Tight behavior codes are nothing new on the campuses of religious colleges. The venerable Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, for instance, asks (PDF) that students living on campus not attend "rock concerts," "alternative concerts," or "secular concerts," not attend comedy clubs, and not work on Sunday—but only before 6pm.

As for Internet restrictions, they are ubiquitous and usually designed to keep students from easily accessing pornography while on campus. Few schools go as far as Brigham Young, though, which even blocks YouTube out of a desire to help its students live a "chaste and virtuous life." But the YouTube ban might be coming to an end.

In early 2007, a school spokesperson explained the ban to the Associated Press. "We use the filtering process for two reasons," said BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins at the time. "First, to protect students from inappropriate material. The other is because of our limited bandwidth. That bandwidth is used for academic purposes."

The school wasn't satisfied with YouTube's content filtering, though it did allow access to other streaming services that it thought better handled the issue.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the school is now reviewing that policy as it sees more use for YouTube. Carri Jenkins, still a BYU spokesperson, told the publication, "The amount of educational material on YouTube is increasing. What we're looking at is the opportunities that are there for material that might be useful on campus and in the classroom."

BYU is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which now runs its own YouTube channel called "MormonMessages." With the church running a channel since August 2008, it was probably a matter of time before the school reconsidered its ban on YouTube content.

University administrators will make a decision sometime this summer; if the ban is lifted, students will have the opportunity to see people eat for the Internet this fall.

Whatever happens with YouTube, the school's honor code remains quite strict. For instance, obtaining a "beard waiver" requires a student to "visit a BYU Student Health Center doctor by appointment. The doctor will fax his recommendation. The student then needs to come to the Honor Code Office to fill out some paperwork and receive the letter allowing the growth of the beard, if approved. If a yearly beard waiver is granted, a new Student ID will be issued after the beard has been fully grown, and must be renewed every year by repeating the process."

Also, "mixed gender camping trips"? Bad idea.