With “Revolution” by The Beatles playing loud, around 50 students at BYU in Provo began their march towards the administration building on campus protesting beards, according to Deseret News. The protests were to fight the ban on beards that was reportedly put into the BYU Honor code in the 1940s, reports Deseret News.Not all students agreed with their decision to fight the beard. BYU-Hawaii student Ryan Belliston, a senior in marketing from Ohio, said, “I think the fact that they’re protesting something they signed up for is really pointless. They knew what they were getting themselves into.”BYU Spokeswoman Carri Jenkins, said, “It’s not that we have anything against beards. It’s just that this is how we have chosen to represent ourselvesat BYU.”The Honor Code is a guideline for clean living that all students attending BYU schools must sign prior to enrollment. According to the Honor Code, all students that attend a BYU school must, “be modest, neat, and clean, consistent with the dignity adherent to representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and any of its institutions of higher education.” This modest, neat, and clean appearance includes being clean-shaven, according to the Honor Code.Male students who choose to wear facial hair are allowed to grow moustaches. On any BYU campus you will see men with moustaches, not beards, as this is the only way for men attending BYU to express themselves with facial hair. BYUH student Brian Walker, a man with a moustache, and a junior in psychology from Hong Kong, said, “My moustache is from wanting to grow a beard. Since I am not allowed to grow one here, I figured a moustache is the next best thing.”Some students and faculty see the Honor Codes stance on facial hair as a way to prepare for the professional world. Sister Fuller, a full-time missionary in the Office of Honor at BYUH, said, “My personal opinion is that a man looks much better without a beard, but the whole thing is just to look clean, wholesome, and professional. It is training for the professional world where you need to look neat and clean.”For now the beard ban on the Honor Code remains, but BYU Provo protest organizer, Shane Pittson, said, “We won’t let this dream die!”
Writer: Reid Crickmore ~ Multimedia Journalist
