also houses several performing arts facilities. The de Jong Concert Hall seats 1282 people and is named for Gerrit de Jong Jr. The Pardoe Theatre is named for T. Earl and Kathryn Pardoe. Students use its stage in a variety of theatre experiments, as well as for Pardoe Series performances. It seats 500 people, and has quite a large stage with a proscenium opening of 19 by 55 feet (17 m).[55] The Margetts Theatre was named for Philip N. Margetts, a prominent Utah theatre figure. A smaller, black box theater, it allows a variety of seating and staging formats. It seats 125, and measures 30 by 50 feet (15 m).[55] The Nelke Theatre, named for one of BYU's first drama teachers, is used largely for instruction in experimental theater. It seats 280.[55]

Foreign Language Student Residence, where students commit to speak only their language of study

BYU has on-campus housing communities for freshmen students as well as for students 19 years and older. Single students who are freshmen have three options for on-campus housing: Heritage Halls, Helaman Halls, and the Foreign Language Student Residence (FLSR). On-campus housing for single students 19 years old and older is available at Wyview Park, Heritage Halls, and in the Foreign Language Student Residence Halls. On-campus married students live in Wymount Terrace or Wyview Park.[56]

Heritage Halls was a twenty-four-building housing complex on campus which offers apartment-style living. It has been replaced by a newer housing complex. The halls house both male and female students, divided by gender into separate buildings. Each building consists of 4 stories with 10 to 14 rooms per level and a basement, which consists of laundry and storage. Rooms house up to 2, 4, or 6 people.

Helaman Halls is a housing complex that underwent a 12-year renovation between 1991 and 2004.[57] Helaman Halls is a nine-building (ninth opened in the summer of 2010), dormitory-style living area. Residents share a room with one other resident, but do not have their own kitchen and use shared bathrooms. Residents are required to have a meal plan, which allows them to purchase food at several locations on campus, including various BYU Creamery locations and the Commons at the Cannon Center.[58]

Wyview Park was originally built for families in 1996, but this changed in 2006 when the complex began housing single students in order to counteract loss of singles' housing in other areas.[59] Wyview Park has 30 buildings that offer apartment-style living for students, along with the option for shared or single rooms.

The Foreign Language Student Residence complex has twenty-five apartments where students speak exclusively in a selected foreign language. The immersion experience is available in nine languages, and students are accompanied by a native resident throughout the year to enhance the experience.[60]

Married students can house on-campus in Wymount Terrace, which contains a total of 462 apartments in 24 buildings.[61]

Branches of the BYU Creamery provide basic food and general grocery products for students living in Heritage Halls, Helaman, Wymount, Wyview, and the FLSR. Helaman Halls is also served by a central cafeteria called the Cannon Center.[62] The creamery, begun in 1949, has become a BYU tradition and is also frequented by visitors to the university and members of the community.[63] It was the first on-campus full-service grocery store in the country.[64]

BYU has designated energy conservation, products and materials, recycling, site planning and building design, student involvement, transportation, water conservation, and zero waste events as top priority categories in which to further its efforts to be an environmentally sustainable campus. The university has stated "we have a responsibility to be wise stewards of the earth and its resources."[65] BYU is working to increase the energy efficiency of its buildings by installing various speed drives on all pumps and fans, replacing incandescent lighting with fluorescent lighting, retrofitting campus buildings with low-E reflective glass, and upgraded roof insulation to prevent heat loss.[66] The student groups BYU Recycles, Eco-Response, and BYU Earth educate students, faculty, staff, and administrators about how the campus can decrease its environmental impact. BYU Recycles spearheaded the recent campaign to begin recycling plastics, which the university did after a year of student campaigning.[67][68]

BYU accepted 53.4 percent of the 13,731 people who applied for admission in the spring and summer terms, and fall semester of 2017.[79] The average GPA for these admitted students was 3.86 with an average ACT of 29.5 and SAT of 1300.[79] U.S. News and World Report describes BYU's selectivity as being "more selective" and compares it with such universities as the University of Texas at Austin and The Ohio State University.[80][81][82] In addition, BYU is ranked 26th in colleges with the most freshman Merit Scholars, with 88 in 2006.[83]

The Harold B. Lee Library is consistently ranked among the top ten in the nation, with a No. 1 ranking in 2004 by The Princeton Review.

Students from every state in the U.S. and from many foreign countries attend BYU. (In the 2005–06 academic year, there were 2,396 foreign students, or eight (8) percent of enrollment.)[83] Slightly more than 98 percent of these students are active members of the LDS Church. In 2006, 12.6 percent of the student body reported themselves as ethnic minorities, mostly Asians, Pacific islanders and Hispanics.[84]

Undergraduate students may qualify for graduation honors. University Honors is the highest distinction BYU awards its graduates.[85] Administered by the Honors Program, the distinction requires students to complete an honors curriculum requirement, a Great Questions requirement, an Experiential Learning requirement, an honors thesis requirement, and a graduation portfolio that summarizes the student's honors experiences.[86]

The university also awards Latin scholastic distinctions separately from the Honors Program: summa cum laude (top 1 percent), magna cum laude (top 5 percent), and cum laude (top 10 percent).[87] The university additionally recognizes Phi Kappa Phi graduation honors.

BYU is regularly recognized for its low cost, high quality education. In 2019, The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education ranked BYU tied for No. 1 "Worth the Cost" college.[95] Likewise, Forbes rated BYU No. 1 on its list of "America's Best Value Colleges 2019".[96]U.S. News & World Report ranked BYU No. 11 in Best Value Schools and tied for No. 80 among national universities in the country.[97]

BYU is designated as a research university with high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.[98] Forbes magazine ranked it as the No. 1 "Top University to Work For in 2014"[99] and as the best college in Utah.[100]

In 2016 the university's Marriott School of Management received a No. 18 ranking by Bloomberg Businessweek for its undergraduate programs,[101] and its MBA program was ranked by several sources: No. 25 ranking by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2018,[102] No. 19 by Forbes in 2017,[103] and tied for No. 30 by U.S. News & World Report for 2021.[104] For 2020, the university's School of Accountancy, which is housed within the Marriott School, received a No. 4 ranking out of 44 graduate programs rated by U.S. News & World Report.[105]

The BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School has a No. 37 national ranking for 2021, according to U.S. News & World Report.[106]

The N. Eldon Tanner Building, home of the Marriott School of Management

According to the National Science Foundation, BYU spent $40.7 million on research and development in 2018.[107] Scientists associated with BYU have created some notable inventions. Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor and pioneer of the electronic television, began college at BYU, and later returned to do fusion research, receiving an honorary degree from the university in 1967.[108] Alumnus Harvey Fletcher, inventor of stereophonic sound, went on to carry out the now famous oil-drop experiment with Robert Millikan, and was later Founding Dean of the BYU College of Engineering.[109] H. Tracy Hall, inventor of the man-made diamond, left General Electric in 1955 and became a full professor of chemistry and Director of Research at BYU. While there, he invented a new type of diamond press, the tetrahedral press. In student achievements, BYU Ad Lab teams won both the 2007 and 2008 L'Oréal National Brandstorm Competition,[110][111] and students developed the Magnetic Lasso algorithm found in Adobe Photoshop.[112] In prestigious scholarships, BYU has produced 10 Rhodes Scholars,[113] four Gates Scholars in the last six years, and in the last decade has claimed 41 Fulbright scholars and 3 Jack Kent Cooke scholars.[114]

To provide students with opportunities for both spiritual and intellectual insight, BYU has hosted weekly devotional and forum assemblies since the school's early days.[115] Devotionals are most common and address religious topics, often with academic perspective or insight. Devotional speakers are typically drawn from the BYU faculty and administration or LDS Church leadership, including church presidents George Albert Smith, Spencer W. Kimball, Thomas S. Monson, and Russell M. Nelson.

Several times each year the devotional is replaced by a forum, which typically addresses a more secular topic and may include a speaker from outside the BYU or LDS community. In recent years, forum speakers have included notable politicians (e.g. Joseph Lieberman, Mitt Romney), scientists (Neil deGrasse Tyson, DJ Patil), historians (David McCullough, Richard Beeman), religious leaders (Archbishop Charles Chaput, Albert Mohler) and judicial figures (John Roberts, Thomas Griffith).

Although attendance is not required, several thousand students attend the weekly assemblies, which are also broadcast on BYUtv[116] and archived in text, audio, and video formats on the BYU Speeches website.[117]

The Eyring Science Center houses a planetarium, an anechoic chamber and a Foucault pendulum.

Over three quarters of the student body has some proficiency in a second language (numbering 107 languages in total).[118] This is partially due to that 45 percent of the student body at BYU has been missionaries for LDS Church, and many of them learned a foreign language as part of their mission assignment.[119] During any given semester, about one-third of the student body is enrolled in foreign language classes, a rate nearly four times the national average.[118] BYU offers courses in over 60 different languages,[118] many with advanced courses that are seldom offered elsewhere. Several of its language programs are the largest of their type in the nation, the Russian[39] program being one example. The university was selected by the United States Department of Education as the location of the national Middle East Language Resource Center, making the school a hub for experts on that region.[39] It was also selected as a Center for International Business Education Research, a function of which is to train business employees in international languages and relations.[118]

Beyond this, BYU also runs a very large study abroad program, with satellite centers in London, Jerusalem, and Paris, as well as more than 20 other sites.[120] Nearly 2,000 students take advantage of these programs yearly. In 2001 the Institute of International Education ranked BYU as the number one university in the U.S. to offer students study abroad opportunities.[121][122] The BYU Jerusalem Center, which was closed in 2000 due to student security concerns related to the Second Intifada and, more recently, the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, was reopened to students in the Winter 2007 semester.[123]

The Maeser Building, built in 1911, houses BYU's Honors Program.

A few special additions enhance the language-learning experience. For example, BYU's International Cinema, featuring films in several languages, is the largest and longest-running university-run foreign film program in the country.[124] As already noted, BYU also offers an intensive foreign language living experience, the Foreign Language Student Residence. This is an on-campus apartment complex where students commit to speak only their chosen foreign language while in their apartments. Each apartment has at least one native speaker to ensure correct language usage.[125]

In 1992 the university drafted a new Statement on Academic Freedom,[126] specifying that limitations may be placed upon "expression with students or in public that: (1) contradicts or opposes, rather than analyzes or discusses, fundamental Church doctrine or policy; (2) deliberately attacks or derides the Church or its general leaders; or (3) violates the Honor Code because the expression is dishonest, illegal, unchaste, profane, or unduly disrespectful of others." These restrictions caused some controversy as several professors had been disciplined according to the then-new rule. The American Association of University Professors had claimed that "infringements on academic freedom are distressingly common and that the climate for academic freedom is distressingly poor."[127] The newer rules have not affected BYU's accreditation, as the university's chosen accrediting body allows "religious colleges and universities to place limitations on academic freedom so long as they publish those limitations candidly", according to associate academic vice president Jim Gordon.[128] The AAUP's concern was not with restrictions on the faculty member's religious expression but with a failure, as alleged by the faculty member and AAUP, that the restrictions had not been adequately specified in advance by BYU: "The AAUP requires that any doctrinal limitations on academic freedom be laid out clearly in writing. We [AAUP] concluded that BYU had failed to do so adequately."[129]

The BYU Ballroom Dance Company is known as one of the best formation ballroom dance teams in the world,[130] having won the U.S. National Formation Dance Championship every year since 1982.[131] BYU's ballroom dance team has won first place in Latin or Standard (or both) many times when they have competed at the Blackpool Dance Festival, and they were the first U.S. team to win the formation championships at the famed British Championships in Blackpool, England in 1972.[132] The NDCA National DanceSport championships have been held at BYU for several years, and BYU holds dozens of ballroom dance classes each semester and is consequently the largest collegiate ballroom dance program in the world.[131] In addition, BYU has a number of other notable dance teams and programs. These teams include the Theatre Ballet, Contemporary Dance Theatre, Living Legends, and International Folk Dance Ensemble. The Living Legends perform Latin, Native American, and Polynesian dancing. BYU boasts one of the largest dance departments in the nation. Many students from all different majors across campus participate in various dance classes each semester.

The Young Ambassadors are a song and dance performing group with a 50-year history at BYU. Prior to 1970 the group was known as Curtain Time USA. In the 1960s their world tour stops included Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. The group first performed as the Young Ambassadors at Expo '70 in Japan, and has since performed in over 56 nations. The royalty of Thailand and Jordan, along with persons of high office in countries such as India, have been among their audiences.[133]

The Concert Choir in performance

The BYU Opera Workshop gave the first North American performance of the Ralph Vaughan Williams opera The Pilgrim's Progress on April 28, 1969, directed by Max C. Golightly.[134]

BYU's Wind Symphony and Chamber Orchestra have toured many countries including Denmark, Hong Kong, Russia, the British Isles, and Central Europe. The Symphonic Band is also an ensemble dedicated to developing the musician, but with a less strenuous focus on performance. Additionally, BYU has a marching band program called the Cougar Marching Band.[135]

BYU has a choral program with over 500 members. The four BYU auditioned choirs include the 40-member BYU Singers, the 90-member BYU Concert Choir, the 200-member BYU Men's Chorus (the largest male collegiate choir in the U.S.[136]), and the 190-member BYU Women's Chorus.[137] Both the BYU Men's Chorus and BYU Singers have toured across the United States and around the globe. Each of the four groups has recorded several times under BYU's label Tantara Records.[138]

BYU's a cappella groups, Vocal Point and Noteworthy are among the top groups in the country, both of them having been crowned International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella winners, in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Both groups release multiple music videos a year and operate under BYU's Performing Arts Management.

BYU also has a Balinese gamelan ensemble, Gamelan Bintang Wahyu.

BYU's stated mission "is to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life." BYU is thus considered by its leaders to be at heart a religious institution, wherein, ideally, religious and secular education are interwoven in a way that encourages the highest standards in both areas.[154] This weaving of the secular and the religious aspects of a religious university goes back as far as Brigham Young himself, who told Karl G. Maeser when the LDS Church purchased the school: "I want you to remember that you ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God."[155][156]

The BYU Bell Tower with the Provo LDS temple in the background

BYU has been considered by some Latter-day Saints, as well as some university and church leaders, to be "The Lord's university." This phrase is used in reference to the school's mission as an ambassador to the world for the LDS Church, and thus for Jesus Christ.[154][157] In the past, some students and faculty have expressed dissatisfaction with this nickname, stating that it gives students the idea that university authorities are always divinely inspired and never to be contradicted.[158] Leaders of the school, however, acknowledge that the nickname represents more a goal that the university strives for and not its current state of being. Leaders encourage students and faculty to help fulfill the goal by following the teachings of their religion, adhering to the school's honor code, and serving others with the knowledge they gain while attending.[159][160]

BYU mandates that its students who are members of the LDS Church be religiously active.[161] Both LDS and Non-LDS students are required to provide an endorsement from an ecclesiastic leader with their application for admittance.[162] Over 900 rooms on BYU campus are used for the purposes of LDS Church congregations. More than 150 congregations meet on BYU campus each Sunday, where "BYU's campus becomes one of the busiest and largest centers of worship in the world" with about 24,000 persons attending church services on campus.[163]

Some 97 percent of male BYU graduates and 32 percent of female graduates have served as LDS missionaries.[164] In October 2012, the LDS Church announced at its general conference that young men could serve a mission after they turn 18 and have graduated from high school. Since that time many young men have elected to enroll at BYU after their mission rather than taking a hiatus during their college studies. Missionary service often lasts up to two years for young men, and up to 18 months for young women.[16]

All students and faculty, regardless of religion, are required to agree to adhere to an honor code. Early forms of the Church Educational System Honor Code are found as far back as the days of the Brigham Young Academy and early school President Karl G. Maeser. Maeser created the "Domestic Organization", a group of teachers who would visit students at their homes to ensure they were following the school's moral rules prohibiting obscenity, profanity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. The Honor Code was not formally created until about 1940, and was initially used mainly for cases of cheating and academic dishonesty.

President Wilkinson expanded the Honor Code in 1957 to include other school standards. This led to what the Honor Code represents today: rules regarding chastity, dress, grooming, drugs, and alcohol. A signed commitment to live the honor code is part of the application process, and must be adhered by all students, faculty, and staff. Students and faculty found in violation of standards are warned or called to meet with representatives of the Honor Council. In certain cases, students and faculty can be expelled or lose tenure. Both LDS and non-LDS students are required to meet annually with a Church leader to receive an ecclesiastical endorsement for both acceptance and continuance at the University.[165]

The policy draws a distinction between attraction and behavior, and states that LGBTQ status or same-gender attraction is not an Honor Code issue.[166] The Honor Code deemed homosexual behavior as inappropriate and a violation of the Honor Code to include not only sexual relations between members of the same sex but all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings.[166] LGBTQ BYU students were at risk of expulsion for hugs or same-gender dating[167][168] and were banned from meeting together in an LGBTQ-straight alliance group on-campus.[169][170][171] There was a continued lack of LGBTQ-specific resources on-campus as of 2018.[172][173]

In an August 2018 campus devotional, BYU religion professor Eric D. Huntsman urged students to listen to and understand "what our LGBT brothers and sisters are feeling and experiencing." Huntsman said, "we must do better than we have done in the past so that all feel they have a spiritual home" at BYU.[174] In March 2018, BYU hosted an on-campus LGBTQ and same sex attraction (SSA) forum with the theme "Come Understand what it means to be LGBTQ and SSA at BYU."[175] The forum was endorsed and supported by the BYU administration,[176] although rainbow imagery was removed from the initial fliers to avoid offense.[177]

In a 2015 campus devotional, Ronald A. Rasband encouraged students to have respectful conversations about fairness for all, including those who identify themselves within the LGBTQ community, and encouraged students to share their experiences with him on his Facebook page.[178]

BYU has regularly been ranked among the most LGBT-unfriendly schools in the United States,[179][180][181] and its policies towards LGBTQ students have sparked criticism and protests.[182][183][184] In the fall of 2016, BYU faced national criticism when many called its LGBT policies discriminatory while the university was being considered as an addition to the Big 12 Conference.[185][186][187]

Historically, policies around and treatment of LGBT students have included being banned from enrolling due to their romantic attractions in the 60s.[188]^:379[189][190] In the 1990s, a poll showed a majority of BYU students supported including gay students at BYU, but nearly 80% of the students reported they would refuse to live with a gay roommate.[191] There was a ban on coming out into the 2000s.[192][193]

In February 2020, BYU removed the "homosexual behavior" section from its online honor code, including parts which banned "all forms of physical intimacy" between members of the same sex;[194] however, Kevin Utt, the director of the university's Honor Code Office, maintained that "any same-sex romantic behavior is a violation of the principles of the Honor Code".[195] Jim Brau, who teaches in BYU's finance program, had been targeted by "alt-right online groups" for comments he had made calling the changes to the Honor Code, which he believed would allow students of the same sex to date, a "blessing".[196]

Current policy assures that victims "will not be disciplined by the university for any related honor code violation occurring at or near the time of the reported sexual misconduct unless a person's health or safety is at risk."[197][198] In 2016 and 2017 the Honor Code, in light of identified potential conflicts with Title IX obligations, was extensively reviewed and updated.[199] Criticism of past policy pointed to conflicts the policies and enforcement created for survivors of sexual assault. Beginning in 2014 and continuing through 2016, some students reported that, after being sexually assaulted or raped, they were told they would face discipline because of honor code violations for consensual sexual relationships in violation of the policy that came to light during the investigation of reported sexual assaults.[200][201] Criticism has been leveled that this atmosphere may prevent other students from reporting sexual assault crimes to police, a situation that local law enforcement have publicly criticized.[202] In response, the Victim Services Coordinator of the Provo Police Department called for an amnesty clause to be added to the Honor Code, which would not punish sexual assault survivors for past honor code violations discovered during the investigation. BYU launched a review of the practice,[203] which concluded in October 2016.[204] BYU announced several changes to how it would handle sexual assault reports, including adding an amnesty clause, and ensuring under most circumstances that information is not shared between Title IX Office and Honor Code Office without the victim's consent.[204] In June 2017, the policy was further revised to affirm that "BYU strongly encourages the reporting of all incidents of sexual misconduct so that support services can be offered to victims and sexual misconduct can be prevented and stopped."[197]

The high rate of Latter-day Saint enrollment at the university (more than 98 percent)[205] results in an amplification of LDS cultural norms; BYU was ranked by The Princeton Review in 2008 as 14th in the nation for having the happiest students and highest quality of life.[206] However, the supposed quirkiness and sometimes "too-nice" culture is often caricatured, for example, in terms of marrying early and being very conservative.

One of the characteristics of BYU most often pointed out is its reputation for emphasizing a "marriage culture".[207] Members of the LDS Church highly value marriage and family, especially marriage within the faith.[208] Approximately 51 percent of the graduates in BYU's class of 2005 were married at the time of their graduation. This is compared to a national marriage average among college graduates of 11 percent.[208] BYU students on average marry at the age of 22, according to a 2005 study, while the national average age is 29 years for men and 27 years for women.[209]

BYU's honor code, which all BYU students must agree to follow as a condition of studying at BYU, prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and recreational drugs. As mentioned earlier, The Princeton Review has rated BYU the "#1 stone-cold sober school" in the nation for several years running, an honor which the late LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley had commented on with pride.[206] BYU's 2014 "#1 stone-cold" sober rating marked the 17th year in a row the school had earned that rating. BYU has used this and other honors awarded to the school to advertise itself to prospective students, showing that BYU is proud of the rating. According to the Uniform Crime Reports, incidents of crime in Provo are lower than the national average. Murder is rare, and robberies are about 1/10 the national average.[210] Business Insider rated BYU as the #1 safest college campus in the nation.[211]

In the mid-1950s, the director of BYU Food Services decided not to sell caffeine-containing products on the BYU campus. That changed in September 2017 when the director of BYU Dining Services, Dean Wright, announced caffeinated beverages would be sold on campus. Wright said the decision was the result of a change in customer preferences.[212]

Many on-campus student activities and clubs are organized by BYUSA, the university's official student association. A popular comedy club is Divine Comedy.

BYU sponsors a question-answering service known as the "100 Hour Board". Previously a bulletin board in the Wilkinson Student Center,[213] it is now hosted online. Anyone with an account may ask a question, with topics ranging from academic questions to questions about relationships or church doctrine.[214] The questions are answered in 100 hours by pseudo-anonymous BYU students.[215] It has been affiliated with The Universe since 2006.[216]

Greek social organizations are prohibited at BYU.[217] BYU had them in the early 1900s but President Franklin S. Harris replaced them with more inclusive non-Greek social clubs in the 1920s.[218]