And that's a serious question. Let's change the religion of the school and say that BYU is a Catholic school with 98% of it's student body practicing as devout Catholics and 100% of its administration adhering to strict religious principles. The board is directly tied to the leadership of the Catholic church and they are staunch in their ideals and principles.

I honestly think it has little to do with the Mormon church and a lot to do with a school that is so different culturally and ideologically from the other schools, that they weren't sure how BYU would fit in. BYU isn't just going to sit at the end of the table and listen to what the other schools want to do and nod their head and agree. They are strong and opinionated and steadfast. Utah was much more likely to fall into line.

I don't think it stemmed from any deep down feelings of disdain for the Mormon church. I think it had much more to do with dealing with a school like BYU, Mormon or not. It's that same association that gives BYU a built in recruiting pool and a built-in fan base. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you are going to be strongly religious and steadfast in certain views, you have to understand that a group of colleges that pride themselves on open-mindedness and equality might think twice about adding BYU.

I don't really see it as bigotry. They were choosing between 2 candidates and they just felt that one was a better pick. If you were hiring for a job and you had a guy who interviewed that was smart and talented but his views on the world were very different from yours and he was very outspoken and unaccommodating, you might think twice as well.