[81alum]

Actually, I should correct the record.  As far as I can tell, BYU did not actually ban black admissions.  The LDS Church, however, prohibited blacks from becoming lay priests up until 1978, and as a religious university it did have requirements that made it unlikely that any black student would wish to attend a university in which he had to take part in racially discriminatory services.  In 1972 BYU had its first black football player, Bennie Smith, but he complained about racial discrimination and was suspended from the team during his first semester.

The 1978 reversal of this policy has been much discussed as a major step forward for the LDS church and for BYU, which began to recruit black athletes after the decision.  However, controversies about race at BYU have continued.  The BYU honor code, which is very strict and socially conservative, has been frequently enforced against black male athletes, and each time there are fresh media stories about a possible racial bias. 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-...ck-men-byu

Meanwhile, there are now 181 black students at BYU, out of 27,765 students.

[81alum]

Actually, I should correct the record.  As far as I can tell, BYU did not actually ban black admissions.  The LDS Church, however, prohibited blacks from becoming lay priests up until 1978, and as a religious university it did have requirements that made it unlikely that any black student would wish to attend a university in which he had to take part in racially discriminatory services.  In 1972 BYU had its first black football player, Bennie Smith, but he complained about racial discrimination and was suspended from the team during his first semester.

The 1978 reversal of this policy has been much discussed as a major step forward for the LDS church and for BYU, which began to recruit black athletes after the decision.  However, controversies about race at BYU have continued.  The BYU honor code, which is very strict and socially conservative, has been frequently enforced against black male athletes, and each time there are fresh media stories about a possible racial bias. 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-...ck-men-byu

Meanwhile, there are now 181 black students at BYU, out of 27,765 students.