By Ethan Fausett
Last week the Cougar Chronicle, a conservative student paper at BYU, published a story about a BYU professor who put a paper on his door accusing students who voted for Trump of fulfilling a prophecy in the Book of Mormon that if “the voice of the people doth choose iniquity… then is the time he will visit you with great destruction.” One BYU Professor, Eric Bybee, objected to the Chronicle posting the article, and took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice his concerns with The Cougar Chronicle.
Professor Bybee made it clear that he does not view Trump supporters as racist or misogynist, saying that the kind of rhetoric that Professor Cardon used isn’t “kind or helpful.” Bybee also said he has good relationships with people of various political persuasions on the BYU campus.
Bybee suggested that articles like this can silence professors through fear of administrative backlash, creating a sort of conservative cancel culture.
He explained that he believes articles like the Chronicle’s, “provide content for the national ecosystem of conservative university-oriented pubs like the Professor Watchlist & Campus Reform, which generate clicks & $$ for orgs like TPUSA and The Leadership Institute.”
Bybee also expressed concern over not just the internal backlash at BYU, but online harassment and hate that could be inspired by such articles. He included a number of screenshots showing people who he believes responded in contentious and vitriolic ways to both Professor Cardon and himself on X.
The Cougar Chronicle responded with a post saying “Professor @ericbybee gets mad at us… for noticing?”
In response to a request for a statement, Luke Hanson, former editor at The Cougar Chronicle, said the following, “I appreciate calls for civility and thoughtfulness in online activity. What concerns me is that he is accusing the Cougar Chronicle of un-Christlike behavior because of how a handful of people reacted to a factual news story. It got worse when he seemed to suggest it’s Trump supporters' fault if their family won’t talk to them. It seems that his idea of how we establish political harmony again is for conservatives to change their mind or at the very least shut up. Sadly our tithing is paying for this professor to teach this worldview to future teachers.”
Considering both Bybee and The Cougar Chronicle cited recent counsel from the Church to be peacemakers and avoid contention, it seems clear that the disagreement comes down to differences on how we are supposed to heed that counsel.
(Both Bybee and The Cougar Chronicle have not responded to a request for comment)
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Trump is evil? Really? Let's take a look at Kamala Harris. She has a long history as a fornicating adulter with Mayor Willie Brown and a affair with her current husband prior to their marriage.
Bybee is upset that we moral people didn't vote for candidates who want unfettered "elective" abortion? That we didn't vote for candidates who like porn and indoctrination in our schools (K through PhD)? That we didn't vote for candidates who think that it's good to chemically and/or surgically sexually mutilate children of God -- even children and teens? Little Bybee has some thinking and repenting to do! BYU is long overdue some house-cleaning.
This is why we need Constitutional Voting. Remember that fake quote supposedly from Ezra Taft Benson that was circulated during the 2016 election saying that to choose the lesser of two evils is still evil? Well, the Founding Fathers foresaw this debacle and allowed electors to vote in a way that does not force such false dichotomies. Originally we didn't have a two-party system (or a party system at all!) and so we weren't stuck with Evil 1 or Evil 2. We were always free to choose something better, until the Gadiantons took away that choice. It is the solemn duty of the people of God to restore the power of choice as quickly as can be. The two-party system…
So professor Bybee wants people to shut up and ignore anything about professors at the Church's flagship school who act badly towards their students or it is just those who act badly towards students who are conservative and supported Trump?