A campaign has begun in Utah to end current beard bans at Mormon universities.

The campaign, barely out of its infancy, has backfired somewhat; some pro-ban students have begun to patrol campuses in an attempt to heckle and harass their beard-loving peers into conforming to the ban. 

While students who wish to sport more facial hair than just a mustache can ask for an exemption, some students who have sought the exemption have been forced to wear “beard passes” and have been subjected to ridicule and scorn from their non-beard-wearing peers.

The whole situation began when some BYU students began pushing back against the beard ban in September, but the ban was instituted as early as the 1960’s.  About 50 students who sought to break free from the embargo on facial hair donned fake beards and protested the ban on the BYU campus using bikes, rollerblades and unicycles. 

The initial response was positive, with hundreds of students signing the petition for ending the ban. 

However, other students have fought back against any relaxation of the rules governing facial hair, with some having trouble understanding why anyone would want to end the ban in the first place. The student response has run the gamut from those who would like to see the ban ended to those who prefer the ban to remain in place, even going so far as to tease and bully students. 

After receiving permission to grow a beard for a part in a Mormon film, Paolo Quezada found out he would have to wear what he termed as a “beard badge of shame,” a permit fastened to a lanyard and worn around his neck.  Quezada wore the badge and endured so much criticism that, after only one day, he went home and shaved.

Resources

• Telegraph
• Vocativ
• The Salt Lake Tribune

Follow the Conversation on Twitter