Love the Utes

[belli1976]

But this is pretty damn respectable
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/5/20/21265198/mormon-lds-byu-later-day-saints-college-cares-act-funding-campus-students-help

[UteThunder]

I have to agree. When I saw that BYU would be getting so much relief money from the government, I couldn’t fault them for taking it but I did wonder why they (LDS Church) weren’t just dipping in to their $100 billion emergency fund if they needed any help. Glad to see them turn the money down.

[Tony (admin)]

It would certainly have been bad PR for them to take it.

[PlainsUte]

Yes, originally it was announced they were getting CARES $$$, but Universities with huge endowments as well as other large corporations, decided the PR hit was too big and turned it down about 3 weeks ago.   Maybe some pressure on BYU’s corporate owners (LDS, Inc allegedly holdls more than $100B in securities and reporting annual finances to no one) got them to turn it down.

[BD]

It is a bit ironic to use the phrase “LDS Inc” when they just turned down $54 million. But, I get it. Anyway, glad they turned it down.

[PlainsUte]

Would you prefer “Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”, their legal name? Techincally it all belongs to the President and self-proclaimed prophet, as set up by the early Prophets.

[BD]

Almost always “LDS Inc” is a phrase used by antagonists who claim the church’s only desire is to amass wealth. Which of course is disputed given the rejection of $54 million.

If you used that phrase to avoid the longer name just to be brief then I misinterpreted your intentions – sorry about that.

[UteThunder]

I don’t think rejecting this money disputes people’s claims that they desire to amass wealth. It could be argued that maintaining a good public image helps them amass more wealth in the long run vs the P.R. hit that could come with taking what amounts to a relatively small sum of money for them now. I’m not saying that is why they are doing it, just that their actions here don’t necessarily dispute anything. 

[PlainsUte]

Exactly, they are very shrewd and know the long-term implications out weigh short term income.   Maintaining good PR is right up there among the top leadership’s priorities, along with amassing properties and securities.

[Central Coast Ute]

BYU has notoriously turned down federal money over the years. BYU refused to allow coed housing. The feds told they better or else they’ll cut their funding. BYU said we don’t take your money so you can’t tell us what to do. If past behavior predicts future behavior, I’d have to believe BYU would have turned it down anyway.

[UteThunder]

In that case, I believe the funding the federal government was talking about withholding was money for pell grants and federally funded student loans that would go to BYU students. It’s the same thing the federal government holds over private universities to make sure they comply with Title IX since most private universities don’t receive any money directly from the federal government. If they cut off funding to students, fewer students will go to their school.

[Central Coast Ute]

BYU subsidizes their own tuition so my point stands, it’s not an issue for them. Taking money from the government is like taking money from the mafia. Once you accept it, they own you.

[UteThunder]

The LDS church subsidizes BYU tuition to make the cost of attendance cheaper, but students still have to pay to attend. Many of their students rely on pell grants and federal student loans to pay their tuition and other costs of attendance, just like every other school in the country. 

[GameForAnyFuss]

Rumor is that there were other strings attached to that money (specifically, around treatment of gay students) that BYU-P didn’t want to sign up for. That’s the real reason they turned it down.

[Sanders]

Seriously?

[Tony (admin)]

Certainly believable. 

[Duhwayne]

What is respectable? They are just putting the tithing tax dollars to work. The church had a rainy day fund valued at $100 billion. It would have been scandalous to take the money. There were no title IX ties to CARES Act funds. This was primarily a decision to avoid negative publicity and I think they were right not to take it. Let’s not spend too much time patting them on the back for doing the right thing.