BYU has added another constitutional scholar to its lineup of forum speakers for the current semester, while BYU-Hawaii has announced which members of its board of trustees will speak at a devotional on Tuesday.
Elders D. Todd Christofferson and Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will speak as part of a panel in Laie, Hawaii. They will be joined by President Camille N. Johnson of the General Relief Society Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Tuesday’s devotional will begin at 2 p.m. MST and can be viewed live at www.byuh.edu/live-stream.
BYU announced that its forum speaker in Provo, Utah, on Feb. 25 will be Yuval Levin, director of Social, Cultural and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Levin fills the “TBA” that was listed in the university’s original announcement for winter semester speakers.
The announcement comes as BYU prepares for a forum address on Tuesday at 11 a.m. from Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. Rosen is the host of “We the People,” a weekly podcast of constitutional debate.
More about BYU-Hawaii’s announcement
BYU-Hawaii previously listed Tuesday’s devotional as a panel of speakers from the executive committee of its board of trustees, but the names had not been released until now.
A similar panel from the executive committee spoke at BYU-Hawaii in 2023. That group included Elder Christofferson, President Johnson and Elder Paul V. Johnson, a General Authority Seventy. The panel was joined by Elder Clark G. Gilbert, the commissioner of the Church Educational System and a General Authority Seventy.
The devotional can be viewed on the BYU-Hawaii YouTube channel.
Elder Christofferson celebrated his 80th birthday on Friday, Jan. 24. He is the chairman of the executive committee of BYU-Hawaii’s board of trustees. In December, he joined the Church News podcast to talk about the state of Latter-day Saint higher education.
In 2024, Elder Christofferson ministered in Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa and Spain. In June, he dedicated the Salta Argentina Temple. In his two general conference talks, he spoke about what it means to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus and replacing any rebellion against God with a willing heart and a willing mind.
Elder Rasband ministered in Australia, Barbados, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand, Peru, Samoa and Venezuela, among others. In September, he dedicated the Mendoza Argentina Temple. He delivered a BYU-Hawaii devotional in February. In general conference talks, he taught that words matter and the way to hold up the Lord’s light is to keep promises made to God and follow his prophet.
President Johnson ministered in Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Hungary, Nicaragua and Panama. She spoke at the European Parliament in Belgium in March, when she declared women were part of a global sisterhood of peacemakers. In June, she and the rest of the Relief Society general presidency announced a $55.8 million donation to work with eight nonprofit agencies to help women and children in 12 high-need countries.
Each of the leaders also represented the church in multiple U.S. states during the past 12 months.
More about Yuval Levin
Levin, 47, an American born in Israel, is a conservative political analyst and journalist. He served on the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush.
Rosen, next week’s BYU speaker, published a book in 2024 titled “The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.”
Similarly, Levin published in 2024 “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – and Could Again.”
Levin founded National Affairs, a quarterly magazine that publishes essays about domestic policy, political economy, society, culture and political thought, in 2009. He said then that the publication strives “to help our fellow Americans think a little more clearly about the affairs of the nation,” and he continues as its editor.
BYU devotionals and forums begin at 11:05 a.m. on Tuesdays. They can be viewed live on BYUtv.org.