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S U N S T O N E BYU News SCHOOL ACTIONS AGAINST FACULTY MEMBERS CREATE MEDIA STORM BYU FIRED ONE OF ITS INSTRUCTORS AND PLACED another on paid leave following their making public statements deemed inappropriate for employees of the Churchowned school. Jeffrey Nielsen, a part-time instructor at BYU, was let go less than two weeks after the Salt Lake Tribune published his op-ed piece that questioned the Church’s public opposition to same-sex marriage and its decision to read a statement over the pulpit encouraging members to take an active role in support of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman only. Jeffrey Nielsen (left) and Steven Jones push BYU’s tolerance for free speech a bit too far. “When the church hierarchy speaks on a public issue and requests that members follow, it is difficult indeed if an individual feels the content of their message would make bad law and is unethical as well,” Nielsen wrote in his 4 June op-ed. “I believe opposing gay marriage and seeking a constitutional amendment against it is immoral.” In Nielsen’s dismissal letter, BYU philosophy department chair Dan Graham wrote: “In accordance with the order of the Church, we do not consider it our responsibility to correct, contradict or dismiss official pronouncements of the Church. Since you have chosen to correct, contradict or dismiss official pronouncements of the Church in an area of great concern to Church leaders, and to do so in a public forum, we will not rehire you after the current term is over.” During the <strong>Sunstone</strong> Symposium last August, Nielsen said that by writing this op-ed, he did not intend to question the religious claims of the Church, nor the leaders’ right to establish Church doctrine or policy. “But I did think that as a member of the Church I had every right—in fact, every obligation—to address what was a moral concern, a moral issue.” Nielsen said that he believed he was not violating his BYU contract because he was speaking as a citizen in a public forum. “I have no hard feelings [towards BYU],” he added. “I have only the utmost respect and gratitude to BYU, and I admire the faculty and the students there immensely” (CD/tape/ download SL06316, available at www.sunstoneonline.com). Steven Jones, a physics professor who argues the U.S. government conspired in the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been placed on paid leave while the LDS-owned university investigates his actions. Jones became a hero among 9/11 conspiracy theorists after publishing a paper in which he argued that the World Trade Center fell not because of the planes that hit the towers but because of explosives placed inside the buildings. Jones says he found evidence of thermite—an explosive used by the military—in materials re<strong>cover</strong>ed from ground zero. “BYU has repeatedly said that it does not endorse assertions made by individual faculty,” a statement announcing the action reads in part. “We are, however, concerned about the increasingly speculative and accusatory nature of these statements by Dr. Jones.” In recent weeks, Jones has also become the co-chair of Scholars for 9/11 Truth—a group that accuses unnamed government agencies of being part of a conspiracy. Shortly after BYU placed Jones on leave, leaders of the American Association of University Professors criticized the decision. BYU has been on AAUP’s list of censured schools since 1998, when it refused to grant tenure to professor Gail Houston. To learn more about Jones’s theories, visit www.st911.org. BYU’S ART EXHIBIT EXCLUDES NUDES None of Burton Silverman’s famous nudes, such as “Beach Chairs” (right) were deemed relevant for a BYU exhibit of the artist’s work. A EXHIBITION WHICH OPENED LATE JULY AT THE BYU Museum of Art included works by Burton Silverman, but displayed none of the illustrator’s famous nudes. “The purpose of the show was not to show a retrospective of all his work,” museum spokesperson Christopher Wilson told the Deseret Morning News. “We picked works that reflect what we wanted to show about Burt’s work.” Silverman, who began doing nudes by visiting burlesque houses, chuckled about the censoring of his work. “Nudity in public life is relevant,” he said. Entitled “Intimate Eye: Drawings by Burton Silverman,” the exhibit will be open until 25 November. In 1997, BYU gained national attention when it refused to show “The Kiss” and three other sculptures by renowned nineteenth-century sculptor Rodin (SUNSTONE, November 1997, 76–77). HTTP://WWW.GALLERYHENOCH.COM PAGE 78 SEPTEMBER 2006
S U N S T O N E hibits described Brigham Young as a “tyrant” and claimed that Joseph Smith had been “lynched.” Although the term lynched can mean murdered by a mob, it is widely used to mean that the person was hanged. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were shot by an armed mob. Warned of the offensive display, area authority Ralph W. Hardy of the Quorum of the Seventy contacted Bushman, who rewrote the text with input from BYU scholar Ronald Esplin and a curator for the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian also received complaints from U.S. Senator Bob Bennett and U.S. Representative Rob Bishop. According to National Portrait Gallery spokesperson Noelle Myers, the gallery had to write more than a thousand captions before the opening. “This was a mistake, and it was corrected before the gallery opened,” she said. ACLU, LDS CHURCH RESOLVE MARTIN’S COVE DISPUTE THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION HAS FINALLY resolved its dispute with the Bureau of Land Management and the LDS Church over public access to Martin’s Cove, a federally owned site that the LDS Church has on lease in Central Wyoming. Martin’s Cove is believed to be the site where some 150 Mormon pioneers died in an 1856 blizzard. The ACLU argued that visitors have to pass through the LDS visitors’ center to access the trails and were subjected to religious messages on federal property through signs and from LDS volunteers. The newly formed agreement will ensure people have access to the public land without passing through the visitors’ center. Solar Flares The Greatest Gift: Quality Control. A production error in a CD given to teens attending this past summer’s Especially for Youth (EFY) events meant that some of those teens ended up listening to explicit lyrics by rappers such as Eminem and Snoop Dog instead of the catchy inspirational songs that the CD, entitled “The Greatest Gift,” promised to deliver. “The content on the erroneous CD does not reflect the standards of the Church nor what we support at EFY,” CES Youth Programs director Gregory M. Tanner wrote in a letter sent to 23,000 Mormon households. “It is the furthest from the type of music we would support or condone.” The company hired to produce the CD estimates that only one in every 100 CDs is affected. About 40,000 youths attended the EFY summer camps and received the CD. In a similar mix-up, a company commissioned to produce copies of the DVD for the Mormon-themed movie, Sons of “Although the document is nonbinding, the Church has already implemented most of its provisions,” said Von Keetch, an attorney representing the LDS Church. Although federally owned, Martin’s Cove has been managed by the Church since 1997. Five years ago, LDS officials launched an aggressive campaign to buy the site, but the entire Wyoming delegation in Congress opposed the deal. After a long dispute with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Church agreed in 2003 to a twenty-five-year lease. Sunbursts AFTER THIRTY YEARS in print, Exponent II, a “forum for Mormon women to share their life experiences in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance” will soon be available only as an online e-zine. Subscriptions will be $10 per year. For details, visit www.exponentii.org. A NEW JOURNAL to “encourage literary talent, provoke thought and promote greater understanding and faith among Latter-day Saint women” is now publishing. Beginning in 2007, Segullah will publish three times a year. Subscriptions are $15 per year. You may learn more at www.segullah.org. THE 2007 LDS Film Festival will be held 17–22 January in Orem, Utah. More information, including calls for entries for the festival’s different competitions, are available at www.ldsfilmfestival.org. Provo, ended up including a few copies of Adored: Diary of a Porn Star in the order (see SUNSTONE, December 2003, 79). Third West, Ho! What happens to Mormons when they get kicked out of their homes? They load up their handcarts and move west, of course. And that’s exactly what more than 100 LDS Business College students did twelve days before Pioneer Day as they helped move the college’s library from the historic Enos Wall Mansion on 400 East in Salt Lake City to the college’s new location at the Triad Center on Third West. Donning pioneer hats, bonnets, and other clothing, students packed books and other learning materials into pioneer-style handcarts and walked seven blocks—downhill. As they reached the Main Street Plaza, they circled the reflecting pond, drank water, and heard an inspirational speech from a former CES instructor. Many felt that the sight of the procession slowly making its way west was faith-promoting. Others, in a more cynical vein, congratulated college administrators for finding the perfect gimmick to move their library into the new building at no cost. SEPTEMBER 2006 PAGE 79
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