BYU Lifts Three Year YouTube Ban

Conservative university BYU recently lifted its three year YouTube ban while at the same time launching a new website to encourage students to be safe while surfing the 'net.

Brigham Young University, the button-down buttoned-down Mormon school based in Provo, Utah recently lifted its ban on YouTube, the video file sharing site that includes almost everything posted to it from the mundane to the truly violent and hyper sexual. That move will officially allow students returning to campus this fall to access YouTube wherever they are including on library computers as well as in campus housing.

Brigham Young (BYU) instituted its policy in 2006 in order to uphold a campus honor code to help students and faculty avoid online content which isn’t “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” That code is based on Philippians 4:8, a New Testament passage where the Apostle Paul admonishes believers to set their eyes on things above.

Filtering Out Unwholesome Websites

The YouTube reversal comes as the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) school contends with the ever expanding use of the internet in everyday lives. Professors had complained to administrators that a blanket ban hindered their ability to use YouTube in the classroom while noting that even the LDS had its own channel on YouTube called Mormon Messages. Though the school has lifted its ban on YouTube, they’re keeping filters in place which will hinder access to those sites which espouse pornography, adult content and excessive violence.

In conjunction with lifting its YouTube ban, BYU launched a new website – Be Safe @ BYU – which has been designed to help students avoid phishing scams and viruses as well as to encourage healthy use of the internet,  including gaming and social networking. The site is also sprinkled with tips from LDS leaders who encourage students to use their time wisely while avoiding those things deemed unwholesome.

Source: Brigham Young University

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