In an age of dwindling resources and increasing responsibilities, the leaders of universities and colleges have a tough, many-faceted job to direct and educate today's students.
But there is no question that Rex E. Lee is up to the job, says Byron R. White, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.Despite the challenges, "in great difficulties also lies great opportunity," White said, in his address during inauguration ceremonies for Lee, now 10th president of Brigham Young University.
The inaguaration culminated nearly four months of planning and came off without a hitch - right down to the gardens of potted plants and flowers carefully positioned around the Marriott Center, evoking a springtime atmosphere and thoughts of starting anew.
"If one is to provide for himself and his family and maintain an acceptable standard of living, he cannot remain ignorant and unskilled," White said. "This is a basic and unavoidable consideration that very likely adds to our obsession with adequate education."
"Institutions of higher learning in the long run share responsibility for the condition of primary and secondary education, and surely they must answer for how well they do their job with respect to those who do seek to develop their talents and to ready themselves for meeting their responsibilities in the real world."
White, who first met Lee in 1963 when Lee served as his law clerk, expressed his confidence in the appointment and described Lee as hard working, extremely reliable and fun to have around.
In his charge to the president of the private, church-owned university, President Thomas S. Monson, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, admonished Lee to reach for heavenly help, to strive for excellence and to teach by the spirit.
"Utilize the marvelous reasoning powers with which you have been so abundantly blessed. Do not forget that a man never stands taller than when he is upon his knees," President Monson said.
"Lead by example, show the way, always be . . . your best self, remembering that an organization is but the lengthened shadow of its leader.
"Let those who come under your influence, President Lee, expand the borders of science, increase the acquisition of knowledge and perfect the ability to live, to love, to serve."
Lee said, "President Monson, I accept your charge not only with humility and gratitude, but also with alacrity. It's three parts constitute the core that this university is all about.
"There is nothing I would rather do over the next few years than to devote myself to fulfilling the charge you have just given. I recognize that it is given not just to me personally, and I accept not only for myself, but also on behalf of the faculty, the staff and the students," Lee said, gazing upon a sea of pastels - yellows, pinks and purples - from the reviewing stand liberally decorated with BYU blue and white.
BYU's progress "has been our historical hallmark and will continue. It would be inconsistent not only with our history, but also with our religious belief to level out now. This is not the time to stop, nor even to pause and enjoy the scenery.
"More changes and more progress lie ahead of us. But while change is inevitable, so also is constant adherence to the foundation on which we built in the beginning and on which our house still stands, and will stand as long as there is a Brigham Young University. For this, my friends, is a house of study and also a house of faith, a house in which we teach by the spirit.
"Working together, we cannot fail, and we will not fail," he said.
LDS Church leaders, government officials, judges and representatives from 167 universities and 18 learned societies attended the inauguration Friday.
Lee's inaguration was higher profile than many university presidents because of his association with the nation's top politicians.
Lee served as U.S. solicitor general from 1981 to 1985 and as assistant U.S. attorney general from 1975 to 1976.