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Student leaders at Brigham Young University are facing backlash over a proposal to relocate a tribute to those from BYU who have died in war.
Memorial Hall, now in the Wilkinson Student Center, houses a wall of plaques listing hundreds of BYU students and alumni who perished in wars over the past century, from World War I to Operation: Enduring Freedom.
BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said Wednesday that alternate locations with greater exposure are under consideration for the wall and plaques as student leaders consider changes to the use of the student center.
No decisions have been made, Jenkins said, but one proposal is to convert Memorial Hall into a venue for "silent meditation."
"As the student leaders have surveyed our students," she said, "they have found that what students would really like to see in the Wilkinson Student Center is a place they can go to for meditation."
But BYU student Jerron Orton said the proposal is "obscene" and, potentially, anti-American.
Orton, a member of BYU Army ROTC, said he heard about the relocation of the memorial from a friend and spent Wednesday handing out fliers to students on campus.
"People should be patriotic," Orton said. "People should respect those who are in the service, especially those who have given their lives in the service."
Orton was also skeptical of the need for a meditation space, noting that the entire campus, owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is dedicated for religious use.
Students can pray or meditate anywhere at BYU, he said, including in Memorial Hall.
"I, myself, have said prayers in that room," he said. "I fail to see why declaring it as a prayer room would differ it in the least."
Orton said he reached out to members of student leadership after hearing about the relocation, and was told the most likely location for the memorial wall is in the student center's Garden Court.
But the court is noisy and irreverent, he said, and frequently used as a venue for campus events and parties.
"That is not the kind of environment that I want the names of people who I view as heroes sitting there, being basically ignored," he said.
Jenkins said that the memorial is "an important part of our campus," and the spaces proposed to house it are "open and accessible to the public and the entire campus community."
Memorial Hall was originally known as Memorial Lounge, built in 1967 as an addition to the Wilkinson Student Center. It was moved to a new room in the late 1990s and rededicated in 2000 as "a place of quiet reflection," according to BYU library archives.
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