I haven’t told anyone about this offline, but it’s still something that bothers me even years later.

My ward went to BYU (Provo) for Youth Conference. I only got about three hours of sleep because everyone was running around and wouldn’t go to sleep. They refused to turn off the lights, too.

So...the next morning I go down for breakfast in the cafeteria and the person checking us in is like, “your shorts are too short.”

Which was so ridiculous since they were 1/2 inch at MOST above my knees.

I had to go back to the dorms and change. By the time I got back, breakfast was closed and I couldn’t eat.

I was like FOURTEEN. It’s really creepy how they were policing the dress code of CHILDREN visiting the f*cking campus.

For a long time Mormonism has been all about appearances but don't you think it is getting worse all the time?

Yes, definitely. It seems like the culture is way more uptight. (At least here in Utah).

how MORmONS even learn to hate BYU


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAWSGQMCM0U

once back in the early 1970s. It was one of the worst experiences of my life as a mormon. I never went to one again.

I spent another week in Provo several years later as my sister wanted me to move down there. She found me an apartment. I just stupidly went down and tried to get into my apartment and the girls didn't want another roommate. Then they moved me to another room and I got locked out that night as they gave me the wrong key. I'm not one who deals well with change, so if I hadn't had my sister's old roommates helping me, I wouldn't have had somewhere to sleep that first night. The whole week was horrible and I went back home.

I've never liked Provo. I couldn't understand how my sister could attend BYU.

Kimberley, be very glad you didn't return to BYU!

Going to BYU was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

I survived BYU, because I had a huge groups of friends from California, and we stuck together as friends, dates, and roommates. We got to know each other through ward and stake exchanges, and large regional projects like the road shows, the dance festivals, the summer party at a ranch in the foothills, working on the welfare farm at Half Moon Bay, the Youth Conference in Watsonville, ice skating, hayrides, at regional YW camp, and on our church ski trips. Many of us would take the California Zephyr train to BYU, and we would dance up in the observation dome, and someone always had a compartment suite. I loved those kids, and a lot of us are still friends, to this day. About half have left the cult, BTW!

The first semester at BYU, we could not choose our roommates in the dorms, and my assigned roommate stole my money, my graduation wrist watch and other jewelry, and even some of my clothes! At the end of the year, she confessed, and offered me money. I told her that her cruel gossiping with her "gang" about some of the other girls was as bad as the stealing, and that my watch and clothes were irreplaceable, and that contrary to what the bishop said, I was NOT bound to forgive her unless she returned my possessions and apologized to all those poor girls. She did not. The bishop let her go on a mission, anyway.

I was assaulted with an attempted rape, by the mail boxes in Cannon Center, at around 9:30 at night. He was a former dorm-mate's fiancee, whom I disliked. He dragged me back into the coat-room, and broke my arm, as I struggled. Three football player friends happened to come into Cannon Center, and heard me screaming, and they hauled him out of there.

Someone tried to grab me, on the way home home from the library, but I was a fast runner, and out-ran him. Never once, was I ever in harm's way in California, even in San Francisco, or on any other campus--only at BYU. It was a dangerous place.

The rest of the time was just OK, but not worth the money, time, and effort. I learned what I needed to learn, AFTER I graduated from BYU. It was just playtime.

Like Cl2, three of my very best friends (we were later bridesmaids) hated BYU, and left in the fist few weeks. One went to Stanford, one to San Jose State, then the U of Utah grad school and one to Cal Berkley. They all had great experiences! After two years, I went to the U, but had to return to BYU my final year to get on-campus credits for graduation. I went to the U grad school, and roomed with my best friend, and dated my high school boyfriend, who was also there in grad school.

I took nothing away from BYU--no new friends, no ambition or stimulation, nothing new in fine arts or literature--only a little more knowledge of science. When the BYU girls got married, they disappeared. I never went back for any reunions.

If I had needed to establish new relationships and build a new life at BYU, I would not have been happy. The boys there seemed like fanatics, and male chauvinists, compared to my home-boys. They would say weird things like: "I know you and I knew each other in the pre-existance." "God told me to ask you on a date." "Let's kneel and pray, before our date." I had proposals of marriage after only a couple of dates--they didn't even know me. I dated so many boys, because I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but couldn't stand to go on a third or fourth date with them. Yuck. I didn't know at the time, that I just wasn't a Mormon in my heart, and could never have married that type of man. I still had a secret crush on my high school boyfriend, back home.

The classes were boring. The religion classes were so ridiculous and silly (BOM and PoGP and Mormon fake-history) that I couldn't make sense of them. I liked the skiing and the sports, the friendly out-of-staters, and the girls in my dorm (I was very lucky, after the thief moved out). Provo was pretty, and full of cousins, and we would ride horses and hike.

Cl2 should be very glad that she left BYU the moment she knew it was going to be awful.

I had stuff stolen too. I played in an Oldies Band when I attended BYU in the 1980's. I had a small boombox that I got so I could copy cassette tapes. I had a tape in it that the band was learning a song from. The boombox and tape were left in a BYU employees office in the HVAC, he played in the band too.

The boombox went missing from his office. I was the head scenic artist at BYU back then and I was talking about the theft with one of my assistant painters. She got a weird look on her face and told me one of her roommates came home with a new boom box the other day. No packaging, just the boom box, and it was the same type as mine. The girl that came home with it also worked for the same department at BYU that my bandmate did and had access to his office regularly. I asked her to see if there was a tape in it when she got home and told her the name of tape. Sure enough, next day she returns a reports that the tape was there and she had no case for it. When asked about her new stuff, she gave some stupid explanation. My assistant also made the connection that money, cosmetics, and other things were missing from some of the roommates at the house she shared.

So I went and talked to the girl and she denied everything. My assistant (the thief's roommate) and I met with her bishop and the thief, and she denied everything of course.

It was so very obvious that she stole my boombox, had no box for it, no receipt, same tape that I had was stolen in it, no case for the tape, no receipt for the tape, worked at the same department office where the boombox was when it was stolen, had access to the office it was in, other items being stolen at the house, etc.

BYU was the only place I experienced anything like that.

Boy, that really sucks.

Did you get your boombox returned?

No, she denied it so I couldn't really get it back. We just left the bishops office thinking "WTF" while the thief sat there crying.

I was bummed too....as a married student with 2 kids, I barely had money to buy it, let alone replace it.