Transparency and Strength in Construction and Community

Dear BYU President's Committee,

Can we talk about the construction?

This image is from the construction outside the Clyde Building on campus. (More construction pictures here.) Lasting an entire semester, the construction has closed down first one sidewalk then another and finally an entire entrance to the building. I walk past this every day. There was a moment when they filled in their hole and my husband and I thought they were almost done - how exciting! - only to see them digging up the same dirt the next week.

Don't get me wrong - I am super grateful that BYU is invested in the safety and upkeep of our campus - but I can't help wondering what is being done and why and why now.

Part of the challenge of this digital age that we live in is finding the balance between control and openness, especially where information is concerned. For those of us who grew up with technology at our fingertips, it can be frustrating when Google doesn't have an answer. We want to know what is going on and we want to know now. Of course, not everything should be out there available on the internet - some things can be downright dangerous as public knowledge (example). But not all things, and maybe even fewer things than we think.

The Catholic Church was upset enough
to punish Wycliffe posthmously.

I want to connect this to a well-known historical event - the Reformation. When John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English (and especially as the printing press made copies widely available), the Catholic Church was furious. Religious knowledge and religious teaching were their things, and now the market had been stolen out from underneath them. I don't think anyone now would take the Catholic Church's side of this argument - the Bible sits securely in the public domain. It affects all people and they should have the chance to learn about it for themselves.

Construction projects on campus are definitely not the Bible - they pose no hazard to personal salvation. But I also don't believe that sharing details about them would be a security risk. Especially because so many students are affected on a daily basis.

I want to also tie this into the idea of the public sphere. I came to better understand the idea of the public sphere as I recognized its connection to family councils as proposed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My classmate Isabella put it beautifully when she said, “The ideal family council values all opinions, so does a public sphere.” (See more on family councils here and here.)

I would like to make a recommendation: share a little more with us students. We love BYU. We want to be involved and we want to make a difference. We may still complain about this or that, but I think we'll complain less if we know why. Increased transparency can lead to increased feelings of worth and importance.

It can start small: with construction!

My suggestion is to zip tie poster boards to the construction fences with a QR code and a link: comingsoon.byu.edu or something. All you have to put on the link is a picture of the project and a short description of what is being done, why, and the anticipated end date. Other details that would be great (but optional) could be detour warnings, explanations for the timing, progress updates, and more.

The Harold B. Lee Library on campus does a great job of this.

I have been extremely grateful for my time here at BYU and I look forward to the rest of my time as part of this campus community. I would love to see the growth that could come from our transparency and collaboration on things like this.

Thanks for your time and hard work,
Kensie Tayler
Junior, Civil Engineering

P.S. Please let me know what questions or concerns you have about this project.
(I'm free this summer if you want help.)