Brigham Young University

[Steve]

I followed a trail of citations from President Worthen's most recent address to a university conference address by Elder Oaks, and finally arrived at this wonderful talk by President Spencer W. Kimball. Here is my abridged version:

We must ever keep firmly in mind the needs of those ever-increasing numbers of LDS youth in other places in North America and in other lands who cannot attend this university, whose needs are real, and who represent, in fact, the majority of LDS college and university students. ...

Your light must have a special glow, for while you will do many things in the programs of this university that are done elsewhere, these same things can and must be done better here than others do them. You will also do some special things here that are left undone by other institutions.

First among these unique features is the fact that education on this campus deliberately and persistently concerns itself with “education for eternity,” not just for time. ...

This university shares with other universities the hope and the labor involved in rolling back the frontiers of knowledge even further, but we also know that through the process of revelation there are yet “many great and important things” to be given to mankind that will have an intellectual and spiritual impact far beyond what mere men can imagine. Thus, at this university among faculty, students, and administration there is and must be an excitement and an expectation about the very nature and future of knowledge that underwrites the uniqueness of BYU. ...

BYU is being made even more unique, not because what we are doing is changing, but because of the general abandonment by other universities of their efforts to lift the daily behavior and morality of their students. ...

Brigham Young University has been established by the prophets of God and can be operated only on the highest standards of Christian morality. . . . Students who instigate or participate in riots or open rebellion against the policies of the University cannot expect to remain at the university.

. . . attendance at BYU is a privilege and not a right, and . . . students who attend must expect to live its standards or forfeit the privilege. [Ernest L. Wilkinson, President of BYU, July 1967]

We have no choice at BYU except to “hold the line” regarding gospel standards and values and to draw men and women from other campuses also—all we can—into this same posture, for people entangled in sin are not free. At this university (that may to some of our critics seem unfree) there will be real individual freedom. Freedom from worldly ideologies and concepts unshackles man far more than he knows. It is the truth that sets men free. BYU, in its second century, must become the last remaining bastion of resistance to the invading ideologies that seek control of curriculum as well as classroom. We do not resist such ideas because we fear them, but because they are false. BYU, in its second century, must continue to resist false fashions in education, staying with those basic principles that have proved right and have guided good men and women and good universities over the centuries. This concept is not new, but in the second hundred years we must do it even better.

When the pressures mount for us to follow the false ways of the world, we hope in the years yet future that those who are part of this university and the Church Educational System will not attempt to counsel the board of trustees to follow false ways. We want, through your administration, to receive all your suggestions for making BYU even better. I hope none will presume on the prerogatives of the prophets of God to set the basic direction for this university. ...it is important to remember what we have in the revelations of the Lord: “And thou shalt not command him who is at thy head, and at the head of the church” (D&C 28:6). If the governing board has as much loyalty from faculty and students, from administration and staff as we have had in the past, I do not fear for the future! ...

This university is not of the world any more than the Church is of the world, and it must not be made over in the image of the world.

We hope that our friends, and even our critics, will understand why we must resist anything that would rob BYU of its basic uniqueness in its second century. ...

As the late President Stephen L Richards once said, “Brigham Young University will never surrender its spiritual character to sole concern for scholarship.” BYU will be true to its charter and to such addenda to that charter as are made by living prophets. ...

Again, harking back, I expressed the hope that the BYU vessel would be kept seaworthy by taking “out all old planks as they decay and put[ting] in new and stronger timber in their place,” because the Flagship BYU must sail on and on and on. The creative changes in your academic calendar, your willingness to manage your curriculum more wisely, your efforts to improve general education, your interaction of disciplines across traditional departmental lines, and the creation of new research institutes here on this campus—all are evidences that the captain and crew are doing much to keep the BYU vessel seaworthy and sailing. ... Much more needs to be done, but you must “not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided” (D&C 10:4). While the discovery of new knowledge must increase, there must always be a heavy and primary emphasis on transmitting knowledge—on the quality of teaching at BYU. Quality teaching is a tradition never to be abandoned. It includes a quality relationship between faculty and students. Carry these over into BYU’s second century! ...

Whatever you do, be choice in your selection of teachers. We do not want infidels to mould the minds of our children. They are a precious charge bestowed upon us by the Lord, and we cannot be too careful in rearing and training them. I would rather have my children taught the simple rudiments of a common education by men of God, and have them under their influence, than have them taught in the most abstruse sciences by men who have not the fear of God in their hearts. . . . We need to pay more attention to educational matters, and do all we can to procure the services of competent teachers. Some people say, we cannot afford to pay them. You cannot afford not to pay them; you cannot afford not to employ them. We want our children to grow up intelligent, and to walk abreast with the peoples of any nation. God expects us to do it; and therefore I call attention to this matter. I have heard intelligent practical men say, it is quite as cheap to keep a good horse as a poor one, or to raise good stock as inferior animals. And is it not quite as cheap to raise good intelligent children as to rear children in ignorance. [President John Taylor, JD 24:168–69 (19 May 1883)]

William Lyon Phelps said:

"I thoroughly believe in a university education for both men and women; but I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without the Bible."

Students in the second century must continue to come here to learn. We do not apologize for the importance of students’ searching for eternal companions at the same time that they search the scriptures and search the shelves of libraries for knowledge. ... We do not want BYU ever to become an educational factory. It must concern itself with not only the dispensing of facts but with the preparation of its students to take their place in society as thinking, thoughtful, and sensitive individuals who, in paraphrasing the motto of your Centennial, come here dedicated to love of God, pursuit of truth, and service to mankind. ...

John Taylor ... observed:

"You will see the day that Zion will be as far ahead of the outside world in everything pertaining to learning of every kind as we are today in regard to religious matters. You mark my words, and write them down, and see if they do not come to pass." [JD 21:100]

Surely we cannot refuse that rendezvous with history because so much of what is desperately needed by mankind is bound up in our being willing to contribute to the fulfillment of that prophecy. ... Charles H. Malik, former president of the United Nations General Assembly, voiced a fervent hope when he said that "one day a great university will arise somewhere . . . I hope in America . . . to which Christ will return in His full glory and power, a university which will, in the promotion of scientific, intellectual, and artistic excellence, surpass by far even the best secular universities of the present, but which will at the same time enable Christ to bless it and act and feel perfectly at home in it." [“Education and Upheaval: The Christian’s Responsibility,” Creative Help for Daily Living, 21 September 1970]

Surely BYU can help to respond to that call!

By dealing with basic issues and basic problems, we can be effective educationally. Otherwise, we will simply join the multitude who have so often lost their way in dark, sunless forests even while working hard. It was Thoreau who said, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root” (Walden [1854], I, “Economy”). We should deal statistically and spiritually with root problems, root issues, and root causes in BYU’s second century. ...

Learning that includes familiarization with facts must not occur in isolation from concern over our fellowmen. It must occur in the context of a commitment to serve them and to reach out to them. ...

It was Lord Acton who said on one occasion:

"It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts of the State—ideas long locked in the breast of solitary thinkers, and hidden among Latin folios—burst forth like a conqueror upon the world they were destined to transform, under the title of the Rights of Man . . . and the principle gained ground, that a nation can never abandon its fate to an authority it cannot control." [The History of Freedom and Other Essays, 1907]

Too many universities have given themselves over to such massive federal funding that they should not wonder why they have submitted to an authority they can no longer control. Far too many no longer assume that nations are responsible to heaven for the acts of the state. Far too many now see the Rights of Man as merely access rights to the property and money of others, and not as the rights traditionally thought of as being crucial to our freedom. ...

If we were to abandon our ideals, would there be any left to take up the torch of some of the principles I have attempted to describe? ...

We must do more than ask the Lord for excellence. Perspiration must precede inspiration; there must be effort before there is excellence. We must do more than pray for these outcomes at BYU, though we must surely pray. We must take thought. We must make effort. We must be patient. We must be professional. We must be spiritual. Then, in the process of time, this will become the fully anointed university of the Lord about which so much has been spoken in the past. ...

...we must be willing to break with the educational establishment (not foolishly or cavalierly, but thoughtfully and for good reason) in order to find gospel ways to help mankind. Gospel methodology, concepts, and insights can help us to do what the world cannot do in its own frame of reference.

In some ways the Church Educational System, in order to be unique in the years that lie ahead, may have to break with certain patterns of the educational establishment. When the world has lost its way on matters of principle, we have an obligation to point the way. ...

Much misery results from flaws in character, not from failures in technology. We cannot give in to the ways of the world with regard to the realm of art. President Romney brought to our attention not long ago a quotation in which Brigham Young said there is “no music in hell.” Our art must be the kind that edifies man, which takes into account his immortal nature, and which prepares us for heaven, not hell. ...

BYU should become the acknowledged language capital of the world in terms of our academic competency and through the marvelous “laboratory” that sends young men and women forth to service in the mission field. ... There is no reason why this university could not become the place where, perhaps more than anywhere else, the concern for literacy and the teaching of English as a second language is firmly headquartered in terms of unarguable competency as well as deep concern. ...

We can do much in excellence and, at the same time, emphasize the large-scale participation of our students, whether it be in athletics or in academic events. We can bless many and give many experience, while, at the same time, we are developing the few select souls who can take us to new heights of attainment.

It ought to be obvious to you, as it is to me, that some of the things the Lord would have occur in the second century of BYU are hidden from our immediate view. Until we have climbed the hill just before us, we are not apt to be given a glimpse of what lies beyond. The hills ahead are higher than we think. This means that accomplishments and further direction must occur in proper order, after we have done our part. We will not be transported from point A to point Z without having to pass through the developmental and demanding experiences of all the points of achievement and all the milestone markers that lie between!

This university will go forward. Its students are idealists who have integrity, who love to work in good causes. These students will not only have a secular training but will have come to understand what Jesus meant when he said that the key of knowledge, which had been lost by society centuries before, was “the fulness of the scriptures.” We understand, as few people do, that education is a part of being about our Father’s business and that the scriptures contain the master concepts for mankind.

We know there are those of unrighteous purposes who boast that time is on their side. So it may seem to those of very limited vision. But of those engaged in the Lord’s work, it can be truly said, “Eternity is on our side! Those who fight that bright future fight in vain!”

I hasten to add that as the Church grows global and becomes more and more multicultural, a smaller and smaller percentage of all our LDS college-age students will attend BYU or the Hawaii Campus, or Ricks College, or the LDS Business College. It is a privileged group who are able to come here. We do not intend to neglect the needs of the other Church members wherever they are...

To go to BYU is something special. There were Brethren who had dreams regarding the growth and maturity of Brigham Young University, even to the construction of a temple on the hill they had long called Temple Hill, yet “dreams and prophetic utterances are not self-executing. They are fulfilled usually by righteous and devoted people making the prophecies come true.” [Ernest L. Wilkinson, Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years]

... We want you to keep free as a university—free of government control, not only for the sake of the university and the Church, but also for the sake of our government. Our government, state and federal, and our people are best served by free colleges and universities, not by institutions that are compliant out of fears over funding.

This talk is one of several that discuss the role of BYU in these latter days. I appreciate the call to stand firm despite tremendous pressures from outside to make adjustments to our methods and policies, including financial pressures from governments and other entities. I also appreciated the reminders concerning our business of dealing with basic issues and basic problems rather than spending countless hours hacking at branches that do nothing for the root of a problem. BYU is a special place. I know there are great things on the horizon if the university continues to pursue the Lord's mission and aims, and seeks His counsel in that endeavor.

[Tuly]

I agree Steve. There is an "if" clause there, and I hope it can be an example to other universities that started as religious private universities.

[Steve]

From Elder Kim B. Clark's university conference address this year:

Whatever level of spirituality we now enjoy in our lives; whatever degree of faith in Jesus Christ we now have; whatever strength of commitment and consecration; whatever degree of obedience, hope, or charity is ours; and whatever level of professional skill or ability we have obtained, it will not be sufficient for the work that lies ahead. ...

Brothers and sisters, you and I need to be much better than we are now. The scriptures teach us that the world is now and will continue to be in commotion. Wickedness and darkness will increase. Yet in that darkening world there will be increased divine light. The Lord Jesus Christ has a great work for us to do with the rising generation. It is a greater work than we have ever done before. The Lord is working in power to strengthen teaching and learning in His true and living Church. He is hastening His work, and He is preparing the earth and His kingdom and us for His return. The Lord is opening more opportunities for education to many more of His children. ...

I believe there are two overarching assignments we have in the Church Educational System.

First, we need to educate more deeply and more powerfully than we have ever done before—more than anyone has ever done before. ...

Deep learning is inherently a spiritual experience. ...

Inspired teaching that supports deep learning is also a spiritual experience. ...

Second, we have a sacred responsibility to do all we can to help many more of the rising generation and many of the older generation to obtain that kind of education. Increased opportunities for education are vital for building up the kingdom of God and establishing Zion all across the earth. That not only means we need to open up greater access, but we need to do it in a way that lowers relative cost. Whatever we do needs to be sustainable in and scalable to a much larger Church. ...

I want you to ponder in your minds about a church that is five times bigger than it is now. Think about a church that has 75 million members. Or think about a church that has 100 million members. We live in a time like that, when God will do His work all across the world and the Church will spread and fill the earth. ...

In November 2015 the Church Board of Education approved the following proposed concept:

The Church Educational System (CES) will seek to provide opportunities for education to the members of the Church wherever the Church is organized.

The basic idea is that Church members may access educational opportunities where they live through online courses, classes from local education providers, and local gatherings at chapels and institutes. The opportunities we envision include

• religious education—this is an essential part of every program we offer

• English language instruction—from ­novice to intermediate level

• secondary education support—to help students be successful in their local public or private schools

• Pathway—a one-year program designed to prepare students for further higher education

• technical and skills-based training and certificates

• undergraduate degrees in selected fields (both associate’s and bachelor’s degrees)

• and, eventually, master’s degrees

There are four guiding principles in the initiative:

Principle 1: Education—“the struggle for perfection”—is a spiritual experience and is essential for building the kingdom of God and establishing Zion. Religious instruction, gathering experiences, and a spiritual focus in online learning will be essential.

Principle 2: The initiative will be a ­collaborative, systemwide effort—involving all Church Educational System institutions—and will build as much as possible on resources, courses, and programs that already exist.

Principle 3: Instruction will be delivered online and in local gathering activities at institutes and chapels.

Principle 4: Students will access programs through their local Church units, guided by priesthood leaders and supported by the Church Educational System and Self-Reliance Services. ...

We are working with BYU Independent Study to adapt their online secondary education courses for use in an educational support program. In the pilot projects we are focusing on educational support for students who have dropped out of school or who are at risk. The programs involve after-school workshops and tutoring to support students in English and math homework, in reading and doing math at grade level, and in preparing for national exams.

This is an exciting time in the Church Educational System, not only in the Global Initiative but in everything we do. Last year, in all of our programs combined, we taught more than a million students. That number will continue to grow. And the quality of what we do must also rise to meet the imperative of deep learning all across the system—which brings me to you and your work at BYU. ...

In order to accomplish the great work that lies before us and that lies before you and this university, each of us needs to be better than we have ever been.

I want to focus on two reasons that apply specifically to BYU:

Reason 1: BYU is under attack in the great war between good and evil. ...

I hope this place will always be a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit and a great temple of learning protected by legions of angels. But the reality is that BYU is on the front lines of the war between good and evil. BYU is a hot spot—a battle zone—in that war. ...

BYU is the flagship of the Church Educa­tional System. You are called upon to be a great shining light in God’s kingdom. And because you are that light and because you stand for truth and righteousness, you are a lightning rod for all who would attack BYU and the Lord’s Church. Those attacks may well increase in frequency and intensity. We need the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the protection of angels in greater measure.

I believe this means that we have to be ­better than we have ever been. I don’t think BYU has ever been stronger or better than it is now. But where BYU is as an institution and where we all are personally in our obedience, our faith, and our commitment to the Lord will not be sufficient for what lies ahead. ...

Reason 2: The Lord will ask you to do hard things.

This is the Lord’s way. He asks us to do things that seem impossible or even unwise. ...

We all will need much greater faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We will need more revelation. We will need increased spiritual power. We will need all of these to move forward to do things that seem impossible—such as educate more deeply, serve many more students, and do all of it at a lower relative cost. The Lord will break the trade-offs that seem ironclad. He will open doors that are closed. He will inspire and guide and provide. He is in charge. ...

And so what do we need to do now? Each of us needs to do what the Lord wants done in our lives. ...

Sue and I had been married at that time for more than thirty years, and we had been active and involved in the Church all our lives. We served in the Church; we attended the temple every week; and we prayed with our children, studied the scriptures with them, and held family home evening. We tried to be good Latter-day Saints. And yet the Lord said to me, “You need to do more.” ...

I believe these are the questions whose answers will lead us to do what we need to do to prepare for what lies ahead. Here they are:

1. What am I doing that I should stop doing?

2. What am I not doing that I should start doing?

As we asked those questions in prayer, we received very specific answers. We changed how we spent our time, what media we allowed into our home, how we served in the temple, how we studied the scriptures, and how we served the Lord. We needed to increase our spirituality. Through this process of repentance the Lord Jesus Christ reached out and changed our lives. We felt His mercy, His grace, His love, and His power in greater measure. Through His matchless power He changed our hearts and our minds and lifted us up to Him. It was a turning point in our lives. ...

Many, many more of the rising generation all across the earth need to learn and to be taught—with increased love, with greater spiritual power, and with deeper impact in their lives. ...

Then, when we create new programs, develop curriculum, implement new pedagogy, hire and train new people, counsel students, write new software, launch a new project, or walk into a classroom to teach God’s children, we will receive the revelation we need, we will be magnified far beyond our native ability, and we will do the work with the pure love of Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost. ...

We know this will happen. We know how this all turns out. The Lord Jesus Christ will come, and His people and His Church will be prepared to receive Him.

Again, a very exciting time to be at BYU! Regardless of where we are, our current best is not good enough for where we need to be in the near future. I love Elder Clark's two questions: What am I doing that I should stop doing? What am I not doing that I should start doing? Simple, straightforward, and effective.

[Ian]

thanks for sharing. attendance at byu is a privilege. it's a great place, but it's also a battle zone. most of the protests against byu and its honor code are thinly-veiled attacks against the church. byu deserves our loyalty.

[Betsy]

Steve I don't really appreciate the liberty you took in moving the thread's attention elsewhere. I was directly addressing the issue you were talking about in this thread. You may enjoy the liberties you can take as a site administrator, but it comes at a cost if you override other people's wishes. Please ask everyone's permission the next time you feel the urge to do this. Thanks.

Again, my thoughts in response to this thread:

BYU is a great school. Ian's thinly-veiled comment on protests at the school was uncalled for, however. I was hoping that, having attended a protest about the honor code's policy on sexual abuse, it wouldn't lead to my family thinking I was against the church, but it appears I was wrong to hope for that.

You may have heard about this already, but it's worth posting here, that BYU adopted an amnesty clause to it's honor code for sexual assault victims (among other measures to protect the victims). This was extremely satisfying to hear about for me because it is a step toward progress that Micah and I were anxious to see. When we marched up to the administration office, one day before my graduation, I was not certain what our peaceful protest would bring, but I felt hopeful for a positive change. Today's news is exciting and I am inwardly celebrating, and will continue to hope for positive change no matter what Ian or Steve might say.

http://news.byu.edu/news/news-release

[Steve]

Betsy: Steve I don't really appreciate the liberty you took in moving the thread's attention elsewhere. I was directly addressing the issue you were talking about in this thread. You may enjoy the liberties you can take as a site administrator, but it comes at a cost if you override other people's wishes. Please ask everyone's permission the next time you feel the urge to do this. Thanks.

I apologize if you're offended by my moderation. Not to assert it too strongly, but this is my thread and, as Ian pointed out, the topic you raised was specifically discussed in another place with its own specific title. I've responded to you there. If you feel that thread is not suitable for the thoughts you're trying to convey, please feel free to start your own thread.