Description

Brigham Young University is a religious and private university with the main campus located in Provo, Utah and another campus located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The university of affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Mormon Church. Students who gain acceptance and then choose to attend BYU must abide by an honor code which require students to live by moral virtue and be willing to (BYU University Policies, 2020):

Be honest

Live a chaste and virtuous life

Obey the law and all campus policies

Use clean language

Respect others

Abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and substance abuse

Participate regularly in church services

Observe Dress and Grooming Standards

Encourage others in their commitment to comply with the Honor Code

BYU has received lots of criticism for their strict policies regarding student behavior, since students who do not abide by the rules will be suspended or expelled from campus.

BYU has had a fair amount of athletic success with their sports teams and their recruitment of talented athletes. The Cougars who are a NCAA Division I FBS institution and compete in the West Coast Conference (majority of sports), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, and some sports competing independently. At BYU, the Mormon faith comes first and everything else comes after.

Historically, Sunday is known as the Sabbath Day and Mormons see Sunday as a day of rest. This means that Mormons do not work on Sunday or engage in any type of recreational activity, meaning that for a full 24 hours, they do not work or play. The belief is that the soul needs to rest and rejuvenate and is based off of the commandments of Christian theologians and Sundays are reserved for church and rest.

This has become an issue in athletics, since many sports teams play on Sunday, in turn making it difficult for BYU to compete against teams on a Sunday. Some teams, like the 1958 and 1961 baseball team forfeited a chance to go to the College World Series and play, because the games were scheduled on a Sunday. In 2012 BYU was playing a rivalry game against the University of Utah and the game almost went to midnight, meaning that if the clock struck 12 midnight, the Cougars would then have to forfeit the game. In other sports like baseball and softball, student-athletes play double headers against teams on a Saturday so that they do not have to play on Sunday.

Controversy has risen because teams and conferences have had to adapt to BYU and their code of conduct. Most notably, if BYU makes the NCAA tournament then they are selected in a bracket that does not play on a Sunday or they are not scheduled for late games on a Saturday that could go into overtime.

There has been controversy with the rule, with the chair of the NCAA board of directors Kenneth Shaw stating, “to single out Sunday as the only day of accommodation ignores the interests of other schools and places a difficult burden on the management of championship competitions and the academic best interests of other students-athletes” (BYU Magazine, 2020).

In the end, the NCAA has worked with BYU to accommodate the institution’s religious ideology. Still, many question if it is fair to allow BYU to not play on Sundays and if BYU has an advantage over other institutions because of scheduling and eligibility.

Discussion Board Post Assignment:

Does the BYU Rule of not playing on Sunday give BYU and advantage or disadvantage, please explain your rationale and find research to support your argument (10 points).

Give one example of how religion, has an impact on sport (5 points).