Honor Code dispute could move Air Force ROTC off BYU campus

[Joel]

Honor Code dispute could move Air Force ROTC off BYU campus

The Air Force ROTC program at Brigham Young University might make a short flight to Orem.

Discussions are underway about moving the program to state-run Utah Valley University because an Air Force colonel refuses to follow BYU's Honor Code.

BYU is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and students and faculty are required to adhere to prohibitions against alcohol, drugs, coffee, premarital sex and other activities that oppose the beliefs of the faith. The U.S. military assigns instructors to ROTC programs.

Col. Timothy Hogan, commander of Detachment 855 of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at BYU, is not LDS. Hogan told the BYU's student newspaper that his unwillingness to sign the Honor Code is forcing the program to move to UVU.

"I told the (university) president in an interview that I would happily abide by the Honor Code on campus, in uniform and on duty, but if I wanted to have a cup of coffee at my house they said, 'No, that's not acceptable,' " Hogan told the BYU Universe in an article it published online Thursday.

Hogan is on a three-year assignment from the Air Force and BYU did not approve a request to waive the Honor Code requirements, he said.

"(BYU) didn't recognize me as a professor," Hogan told the BYU Universe. "They wouldn't allow me to instruct, and that's one of the requirements for me as the commander."

On Friday, Hogan confirmed to The Salt Lake Tribune his statements to the student paper but referred further comment to a spokesman at the Pentagon. That spokesman did not immediately refer calls seeking comment. BYU representatives also did not immediately return calls.

Layton Shumway, a spokesman for UVU, on Friday said there has been "informal discussion" about moving the detachment to UVU — 4 miles from the BYU campus.

"The issue rests primarily with the Department of Defense," Shumway said.

BYU and UVU already share the Air Force ROTC program. The detachment has 29 UVU students and 121 from BYU.

Such arrangements are common among colleges and universities in proximity to one another. The University of Utah and private Westminster College, for example, share an Army ROTC program, with Westminster students driving up 1300 East in Salt Lake City to attend classes and training at the U.

It was unclear Friday whether only Hogan and his offices would move or if firearms and other training equipment belonging to the Detachment could also move to UVU.

Hogan arrived at BYU in July. According to biographies online, he is a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate whose service record includes 20 years flying the ground-attack jet the A-10, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

[paulrobots]

How has this issue been handled before? Did they have LDS servicemen head the BYU detachment? Did the other professors sign even though they felt the same way? It seems like this would have come up before.

[Juliet]

I disagree with BYU Provo. The harder they tighten their grasp on the honor code, the more professors will slip through their fingers.

The Honor Code strives to foster Honor, but I think an unintended side effect is that it fosters self righteousness. Would that self righteousness were as easy a sin to delinquish as a cup of coffee.

[brianj]

I wouldn't be surprised if past officers to hold a PMS billet signed the agreement then ignored it. And I wouldn't be surprised to learn non-LDS faculty and staff at BYU are doing the same. I suspect Col. Hogan is taking a hard line to get out of this assignment.

For the most part, I support the honor code. Not only do we expect proper behavior on campus, but faculty and students are expected to behave in the same way when encountered off campus. The only real problem I have is with the withdrawal of denial of an ecclesiastical endorsement to current students. I have heard of students kicked out of the school without ever being given a reason why. Someone anonymously accuses the student of improper conduct, the Bishop revokes their endorsement, and they are kicked out of the school without a good opportunity to challenge the accusation or even find out what the accusation was.

The honor code is not a high standard. It isn't even as rigorous as a temple recommend. Students don't have to maintain a recommend, pay a full tithe, have a testimony, or sustain the prophet.

[JohnnyL]

Good riddance, lol. No more people running by in the morning screaming at the top of their lungs...

[tribrac]

Until a couple years ago I hadn't been on byu campus for 2 decades. I was surprised to see the rotc and recruiting posters. It felt incongruous with Education week, devotionals and all the talk of standards, but hey they also have a law school....

[larsenb]

My take is that it's a tempest in a tea pot. If the Colonel was assigned by the AF to head the BYU ROTC program, he is obviously a special case and probably didn't volunteer to come to BYU, or did so not knowing of the 'honor code'.

It is absolutely silly to make him conform to the aspect of the honor code forbidding smoking or drinking coffee, tea or alcoholic drinks off campus and in the privacy of his own home. He agreed to follow it on campus. That really should satisfy them . . . along with a promise not to come on campus drunk.

Otherwise, BYU should try to arrange for the AF to select candidates who are willing to abide by the code at all times, or the AF should move the program to UVU.