BYU WTF?

If you know me, you know I grew up a Mormon (a.k.a. LDS). Why am I bringing this up on my beard blog? Well, because I found an interesting post on Beard Revue-you can't have a beard at BYU! Under the Dress and Grooming Standards section, the Bringham Young University honor code clearly states: “Men are expected to be clean shaven; beards are not acceptable.” That's totally bogus. Beard Revue suspects this code is in reaction to rise of the counter culture movement in the US and the rise of popularity of long hair and beards in the 1960s.

Still, if you’re a Cougar, there is the option of a beard waiver. You must “visit a BYU Student Health Center doctor by appointment. The doctor will fax his recommendation. The student then needs to come to the Honor Code Office to fill out some paperwork and receive the letter allowing the growth of the beard, if approved. If a yearly beard waiver is granted, a new Student ID will be issued after the beard has been fully grown, and must be renewed every year by repeating the process.”

Ironically, many of the early LDS leaders had beards. Even the man the school is named after was adored with facial folicles. See the links below for pics of the hirsuted Mormon brethren.

Brigham Young: http://tinyurl.com/qgt9rc
John Taylor: http://tinyurl.com/r6nx3s
Lorenzo Snow: http://tinyurl.com/qtqztn

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