A new clarification from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has some BYU students clamoring for the real thing, not just a decaffeinated version of it. Coke may not be healthy, but it's not a violation of the church's health code, known as the Word of Wisdom. So now, there's a move on the BYU campus to finally get caffeinated coke in the cafeterias and coke machines.
BYU student Skyler Thiot says sometimes he wants a jolt that caffeine-free drinks just can't offer.
“There are days where I’m here for 12 or13 hours, and by about 6 o-clock, it would be really nice to walk over to a vending machine and get a Dr. Pepper and get a little bit of a boost before the end of the day,” Thiot said.
Thiot is LDS and from Texas. Drinking coke was never a no-no in his house.
"I was raised in a family where caffeine was ok, so I’ve been drinking it since I was 10 or 11 years-old, but I also know people who are passionate opposed who were raised to drink caffeine is to disobey the Word of Wisdom," he said.
Then last week after a lot of confusion from media stories, the church clarified their stance on caffeine, saying it's *not against church standards. Skyler was ecstatic. But, BYU still won't offer caffeinated beverages on campus. Their dining services department claims there's not a demand for it.
“I thought that was kind of ridiculous so I started a Facebook page to see if there was demand for it," Thiot said.
So he started the "BYU for Caffeine" page one week ago.
"Right now we're averaging about 100 likes per hour so it's blowing up really fast," he said.
In that week, they received more than a thousand likes.
"It’s very surprising to me. I thought people would be into it, but I never thought people would be this passionate about their real Dr. Pepper and their real Coke," he said.
While Thiot knows not all students agree with his stance, he feels enough do to make this argument valid. As of right now, the school has no plans on changing the rules.
This online petition has lead to a few heated debates on Facebook; another group even started a "BYU against Caffeine" page. They have 9 likes.
