Former Mormon reveals what it’s REALLY like to attend religion’s ultra-strict BYU college – lifting the lid on wild ‘moral code’ that bans drinking and swearing… and the truth about ‘celibate’ students’ SEX lives
Published By admin with Comments 0
A woman, who was raised Mormon but left the church in her young adulthood, has delved into what it was like to attend a strict religious college, where campus culture and regulations were closely aligned with the teachings of the faith.
Alyssa Grenfell, 31, graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 2016.
By the end of 2017, she’d left the Mormon church and moved from Utah to New York City with her husband. She now works as a content creator focusing on the realities of growing up in the church and about her decision to leave it behind.
Her alma matter, which was founded in 1875 by the second president of the church, boasts a 99 per cent Mormon student body and on-campus life is heavily dictated by a series of hyper-strict rules, banning everything from coffee and alcohol to premarital sex to male facial hair – and much, much more.
The rules were enforced not only by a brigade of on-campus bishops and a BYU police force, but also by fellow students, who are explicitly encouraged to surveil their peers and proactively report any rule infractions to the authorities.
In an exhaustive YouTube video about her BYU experience, Alyssa delved into the realities of on-campus life at the ultra-strict religious university.
Alyssa also flagged that non-Mormons who choose BYU for whatever reason – cheaper tuition or sports scholarship, for instance – are also subject to the college’s strict rules.
‘Anyone who attends the university has to follow these very strict rules,’ she stressed.
Even though it is explicitly a religious college, Alyssa emphasized they ‘are accredited’ and a BYU degree can definitely get you a job.
At the core of rules guiding student conduct is BYU’s honor code, with infractions ruthlessly investigated and usually harshly punished by the much-feared Honor Code Office.
As the top honor code rules: Both Mormons and non-Mormons need to pass an ‘ecclesiastical endorsement’ from an appointed bishop once per year in order to enroll in classes – which Alyssa describes as being the ‘gold standard for being the best Mormon possible.’
The 12 questions asked in the ‘ecclesiastical endorsement’ ranged from ‘Are you striving for moral cleanliness in your thoughts and behavior?’ to ‘Are there serious sins in your life that need to be resolved with priesthood authorities as part of your repentance?’
Content retrieved from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13220643/former-mormon-reveals-inside-strict-religious-college.html.
