Enter To Learn...And Then Shut Up

     The best education I got this semester didn't come from textbooks and it wasn't in the classroom.  It actually came from watching the controversy surrounding BYUSA, Brigham Young University's student service organization, unfold.  It was a microcosm of what happens in the "real world".

     According to a budget document obtained by BYU's newspaper, the Daily Universe, BYUSA had spent hundreds of dollars on questionable purchases for themselves.  Their expenses ranged from several small payments at Jamba Juice to over $1,000 spent at Olive Garden.  There were trips to Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin, Tucano's, a go-karting track, an Alpine skiing resort, as well as laundry expenses.

     After these allegations arose, BYUSA volunteers and supporters put on their biggest and brightest smiles and began tossing out talking points, dodging questions, and hoping the controversy would go away.  Students were upset.  Activists organized.  Divine Comedy put out a humorous satirical video.

     In the real world, this kind of thing happens all the time as watchdog journalists and whistleblowers uncover unethical activities.  It usually results in people being fired, sued, sent to prison, or not getting re-elected though.  For everyone involved in "BYUSA-gate", none of those things will happen.  We'll all go on our way and get a quality education at a remarkable price.  In the larger scheme of things, BYUSA's misuse of student tuition dollars doesn't make that much of a difference.  There are much larger examples of questionable spending in the world.  Does that mean we should just shut up, move on, and forget about it like BYUSA and some within the administration want us to?  Absolutely not. 

     It is unethical for a student service organization with a budget made of student tuition dollars to spend money the way BYUSA has.  And others agree.

     "I do not think those expenses are ethical," said Sterling May, BYUSA's Vice President elect and brother of current President Elise May.

    I'm glad someone agrees with me.  Jon Kau, Associate Dean of Students doesn't.  In my conversation with him, he not only said that the questionable spending was ethical, but he said that I didn't know the whole story.  When I asked what the whole story was, he wouldn't tell me.

     With an attitude like that, this controversy will never completely go away.  BYUSA's reputation will remain damaged (although I'm pretty sure University Towing is still ranked higher in the "Things BYU Students Dislike Poll") and these allegations will continue.  The only way BYUSA can effectively deal with this controversy is to be up front and honest.  The Vice President elect is able to admit that the organization has had some unethical spending, why can't anyone else?  I guarantee that BYUSA’s spending isn't as horrible and corrupt as some people think it is, and by being transparent, the organization can show that.


     "I have never received nor do I expect to receive Tucano's, Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, go-karting, skiing, or laundry from BYUSA," said Sterling May.  "There is nothing fundamentally wrong with BYUSA's budget.  Every expense must be approved by four separate people, two of which are accountants.  That being said, Chris [Peterson, BYUSA's President elect] and I are already beginning to eliminate unnecessary expenses.  We will do everything we can to use every penny effectively."

     Wasn't that easy?  Why couldn't anyone have said this from the beginning?  "We're sorry, that wasn't the right way to spend your money, we won't do it again."  It wouldn't even be an issue if BYUSA responded that way instead of side stepping the allegations.  Obviously, BYUSA does a lot of good on campus and its volunteers work hard to serve the student body.  Of the thousands of dollars that make up their budget, the unethical spending was a small part. 

     It soon looked like BYUSA would get their way though.  The controversy would die down and they would be able to go on their retreats and spend students' money behind closed doors.  For that reason, I requested to hold a demonstration on campus protesting BYUSA's lack of transparency and responsibility.  My request was denied.  I was told by Jon Kau that BYUSA wasn't allowed to be transparent and they weren't responsible to students despite the fact that they were spending our money.

     I asked Kau how students got permission to protest in 2006.  A Student Leadership Coordinator was fired after writing a letter that was critical of BYUSA's presidential election process and the university offered him a month's salary and three months' health insurance if he kept quiet.  He went to the media instead, and students protested.  Kau hadn't heard of the protest and bristled at the term "hush money".

     By the time Kau was interviewed by the Daily Universe, he was aware of the protest.

     "This petition is different from other protests...on those occasions, students were expressing their disagreement with a university decision.  However, they were not advocating violation of university policy as the current request does," said Kau.  "In fact, during the 2007 protests [held in response to Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit to campus], the students made it very clear that they did not expect the university to make a change in its decision."

     Saying the protest called for "violation of university policy" makes it sound like we were advocating apostasy or dismantling the honor code.  And if the request was edited to say that we didn't actually expect any change, would it have been granted?  My guess is probably not.

     Allegedly, the Daily Universe planned to run the story of the denied protest on the front page but was pressured to bury it.  It ended up on page five while a story about a 50-year-old performance group made the front page.

     The Daily Universe reporters go to class and learn about the Pentagon Papers and about Bernstein and Woodward, heroic tales of journalists seeking and reporting truth despite the powerful establishment trying to stop them.  Then they go write soft news stories about crafts and finding dates in the library.  Hard controversial stories are far and few between for the DU.  These student journalists finally have an opportunity to practice these ideals of uncovering truth, and they're told to stop.  There's no such thing as freedom of the press unless you own the press.  It's obvious that some within BYU don't want the Daily Universe to even think about practicing watchdog journalism.  It seems like they don't even want it to be press release newsletter either.

     After hearing rumors of an e-mail sent out by someone in the administration telling campus organizations to not talk to the Daily Universe, I decided to go find out for myself.  BYU's Multicultural Student Services had allegedly declined to be interviewed for an article about their annual pow-wow.  When I asked a woman working at their office if this was true, she got defensive and only offered short responses that didn’t answer my questions.  I talked to a few student workers at other offices on campus, and they were more cooperative.  It sounded like the administration didn’t trust the Daily Universe at all.  Don’t talk to any of their reporters because they will lie and they will misquote you.  Only respond through e-mail so you can script your response and you won’t get misquoted.

     While there isn’t anything wrong with thinking out responses before being asked questions, the paranoia that seemed to pervade the Wilkinson student center was unbelievable.  It felt like everyone was convinced that the BYUSA articles were full of falsehoods and that the Daily Universe was out to get everyone.  I doubt that the Daily Universe would try to write a muckraking article about an annual pow-wow though.

     In all likelihood, nothing will change. Students aren’t allowed to demonstrate.  The Daily Universe isn’t allowed to write anything that could ruffle some feathers (even if it’s true).  We have Sterling May's word that the budget will be used effectively and that they will eliminate unnecessary expenses, but those claims can’t be verified.  Even if next year's BYUSA is ethical in its spending, there is nothing from stopping the organization from dropping thousands of dollars at restaurants and entertainment on itself in the future.

     Brigham Young University is a great place to go to school.  I love it.  Even though it's an amazing institution, there are areas where it can be improved, and there always will be.  Stifling student voices and refusing to admit there could be problems isn't the right way to go.  I couldn't have said it better than Beauregard Bahnam, a BYU student who wrote this recent letter to the editor.

     "What is the administration trying to hide by being so secretive and wielding such control?  As a former Student Advisory Council member, I can testify we were often told by administrators that we possessed and attitude of entitlement whenever we expressed dismay with current university practice or policy...the lack of student voice on this campus and the ineffectiveness of BYUSA isn't because of the students, it's due to the harsh limitations set on us by the administration.  Someone needs to protest that.  Good luck getting it approved."

     Observing and experiencing the BYUSA controversy was the best education of the semester for me because it was the closest thing to a "real world" experience I got.  I learned that the ideals you learn about in class don't always work the way you think they should.  I learned that change is hard.  I learned that sometimes people disagree with you and try to stop you from "rocking the boat", but if you believe in what you're fighting for, you shouldn't give up.  These are issues that I as well as everyone who took apart in this controversy in some form or another will face when we finally enter "the real world".  They don't teach you that in a textbook.  So maybe that Tucano's trip served the student body after all.