RE: Cultural Fits
Seems like there is a little bit of confusion as to what Mormon culture is and why BYU doesn't fit culturally in the PAC12. First of all, historically, the Mormon settlement in the West was called Deseret and encompassed Utah, Nevada, most of Arizona, and parts of California, Oregon, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and New Mexico. There are lots of Mormons and descendents of Mormons throughout the Deseret footprint. As mining finds occured in Deseret, areas were gradually stripped away to join the USA and were populated by miners who were largely Eastern European and Catholic. Anywhere throughout the Deseret footprint, you will find that where there is a mining town, there are relatively few Mormons and where there wasn't mining, there are proportionally greater numbers of Mormons. This is especially true in Utah where the mining activity was in places like Park City, and other areas around SLC, which are still decidedly less Mormon.
What resulted in the more multicultural areas was a secular version of Mormonism where Mormon people still practice their religion but sort of "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" in that the religion is held separate from things like your political ideology, business dealings, social networks, and educational goals. Mormons in these areas can be anywhere from orthodox, moderate, non-practicing, or never practicing but culturally defined through family heritage. This Mormon culture is centered in Salt Lake City and from the public sphere you might recognize John Huntsman as a pretty good example (fiscally conservative, hard working, socially liberal, science friendly). This is the demographic population in Utah that is actually growing.
The more Othodox faction of Mormonism is centered in Utah County (Provo, home of BYU). In general, religion in this region is the sole orienting factor in a person's life and all other endeavors whether they be business endeavors, education, politics, or a person's social network serve a religious function. BYU is seen as the only acceptable choice in schools and going elsewhere, especially the secular U of U, is equated by some as being apostate. This was historically a larger percentage of the state but is now a minority and is still declining relative to Non-Mormons and secular Mormons. Mitt Romney would be a decent example of this type of Mormon.
As the Orthodox contingent still has a lot of political power in the state, but struggles to maintain it, the cultural bitterness between these two factions has become very palpable. One way in which people in Utah openly express which side of the divide they fall on is through their University affiliation, and although there are outliers on both sides, you can often make a lot of correct assumptions about a person's worldview based on his/her sweatshirt. As we saw in the recent overturning of Utah's gay marriage ban, SLC and the rest of Utah rapidly moved forward with performing the marriages while Utah County and its neighbors fought through multiple attempts at stays before grudgingly complying. This very distinct cultural divide is why a heavily Mormon but secular University of Utah (academic freedom, no intrusion of belief system into science, sociology, or other disciplines) found a place at the PAC table while BYU has not, and will not, barring a very large shift in academic culture.
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