BYU Riot and Pillow Fight of 1987

[Messenger]

Have you ever heard of the Riot at BYU in 1987?

I was there, as an RA in Taylor Hall! I was on duty at the main floor desk when two of my guys were walking quickly past the office. I asked them to stop, they did, and I noticed that they were each carrying a pillow. They really didn’t explain what they were doing; only that someone called them and invited them to the courtyard in the center of Helaman Halls and to bring pillows. Apparently they were calling lots of people and trying to invite them. I told my guys to return with pillows, any pillows.

Then, about a half hour later people showed up at the office talking about a large pillow fight in the courtyard. My first thought was that my guys had started this, but apparently it was the person calling everyone that started it. Before long I realized that a huge crowd had formed, and groups were having large fights; feathers were everywhere and the ground was white with the pillow innards.

And then after an hour, they headed up to DT. We stayed back just to gaze at all the feathers. It was sort of amazing that the whole courtyard was covered with them. After a while we heard rumors of damage up at D.T. So I gathered two guys from my floor and I drove up in my Chevy Sprint up to D.T., but the crowd had been there and gone by the time we got there. There was glass on the ground and some smashed roofs of cars. I parked on the side of the street, got out and inspected several cars with the roofs of them smashed in. We looked at each other and thought this was more serious than pillows.

We wondered where the mob was at this point, as we drove back around past President Holland’s house and up to Heritage Halls. When we made a turn and noticed the mob all in a single line about a thousand total in number. Two of the guys were leading the crowd, the guys from my floor that left with pillows in the beginning! I rolled down my window when I heard one of my guys

... THERE”S MICK! GET HIM!!!

I turned the car around and sped off back down to Taylor hall and parked my Chevy Sprint off campus. I walked back and it was a party in the courtyard as everyone else had returned with even more people than before. All the while President Holland walked right up to individuals asking them to go home, they refused. Then someone on the first floor of Hinckley Hall was doing a Mormon version of a strip tease (just no shirt) in his room. It was harmless enough if someone hadn't opened the ground floor drapes with President Holland right outside of his window. The drapes quickly closed!

After about an hour of this, Rick M, another Taylor Hall R.A. and I grabbed some lawn chairs and got up on the roof and watched event from the roof of Taylor Hall. We saw news reporters, lots of police cars, a police van, and police walking with bull horns telling everyone to go home. They said that anybody going across the street would be arrested. The police did chain the door closed to Harts when they heard everyone was going to go over and get a Coke. Can you imagine the damage that three thousand people would cause getting a Coke! Several tried to cross the street, but the cops with the bull horn said they would be arrested.

After a while the crowd died down, and there was one report on CNN Headline news that reported an LDS riot on BYU campus. Later, all the students got a letter from then President Holland expressing how disappointed he was with us students. But, in my opinion, the real cause of the riots was the stress of the change in enrollment, and GPA’s. BYU used to be a place where USA missionaries could easily attend. I myself showed up without taking an SAT or ACT test, but merely with my Mission Release letter in hand. But that all changed later when BYU policy changed with an increase in the standards for attendance and getting into majors. I stayed on another year past that, but everyone else had left. Some felt that the new policies had not been explained to parents, bishops and friends at home and leaving BYU was a bit like coming home early from a mission. At least that’s how the several of the guys expressed it to me. For me, I was always a bit disappointed in BYU letting down the students who wanted to attend.

But, I will say this, I very much enjoyed my attendance at BYU and especially liked the religion classes there as they gave me perspective when all this was happening. If I hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you this story!

Mick – The Taylor Hall R.A.!

See another story here: http://buckleyplanet...w_fight_pa.html

Edited April 16, 2011 by Messenger