BYU kicked off its 150th birthday celebration Monday with sweet treats and serious talk.
A week before the first classes of a new school year, faculty and staff packed the south side of the Marriott Center for the annual university conference and again heard leaders ask for their help in maintaining its religious mission.
Those leaders said BYU has been blessed by spiritual guidance to avoid the political entanglements roiling higher education this year while simultaneously blessing the spiritual lives of more of its students.
“BYU needs to be increasingly deliberate about its distinctive mission,” said Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a General Authority Seventy and the commissioner of education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors BYU.
“What we have asked you to do is hard,” he added, saying that it is “especially challenging for us in an academic climate that is often hostile to religious mission.”
The two speakers said the course for BYU’s next 50 years demands focus.
“The work ahead means remaining riveted on our spiritual mission,” BYU President Shane Reese.
“What makes BYU different,” Reese said, “is an unwavering commitment to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the living oracles who guide the Church Educational System and Christ’s kingdom on earth.”
Both leaders repeatedly cited a landmark talk given 50 years ago during BYU’s 100th anniversary by the late President Spencer W. Kimball, who as the church’s leader was considered a prophet by Latter-day Saints.
In that talk, President Kimball said church leadership wanted BYU to maintain independence from the government for both the sake of the school and the government. He said too many universities had accepted massive federal funding but surrendered control with it.
Reese said that guidance, which has continued under all other church presidents, has been a strategic advantage for BYU.
Reese didn’t mention them directly, but this year the federal government has arrested federal research spending, which is affecting dozens of schools, and also sought crippling payments for alleged abuses at Columbia, Harvard, UCLA and others.
“I’ll spare you any recent news headlines,” Reese said, “but suffice to say, prophets see around corners. As I visit with university presidents from across the country — some of whom have been affected by shifts in federal grant strategies — they’re often shocked when I explain that the vast majority of BYU’s annual operating budget comes as an appropriation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“They are slightly envious to learn how well BYU has weathered recent upheavals in higher ed.”
Both leaders shared data that showed increasing spirituality among the student body. The percentage of graduating seniors who said their BYU experience fortified their faith rose from 78% in 2023 to 87% this year.
The number who said their BYU experience increased their testimony of living prophets and apostles rose from 71% to 81% over the same two years.
“There are mountains still to climb, but these data suggest we are moving in the right direction,” Reese said.
Elder Gilbert asked the faculty and staff to help students spiritually by sharing messages with them from two of current church President Russell M. Nelson’s talks to young adults that focused on truth, their divine identity and testimony.
“The role you play in amplifying these messages from President Nelson is part of being deliberate about the mission of BYU,” Elder Gilbert said. He added, “I believe the Lord will use BYU to ‘help prepare a people who will help prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord,’” in part quoting President Nelson.
Elder Gilbert said the Church Educational System and BYU have added some new guardrails over the past five years, including:
- Temple recommend requirements for employees
- Mission-fit hiring
- Aligned promotion criteria
- Mission-focused questions in the student application
“We will continue to safeguard this university, its standards and expectations with clarity and purpose,” he said.
He described that as the basic stewardship of governance, but said the real goal was student spirituality.
“How does our religious mission shape the way we prepare and mentor incoming students, design our general education curriculum, inspire research and teaching, shape distinctive research questions and construct unique and proprietary data sets?” he asked. “How does our mission shape the way we engage in public scholarship and communicate our impact to the world?”
Reese noted that his academic vice president asked faculty last year to include spiritual learning outcomes in courses and syllabi.
“It’s been my experience,” he said, “that intentionally and appropriately incorporating Christ’s restored gospel and the words of living prophets into our classrooms and workplaces will enhance and even accelerate secular learning.”
Elder Gilbert said BYU’s school of education had pioneered on-boarding seminars to help new faculty fully grasp the university’s distinctive mission.
He shared statements from half a dozen church leaders over the past five years that he said provided “repeated, clear and transparent guidance about BYU’s mission.
“As the flagship of the Church Educational System, BYU has a distinctive responsibility to engage the world ... without being defined by the world,” Elder Gilbert said. ”Being a light to others requires that we simultaneously pursue excellence even as we maintain our spiritual integrity."
After the talks, thousands of faculty and staff streamed out of the Marriott Center to sample “Graham Canyon Cupcakes” and “150 Swirl,” the latest flavor of ice cream from the BYU Creamery.
They also received free 150th anniversary T-shirts, a book of photos and a BYU 150 passport book. Some threw footballs at a display.