By CARMEN DURLAND AND NOELLE BARKE
BYU students and bishops have mixed feelings about the change to the continuing ecclesiastical endorsement for the 1996-1997 school year.
Each student must write a paragraph explaining what “the BYU Honor Code and Dress and Grooming and Residential Living Standards means in your personal life and in your commitment to others,” according to the BYU Continuing Ecclesiastical Endorsement.
Bishop Brent Done of the BYU 161st ward said student reaction to the change may fall into three categories. Some may be angry with it, others may find the extra work irritating and others won’t have a problem with the required statement. “It’s an attitude thing more than anything else.”
Norman Anawate, Jr., a 32-year-old senior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, majoring in public relations, doesn’t think the statement is necessary. “You can write things down and not keep them. I think commitment is in your heart.”
Sarah Periconi, a 20-year-old from Johnson City, Tenn., majoring in athletic training, shares the same viewpoint. “It doesn’t make sense,” she said. Students had to write an essay to get in, so they shouldn’t have to write another one, Periconi said.
Many students, like Doug Seymour, a management information systems major from Dallas, Texas, agreed with the change.
“I like it,” Seymour said. “Of any college around, this college is paid in part by the (LDS) church, and people should uphold the standards of the church.”
Loren Lighthall, a 23-year-old from Syracuse, N.Y., majoring in public policy, said, “It’s important. Anyone who doesn’t live, sustain and fight for the Honor Code shouldn’t be here. It’s a simple thing for me.”
“I think (the statements) are really good,” said Bishop Gene Powell of the BYU 32nd ward. Powell said students have a personal commitment to abide by what they have written.
Some BYU students are a little upset at the extra effort required in obtaining their endorsement. But some of these students change their opinions after they have written the essay.
Rebekah Robinson, a 21-year-old elementary education major, said in reference to getting her endorsement, “At first I was thinking, ‘Oh, I have to fill something else out,’ but as soon as I started writing it reminded me of how grateful I am to go here.”
In a separate survey, 38 of 51 students interviewed did not know of the change in the endorsement. Of the 13 who knew of the change, seven were in favor of the statement, two were against and four were neutral.
