UPDATE: the antiracism club event was canceled after the publishing of this report, according to an Instagram story on the page of unofficial BYU club USGA. The the text and headline will be kept the same for full context.
Editor’s note: The Cougar Chronicle supports equally applied standards with respect to BYU policies. If there are to be looser or stricter policies surrounding free speech and politics on campus, apply them across the board with every political stripe.
The BYU Antiracism club is set to host an event on Wednesday to draft letters to the Utah legislature to fight against the recent bills on DEI and transgender bathroom policy that Gov. Spencer Cox signed into law on Jan. 30. According to the BYUSA club handbook, this is against university policy.
This is occurring as two more conservatively aligned organizations, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), have both been denied at least 5 and 3 times respectively while they have applied for club status at BYU, according to their leaders.
On Tuesday, the BYU antiracism club posted an announcement to its Instagram which read, “TOMORROW! Come support marginalized voices by showing your legislators you are not in favor of the Anti-DEI bill (HB261) and the Transgender Bathroom Bill (HB257). This is an important event where we will be writing letters and talking about next steps we can take to combating the decisions made in this legislative session. We hope to see you all there.”
According to the BYUSA club policy handbook, clubs are not to “promote a specific political agenda.” Exceptions to this would be Student Academic Associations that are “aligned with campus-recognized political parties,” according to the BYU clubs and associations policy.
The club also posted in the graphic of the announcement the logo of the BYU Democrats; however, the official politically affiliated club does not appear to have any announcements regarding the subject except for sharing the Antiracism club post.
BYU’s Antiracism club is considered to be merely a “social” group under BYUSA’s clubs page.
The BYUSA club handbook states further, “When it comes to political activism, BYUSA Clubs are not the place to do this. Clubs are meant to be a place where people can come and feel safe and welcomed, no matter their political beliefs. ‘BYUSA clubs exist to give students with similar interests a place to meet, enjoy activities, render service, and develop leadership skills.'”
Club leaders at the Antiracism club also sent out an email on Jan. 28 announcing the event, writing to students, “This Wednesday we’re getting together to learn about ways we can contact our politicians and mobilize the community!! We want to do what we can to stand against the recent anti-DEI bills being passed in Utah.” The email was sent with the subject line, “Contact your legislators!!”
“Antiracism” as defined by the club is not addressed in its club description, which states, “The purpose of this club is to facilitate life-long learning among BYU students. We seek to enable BYU students to better follow Christ’s admonition to love our neighbor through learning about racial inequality. We invite all students to come as they are and learn together in order to become not only ‘not racist,’ but to become actively ‘anti-racist.'”
The term “antiracist” has grown in popularity with the publication of Ibram X. Kendi’s book, “How to be an Antiracist,” in recent years. In the first edition of his book, Kendi used circular logic to define the term, where he wrote that an antiracist is “one who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea.”
Later, he recognized that this was a poor definition and made another version of the novel, writing that an antiracist is “one who is expressing an idea of racial equality, or is actively supporting policy that leads to racial equity or justice.”
“Racial equity,” Kendi defines in the first chapter of the book as racial groups having “relatively equal footing” in various outcomes such as home ownership. He then advocates for “antiracist discrimination,” “present discrimination,” and “future discrimination” to achieve these equal outcomes.
[READ: BYU Antiracism Database]
He has also posted on his X (Twitter account): “Racial groups ARE equal, and therefore racial disparities MUST be the result of discrimination.”
As opposed to seemingly blatant left-wing, prohibited political activism the Antiracism club is engaged in, more conservative organizations have been barred from obtaining club status of any kind.
TPUSA has never gained approval, and although YAF has been approved previously, BYUSA has not allowed it to gain that status again.
The reason for this BYUSA has given includes that the clubs were part of a larger organization that is political in nature.
See related stories of how official or unofficial left-leaning BYU groups or students have broken school policy in their activism and how right-leaning groups and students have been censored in this list:
- BYU Cancels Debate Event on Abortion: Beams before Motes
- BYU Counseling Office Discreetly Distributing LGBTQ “Activism” Guides
- Complaints of ‘disrespectful’ Speaker Used to Cancel Abortion Debate Appear Unfounded
- The Woke BYU Civic Engagement Office
- Debunking Claims From The Black Menaces
- You Can Break the Rules, but Only for Pride
Written by: The Cougar Chronicle
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Pingback: BYU Daily Universe Articles Prop Up Left-Wing Campus Group, Club Leadership that Defended Oct. 7 Attacks - The Cougar Chronicle
I’d like to know what Jesus got wrong in His Gospel such that secular theories like CRT/DEI/BLM are necessary to root out “racism” from the hearts of BYU students.