Saturday, March 19, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Honor
I am crazy with March Madness fever! Tomorrow evening our house will be a hotbed of St. Patrick's Day and BYU celebrations as the BYU basketball team plays their first round NCAA tournament game against Wofford (which can be seen live on CBS at 7:00 Eastern time). It's no secret to all of my friends around the country that I am a BYU fan :-) And since the BYU basketball team is really good this year, especially with all of the hype surrounding Jimmer Fredette, everybody has heard a lot about the BYU basketball team lately. Unfortunately the latest national news about the team involved the suspension of one of their players for an honor code violation. This news has prompted many of my friends to grill me about what exactly the "honor code" is, why it is such a big deal, and why in the heck anyone would go to a school where you "can't have any fun," as they say :-) I have actually enjoyed these questions because it gives me a chance to talk about why BYU is such an unusual and great place. I tell my friends that the honor code isn't sprung on any student as a way to get them kicked off a team or out of school--it's something that each students knows about up front. In fact, when you apply to go to BYU, you sign a paper saying that you agree to abide by the honor code--which basically says that you will abide by the teachings and standards of the LDS Church.
The honor code comes from something that Karl G. Maeser, the first principal of the Brigham Young Academy, once said: "I have been asked what I mean by 'word of honor.' I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls--walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground--there is a possibility that in some way or another I may escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I'd die first."
Of course not every BYU student takes all of this honor stuff super seriously--you often find a sidewalk chalk circle drawn around the Karl G. Maeser statue on campus; the work of a student who thinks they are funny--but all-in-all the honor code makes BYU a place where you can completely focus on your education and personal growth--where you're not hampered by all of the extra things that are usually part of a typical American college experience.
I really like that, in response to questions about if it was a hard decision to suspend the player for an honor code violation right when BYU was on track to have its best basketball season ever, BYU responded that it was not a hard decision--the player broke the rules that he agreed to abide by. It's as simple as that. So, even though they could have used their sidelined player's sweet rebounding skills in the upcoming tournament, I think the important thing is that BYU stood by its standards--even though it would have been easy to overlook a little honor code violation, especially when the stakes are so high. I think BYU still has a really good chance to do well in the tournament (they still have Jimmer Fredette!!), but even if they fall short, at least they stood tall and stuck to the principles that make them different than all of the other teams they'll be playing against. Props to BYU. Go Cougars!
The honor code comes from something that Karl G. Maeser, the first principal of the Brigham Young Academy, once said: "I have been asked what I mean by 'word of honor.' I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls--walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground--there is a possibility that in some way or another I may escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I'd die first."
Of course not every BYU student takes all of this honor stuff super seriously--you often find a sidewalk chalk circle drawn around the Karl G. Maeser statue on campus; the work of a student who thinks they are funny--but all-in-all the honor code makes BYU a place where you can completely focus on your education and personal growth--where you're not hampered by all of the extra things that are usually part of a typical American college experience.
I really like that, in response to questions about if it was a hard decision to suspend the player for an honor code violation right when BYU was on track to have its best basketball season ever, BYU responded that it was not a hard decision--the player broke the rules that he agreed to abide by. It's as simple as that. So, even though they could have used their sidelined player's sweet rebounding skills in the upcoming tournament, I think the important thing is that BYU stood by its standards--even though it would have been easy to overlook a little honor code violation, especially when the stakes are so high. I think BYU still has a really good chance to do well in the tournament (they still have Jimmer Fredette!!), but even if they fall short, at least they stood tall and stuck to the principles that make them different than all of the other teams they'll be playing against. Props to BYU. Go Cougars!
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