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Mark Davies created
these corpora at Brigham Young University
(BYU), beginning in 2004. The corpora
were available online at corpus.byu.edu, and they were known as the "BYU Corpora".
During this time, people from outside of BYU used the corpora more than any other resource at BYU,
and the corpora were
cited more in academic publications than any other resource created at BYU.
Starting in
2015,
the corpora were targeted (financially and otherwise) by
Scott Miller
(college dean, assisted by
Jared
Christensen) in ways that seriously
threatened their existence, and
university-level
administrators refused to help resolve these issues.*
Because of these actions, Mark
Davies moved the corpora off-campus to
english-corpora.org in 2019, and then Mark left BYU in
2020.
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The end result of these changes is that there is no longer any connection
between the corpora and BYU. This will help to protect the corpora, and to ensure their long-term availability for
researchers, teachers, and students.
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And finally, we would kindly request that you no longer refer to the
corpora from English-Corpora.org as the "BYU Corpora" in your publications,
presentations, and teaching. Thank you.
* This may be due to a
culture at BYU of
ignoring whistleblowers,
as well as the fact that the
primary mission of BYU
is
religious in nature,
rather than academic. In certain respects, BYU is more like a
religious seminary than
an
actual university. As a result, some people at BYU -- including some
deans and
vice
presidents -- don't
really understand how to recognize and
support projects that have academic
importance and
significance, especially for people outside of BYU.
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