“Wak[ing] Up a Sleeping Giant”: Zions Opinion’s Crusade for Independent Governance and Free Speech at Brigham Young University During the 1968–1969 School Year

Authors

• Joseph Boysen, Brigham Young University - Provo

Keywords

student activism and university governance, Brigham Young University student dissent, underground student newspapers

Abstract

In 1968, university and college students across the United States demanded a larger voice in university governance. Sit-ins, rallies, and demonstrations were common, whether for civil rights, free speech, women’s rights, or against the Vietnam war and the draft. For instance, students took over the office of the President of Columbia University to protest the University’s appropriation of land that might have benefited the Black community. In this context, the students at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, had the chance to consider how they were going to pursue their own calls for change. Although they did not engage in the same kind of direct and disruptive protests, BYU students found other ways to express their dissatisfaction with the university administration. One group of students expressed their views by creating an unsanctioned newspaper, Zions Opinion. “Zion’s Opinion feels that there is a better approach,” its editors declared. “It feels that BYU, its students and faculty, are different. It feels that they can be trusted to intelligently discuss and solve problems, to calmly bring about change and needed progress.” In this article, these students took a different approach than the disruptive methods used at other universities. Nevertheless, BYU administrators forced the paper underground because they saw any critique of university governance as a threat to both the stability and values of the institution.

Recommended Citation

Boysen, Joseph (2026) "“Wak[ing] Up a Sleeping Giant”: Zions Opinion’s Crusade for Independent Governance and Free Speech at Brigham Young University During the 1968–1969 School Year," The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 55: Iss. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol55/iss1/5