Officials at Gonzaga University are moving to discourage students from dressing like Moron missionaries to mock players from Brigham Young University during Gonzaga home games with the Cougars.
Since BYU joined the conference in 2011, students at Gonzaga have developed a habit of wearing white dress shirts, black ties, and bicycle helmets to satirize Mormons who walk door-to-door to proselytize for their religion.
However, administrators are trying to put an end to that practice, according to the Gonzaga Bulletin:
On Friday, Jan. 26, a meeting was held that included members of the Athletic Department, University Ministry and Mission, Student Development, Advancement and Alumni and the General Counselor’s Office to discuss ways to eliminate the mockery and mimicking of Mormons.
“[Those costumes don’t] really represent who we are as a university and it shines bad on us and doesn’t show a welcoming community that supports everybody,” Colleen Vandenboom, assistant dean of Student Involvement and Leadership said. “So every year it has come up and we have been talking a lot with Kennel Club and they agree — it’s not cool.”
Officials aren’t moving for an outright ban, at least not yet. There are also no proposals for punishment for anyone who wears the mocking garb despite the admonitions. But officials are trying to educate students about how offensive the costumes are for Mormons.
Officials say that if they see Gonzaga students wearing the get-up, there will be “conversations” with those students.
These “conversations” come especially after Jesse Wade, himself a Mormon, joined Gonzaga. Wade, one of the top-scoring high school basketball players in the nation, came to Gonzaga after serving two years right out of high school as an LDS missionary. Once he was ready to resume his education, ESPN ranked Wade as the number one recruit in Utah.
“When we learned that [Wade] had been recruited to come here, we had to be legit,” Vandenboom told Gonzaga Bulletin. “Like OK, we have been talking about it enough and now, not only is it embarrassing, but it’s like, really? He’s one of our community members.”
Officials did not speculate on whether or not their efforts would get more serious if students refuse to stop wearing the satirical costumes.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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