BYU's Beard Ban

What is Brigham Young University's policy on students having facial hair?

The university's policy prohibits male students, faculty, and employees from having a beard. It does allow mustaches if they are trimmed and do not extend past the corners of the mouth.[1]

When did this policy begin?

In July 1969, BYU President Ernest L. Wilkinson[BIO] sent a letter to the parents of students outlining new dress and grooming standards, which included a prohibition on beards.[2] In September, J. Elliot Cameron,[BIO] the dean of students, warned students that they could not register for classes if they had a beard.[3]

Before then, did BYU allow beards?

Yes. Before July 1969, beards were relatively commonplace among male students[4] and faculty.[5] In fact, beards were officially deemed acceptable even as late as April of 1969.[6]

When did the move away from beards begin?

Starting in the mid-1960s. Wilkinson frowned upon the "grimy" look of "beatniks" and warned that the university would not tolerate students involved with the counterculture of the decade.[7] By 1968, he began to express a desire for male students of BYU to be clean-shaven.[8]

How did students react to the new policy?

It appears that most students accepted the new standard without any problems.[9]

Why did Wilkinson single out beards in BYU's dress and grooming standards?

During the 1960s, beards were counter-culture and often worn by hippies and recreational drug users.[10] By discouraging beards, Wilkinson and his successor, Dallin H. Oaks,[BIO] hoped to encourage a conservative, corporate grooming standard.[11]

Does this prohibition apply to Church employees generally?

Possibly? Full-time male employees of the Church are expected to uphold Church standards,[12] but internal Church employee guides on a beard policy are not publicly available.

Does the Church teach that beards are evil or sinful?

No.

Are Latter-day Saint men generally allowed to have beards?

Yes. There is no general prohibition against beards.

What about for bishops?

There is no official policy requiring bishops or other local leaders to be clean-shaven. However, it is not unusual for higher authorities (such as the Stake President) to encourage new bishops to remain clean-shaven.[13]

In general, how do BYU students feel about this policy?

There is no reliable surveying data on the general attitude toward beards among the BYU student body. Anecdotally, most students seem fine with the policy, though there are mixed opinions.[14] Some have staged protests against the policy.[15]

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Footnotes

BIOErnest L. Wilkinson
Ernest L. Wilkinson (1899-1978) served as the president of Brigham Young University from 1951 to 1971. He implemented the university's dress standards, established the first law school, and promoted a campus environment defined by mid-twentieth-century conservative values.
BIOJ. Elliott Cameron
J. Elliott Cameron (1923-2011) served as a master sergeant in the U.S. military and was a leader in the Church. He was one of the Church's Educational System Commissioner and helped established several junior colleges.
BIODallin H. Oaks
Dallin H. Oaks (1932–present) was born in Provo, Utah, and became an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1984. After the death of his first wife, June Dixon Oaks, in 1998, he married Kristen M. McMain in 2000. He graduated from Brigham Young University (1954) and the University of Chicago Law School (1957). After practicing and teaching law in Chicago, he became the president of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1980. He was then a justice of the Utah Supreme Court (1980–1984) before resigning to become an apostle. He was made the first counselor in the First Presidency and president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2018.
[1]↩︎
BYU's three campuses in Provo, Utah; Rexburg, Idaho; and Laie, Hawaii all enforce this policy.
[2]↩︎
The letter included the following:
Our young men in the mission field are advised not to wear long hair or to let their beards or long, heavy sideburns grow because they have the obligation to represent the Church in the most favorable manner. For the same reason, the standards at BYU should be just as high as those in the mission field.
This letter was published one month later in the university's newspaper.
- ELW sends letter to parents enforcing new dress code, cites mission standards.
[3]↩︎
The Daily Universe reported:
"Any student who will not meet BYU's standards of dress and appearance will not be allowed to continue at the school," stated J. Elliott Cameron, dean of students. The Dean went on to clarify that all men should be beardless and that excessively bushy sideburns would be "unacceptable."
The same issue of the university newspaper that carried this warning also included a depiction of a student shaving his beard to encourage compliance with the new policy.
- Dean of students JEC affirms new beard policy.
- Photo and caption of BYU student shaving beard.
[4]↩︎
They were so common, in fact, that the student body frequently held beard-growing contests.
The university newspaper also reported on beards in late 1968:
Beards at BYU are taking on a new look. Since the administration's statement that beards are permissible, if neatly kept, more and more whiskers have appeared on campus.
[5]↩︎
One bearded BYU professor at this time was Melvin Mabey, who can be seen sporting a beard in a photograph in the university newspaper.
- BYU prof with beard, MM, featured in Daily Universe article by JG.
[6]↩︎
In April of 1969, a BYU dress standards committee meeting found that "beards that are neat and well-trimmed are acceptable."
- Meeting minutes of BYUDSC deem "neat and well-trimmed" beards "acceptable."
[7]↩︎
In a 1965 speech before the student body that was reprinted in the Deseret News, Wilkinson made his personal disdain for the counterculture of the era clear and urged that such would not be tolerated at BYU. He said:
Certain kinds of people who seemed to be odd balls and had no regard for the culture or responsibilities of a civilized people were first characterized as "dead beats" and are now referred to as "beatniks." There is no place at BYU for the grimy, sandaled, tight-fitted, ragged-levi beatnik. If any appear on our campus we intend to "tick them off."
- ELW speech denouncing counterculture looks.
[8]↩︎
Before making it official school policy, Wilkinson typically expressed his desire for a beardless student body as a preference, saying:
While there can be no objection to a properly trimmed mustache—and there is surely nothing morally wrong with wearing a beard—we would prefer our young men to be clean-shaven and to keep their hair cut. We are living in an age when shaving is so convenient that there is no need to imitate our grandfather's facial foliage.
- Ernest L. Wilkinson says he would like to see clean-shaven students.
[9]↩︎
The reactions captured in the university newspaper, at least, seem to indicate an overall acceptance of the new dress code.
[10]↩︎
Dallin H. Oaks said in a 1971 talk:
In the minds of most people at this time, the beard and long hair are associated with protest, revolution, and rebellion against authority. They are also symbols of the hippie and drug culture.
- Dallin H. Oaks explains BYU grooming standards in the New Era.
[11]↩︎
Contemporary non-Latter-day Saint sources noticed this, and one even applauded BYU for the fact that "the students are clean-cut" and that "the hippie look is almost non-existent" on campus.
- Non-LDS paper Chicago Tribune remarks on clean-shaven BYU students.
[12]↩︎
The Church's handbook states:
Church employees are to uphold Church standards at all times. To begin or continue employment, they must be worthy to have a temple recommend. This includes employees of the Church Educational System and Church universities and colleges.
- Church handbook on employee standards: to uphold Church standards "at all times."
[13]↩︎
The Church's General Handbook of Instruction does not give any explicit ban against local leaders having beards. Anecdotally, however, some have reported being encouraged by higher leaders to be clean-shaven when called to local leadership.
- Armand L. Mauss describes leaders being asked to shave.
[14]↩︎
BYU students and alumni have written on the prohibition on beards, with some lamenting the change and others defending it.
[15]↩︎
One such protest took place in 2014 but failed to result in any change.
- JT of NYT report on student protests over beard policy.
[16]↩︎
Since 1969, BYU administrators have reaffirmed the ban on beards on multiple occasions. BYU administration reaffirmed the ban on September 24, 2021.
However, in 1971, Dallin H. Oaks, then-president of BYU, addressing the ban on bards, noted that the restrictions "are responsive to conditions and attitudes in our own society at this particular point in time" adding that he "would be surprise if they were not changed at some time in the future."
[17]↩︎
BYU last updated its honor code in February 2020. It removed a clause about homosexual behavior.
- BYU updated the Honor Code in 2020.
[18]↩︎
In the last few years, BYU has clarified the exceptions. For example, the Washington Post reported:
Students can now formally petition for exemptions based on medical, theatrical or religious needs. The university says this isn’t a change, just a clarification of existing policy in response to “legitimate” concerns raised by some segments of the student body. Previously, requests for exemptions were handled on a case-by-case basis.
[19]↩︎
Hampton University is in Hampton, Virginia and Delta State University is in Cleveland, Mississippi.
Hampton University's dress code is similar to BYU's.
- Hampton University includes a dress code for its students.
- Delta State University includes a dress and grooming standard.
[20]↩︎
Dress codes are legally acceptable, as long as it doesn't discriminate.
Courts haven't directly addressed dress codes except in cases of discrimination.
- HFC explains the court history behind dress codes and how dress codes are constitutional provided they do not discriminate.