BYU Students Petition to Name Life Sciences Building After A Woman

After two years of construction, this summer the new Life Sciences Building opened to serve the students of Brigham Young University.  The LSB, as it is also known, does not have an official name.  BYU Students are wanting to change this and at the same time want to do something to change the image of women in the Church.

A petition on Change.org proposes that the new Life Sciences Building be named after a Mormon woman, in honor of the women of the Church and their contributions.

Most buildings on BYU campus bear the name of prominent members of the Church and people from Church history.  These namesakes do not necessarily have any experience in the fields housed in their buildings, but they are meaningful to the students who enter.

Students who have signed the petition believe that the new name of the building should reflect the fact that both men and women attend BYU and that it is time that BYU recognized the contributions of female students and leaders.

One of the leading candidates for a namesake of the LSB is Jane Manning James, one of the first people of African descent to join the Church and an early pioneer.  Although she was not a scientist, the petitioners feel that naming the LSB in her honor would be a fitting tribute to her contributions to the Church.

The other candidates include Martha Hughes Cannon, Ellis Reynolds Shipp, and Romania B. Pratt Penrose, some of the first STEM pioneers at BYU.  Cannon was also the first woman state senator and a suffragist.

The Life Sciences Building is the newest building on Brigham Young University campus and houses five departments in the College of Life Sciences: Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Physiology and Developmental Biology, Plant and Wildlife Sciences, and Health Science.  It has auditoriums, study rooms, teaching labs, anatomy labs, and common areas with computer labs.  

Only two other buildings on BYU Campus have been named for women, the Caroline Hemingway Harman Building, near Heritage Halls, and Amanda Knight Hall on 800 North. BYU Spokeswoman Carri Jenkins says that there are no plans for naming the LSB at this time, but that there is “no objection” to naming a building after a woman in the future.

The petition was started in September by Kristi Boyce, a BYU student. You can read more about the movement in the Digital Universe or the Salt Lake Tribune or view the petition on Change.org.