By AUDREY WOOD
From the 1993 “Hostage in the Marriott Center” to the Rodin exhibit protests, students and alumni recall events during their time at Brigham Young University. With more than 29 thousand students on campus, incidents and accidents are inevitable and memorable.
“I remember the hoodlums protesting the Rodin exhibit in front of the Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building. I thought, don’t they have anything better to do with their time, other than protest something that can be seen somewhere else,” said Spencer Lee, 22, a junior,from Jerome, Idaho, majoring in civil engineering.
Marianne Warthen, 26, a graduate student in Spanish linguistics, said she remembers the funeral of former BYU president Rex E. Lee.
“School was cancelled for two hours, allowing students to attend President Lee’s funeral. I really appreciated that,” Warthen said.
BYU alumnus, LeeAnn Collins of Provo said she remembers “the old BYU.”
“The physical change of BYU is what stands out in my mind,” Collins said.
Kelly Fisher, 20, a sophomore majoring in theatre media arts, from Kuna, Idaho said she came to BYU just before construction began on the library in 1996.
“I’ve been through the library experience. I’ve had to learn new ways to get around campus,” Fisher said.
Other events that have caught media attention are the letting go of basketball coach Roger Reid in 1996 and the issue of Academic Freedom on BYU campus, also in 1996.
Brent Harker, Director of Web Communications and former Director of University Communications, said in 1989 BYU received the most publicity for cold fusion.
“We (Brigham Young University) subscribe to a clipping service that cuts articles printed in 120 major U.S. cities, which mention BYU. In 1989 we received 1,165 clipped articles about BYU and cold fusion. We only received 729 clipped articles mentioning BYU and other issues that year,”Harker said.
Sporting events have also been a favorite memory of students and alumni alike. For instance, the football team’s Cotton Bowl victory in January 1997 and Ty Detmer awarded the Heisman Trophy in 1990.
Misti Bastian, 22, a junior from Provo, majoring in humanities, from Provo, said she remembers when BYU beat Notre Dame in 1994.
“It was a gray rainy day and I was walking home from campus. I saw a group of guys near the dorms and they yelled to me that BYU had beaten Notre Dame. Excitement was in the air,” Bastian said.
A so-called sporting event turned riot at Helaman Halls is what Maria Oshiek, 24, a senior from Kansas City, Mo., majoring in travel and tourism said she remembers from her freshman year in 1992.
“It was the week before finals. Some students in Helaman Halls started calling other students to tell them there was going to be a pillow fight. Everyone met at the Helaman Hall pool. Hundreds of students showed up, but no one brought pillows,” Oshiek said.
Whether incidents of the past or daily occurrences, memories of BYU are making history in the lives of students and alumni.
Alumni of twenty years, Tom and Theresa Gearhart of Colorado Springs, Colo., remember when the other side of the library was blocked off in order to construct an addition to the Harold B. Lee library.
Memories are made everyday. For first semester freshman, Dave Hansen, 21, from Kaysville, Utah, majoring in economics, he vividly remembers crowds.
“I remember the floods of students rushing from the Marriott Center after a general authority has spoken,” Hansen said.
As the ancient San Skrit says, “For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but every day well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.”
