Student life at Brigham Young University

Student life at Brigham Young University is heavily influenced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The school is privately owned by the church and aims to create an atmosphere in which secular and religious principles are taught in the same classroom.

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.

A signed commitment to live the honor code is part of the application process, and must be adhered by all students, faculty, and staff.

The high rate of enrollment at the university by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 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.

[12] Due to the many factors such as Latter-day Saint beliefs and university encouragement, courtship and marriage are very important aspects of BYU's social scene.

Those same religious beliefs have also resulted in an unwelcome atmosphere for students who are not heterosexual and policies that explicitly ban homosexual relationships.

More specifically, 95% of BYU students rank "marrying in the temple" as a "very important" goal, second only to "a close personal relationship with God".

[17] Similarly, Glenn and Marquardt report in their study that 83% of the women surveyed ranked marriage as an important goal in life.

[21] While at other universities, a "hook up" is typically defined by sexual activity, around 2% of the student population at BYU reported passionate kissing done outside of dating.

Members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints firmly believe that their mission on earth is to marry and have a family.

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 commented on with pride.

As non-LDS players have become ever more important to the school's teams, BYU's wholesomeness is often attractive for prospective students who prefer an academic or social environment without alcohol, illegal drug abuse, and violent crime.

[25] In the 1970s, several schools protested against BYU, claiming it was a racist organization; Stanford and San José State both refused to play the university in sports.

In 1970, the University of Arizona sent a "fact-finding committee" to determine if BYU was racist, finding that "rhetoric had escalated too far" with regards to racism and the Western Athletic Conference.

Then-BYU President Rex E. Lee said that the decision of the board of directors to approve the building of the center was unanimous.

[33][34][35] The questions they ask are meant to reveal the attitudes about race on campus, especially within the LDS faith, and start conversations about the inequities that people of color face at BYU.