Re: the Tribune photo found at: http://www.sltrib.com/news/3854493-155/the-history-of-byus-honor-code

Believe it or not, I actually attended the ceremony in 1958 when the Maeser statue was dedicated in front of the science building at BYU (see the photo in the Tribune article). After the dedication, the hijinks began, with every imaginable attempt made to "fun" the statue. At Halloween time, a pumpkin appeared cradled in his arm. Another time, the statue was almost completely whitewashed. Maesar appeared draped in crepe paper and toilet paper, sometimes dressed up and at other times dressed down.

Finally, word got around that Security had hired students to watch over the statue from dusk to dawn. And still the graffiti continued. I concluded that some of the nighttime guards were either sleeping on the job or else they were colluding with the perpetrators. When it stopped I couldn't say because I had the unfortunate experience of becoming a missionary.

I have often wondered why the statue became the focus of so much derision. This probably was at a time when Wilkinson was using students as spies, so maybe someone was trying to tweak his/her nose at the autocrat.

Another possibility is that someone was saying to the officiaters at the dedication whose faces were as stone-cold as Maeser's, Don't take yourselves so seriously.

By the time I was there in '71, the Wilkinson police state was going strong. Now I know it was because of your hijinks!

from what I've been told BYU didn't have any academic rigor in the 1950's. It was almost as bad as "Harrison High" up in Weber county. The only thing that was important was getting everyone married. The U and USU were the only school with expectations (pre vietnam times).