Early Sunday morning, BYU administration officials exchanged a series of panicked phone calls as they realized the promotional materials for the Martin Luther King Day service activities lacked any students of color.
“We looked all over campus for a few weeks, but we couldn’t find anyone we hadn’t already used in other promotional materials,” says BYU public outreach director Franklin Rosephelt. While some may be surprised by this news, it doesn’t come as a shock to the roughly one-fifth of the BYU student population who aren’t white.
“I’ve actually been in a few different posters they’ve had around campus” says student of color Rachel Williams, “I’m think they thought I was a different person because I dyed my hair in between the photo shoots.” A brief study conducted by The Alternate Universe revealed that approximately every single BYU student of color has been asked to appear in promotional materials for the university at some point.
When asked to comment on the student demographics, BYU officials stated “We’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again; WE DO NOT CONTROL WHO APPLIES.”