BYU Students Can Now Get A Caffeinated Soda On Campus (And Possibly Stay Awake During Biology Too)

For over 50 years if you wanted to get a caffeinated soda on Brigham Young University campus in Provo, you were out of luck. Until now.

BYU students woke up Thursday to a tweet from their school that simply said, “It’s happening.”

The reason for the change? Campus officials say student requests for caffeine have become much more frequent. But what they didn't address was why it was kept off campus in the first place.

Since BYU is owned by the LDS church the vast majority of students are Mormon. And, as everyone knows, Mormons are told to avoid coffee and tea. But Coke?

Some have assumed that BYU’s stance on caffeinated drinks was an extension of the Mormon health code. But back in 2012 the LDS church made it clear that it does not prohibit caffeine and the word isn’t mentioned in church policy.

And now, a couple years later, BYU is loosening up a bit. Law student George Simons says everyone he’s bumped into on campus has been talking about the change.  

“I think it’s a step in the right direction because I think it will lead to more acceptance and less judgment and I think if you judge you can’t love," Simons says.

Simons sees it as a separation of culture and doctrine and in a small way, evidence of a more accepting tone from the church as a whole.