Sept. 18—Caffeine-craving students at Brigham Young University are pushing the Mormon-owned school to change its stance on cola drinks.
The move was triggered by Aug. 30 statements from BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins in which she said that the school doesn’t serve or sell caffeinated drinks because there has not “been a demand for it.” The ban on caffeinated sodas is “not a university or church decision,” Jenkins told The Salt Lake Tribune then, one day after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posted a statement on its website saying that “the church does not prohibit the use of caffeine,” only “hot drinks” like tea and coffee.
Skyler Thiot, a BYU senior from Dallas, hoped to show there is plenty of demand. Thiot created a Facebook page, BYU for Caffeine. BYU's student newspaper conducted its own, unscientific online poll, which favored caffeine buyers by 10-to-1. A separate petition at change.org asking for caffeinated drinks on the Provo campus has garnered nearly 1,000 signatures.