The Church and Organized Higher Education

[pellegrino]

I think that BYU could make many changes that would make it a better institution. I do not think that it would be good to institute changes that would eliminate its core identity as a Mormon university. You talk about making it more like Georgetown or Notre Dame. I would be ok with it being more like Georgetown than Notre Dame, but then again Georgetown is a Jesuit school, not just Catholic. I'd love to see BYU implement more of a Jesuit model, so long as it doesn't trip them of their distinctly Mormon identity, aspects of which I highly value. So, here's my response to your fourteen points. I agree on some points, but disagree with others.

1) Remove all GA's from the Board; appoint a lay board of qualified members;

I don't think that the board should be comprised solely of GA's, but I don't think that it should be devoid of them. To do so would strip the institution of its identity, and that, imo, would be bad. Perhaps it would be best if they were a strong minority, not the first presidency, maybe one of the 12. I'd rather see it comprised of qualified Seventies. Too much stock gets misplaced into the first presidency presiding over the Board of trustees. Too many idiots think that means that if you disagree with the policies of BYU then you aren't worthy of a temple recommend because you disagree with the First Presidency. Get some qualified Seventies in there who can make good decisions. Only the ultra orthodox really listen to them anyways.

2) Renounce all funding from the LDS Church;

Many Catholic institutions receive funds from the Catholic church or from Catholic organizations. I don't think this is even possible (as it's owned by the church) or even necessary.

3) Raise tuition by 1,000 percent;

And the purpose of this would be? High tuition costs are only necessary if the church isn't going to fund the university. I don't see how this does anything but make BYU more elitist. I don't see that as a positive.

4) Reduce enrollment by 70%;

I don't see this as being practical. The campus is already so large that reducing enrollment by 70% would be a complete waste of the resources invested in the infrastructure. I would like to see smaller classes taught by highly qualified individuals, so I'd say increase the number of tenure track faculty.

5) Eliminate religion course requirements; handle it in general Western Civ. curricula and mountain west and Utah history courses;

I'm not opposed to the study of sacred texts at the university level, so long as it's taught by highly qualified individuals trained in religious studies, not just glorified, "credentialized" seminary teachers, which is what the religion department has done for so long. I have heard that there are slow changes being made to the religion dept. that would move it in that direction. However, with the demand for courses on the standard texts (especially Book of Mormon) I don't think that they'll be able to get completely away from the advanced seminary classes they hold now. Many faculty with no background in religious studies (other than a mission or church membership) currently teach Book of Mormon and D&C courses. Which is I would much rather see the religion requirement changed so that they can fill it with a variety of courses, including theology and philosophy courses, but excluding Marriage, and or Mission prep. If it's going to be a core of the general education requirement I think they should treat it much more rigorously than they have in the past. I find it ridiculous that those who haven't served a mission are not required to write papers for religion courses, but those that have are. Everyone should have to critically think about the text they are reading and write a paper of their analyses.

6) Eliminate the honor code;

As I stated before, I am not opposed to the idea of an honor code, just its current implementation and enforcement. I think they should turn it over completely to the student body. Eliminate the silly endorsement requirement and the dress codes. As is the Honor Code is really just a way to ensure uniformity in dress and appearance. It's as though the Church wants to use their schools as a public relations campaign for how good and clean cut LDS youth can be. I find that utterly and completely Pharisaical. If the students want to have a dress code and enforce it then let them vote on it and judge each other on it. In short, I'd eliminate the honor code office and its bureaucracy, not the honor code.

7) Issue formal apology for MEP 1955 talk and the like;

I have no problem with that, although I do wish a formal apology would come not only from BYU, but from the church itself. We are more than happy to accept official apologies from the State of Illinois for the persecution we endured in the 19th century, but when it comes to apologizing for a racist policy that many perceived as having a doctrinal base our leadership is mum. Who knows, maybe that will come in the future.

8) Disassociate with FARMS, which can become an independent "think tank" associated with the mother church;

I have no problem with FARMS going away quietly or otherwise, but you'd have a problem with the religious faculty that publish through them. They'd likely not be able to find a venue to publish their work. On second thought, maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Axe FARMS.

9) Adopt a formal academic freedom policy as part of a mission statement (probably not necessary at most other universities but critical for heralding BYU's new makeover);

I would love to see this happen. I would add to it that they should hire the most qualified person for the faculty jobs, LDS or not, and they should drop the temple recommend requirement. I would be happy with a simple blanket statement that faculty members are expected to live according to the standards of their religion and let the faculty senate police themselves, not an administrator that is nothing more than a plant for the general board or higher administration sent in to instigate witch hunts.

10) Formally recognize gay student groups;

I don't have a problem with this. I actually think that there are positive signs on this front. It's a big step forward that a student can be openly gay and still attend BYU, provided he/she lives the honor code. Perhaps there will be a change of heart in my life time. One can always hope.

11) Aggressively fund raise for endowment based on announced new independence;

They already do this to a certain degree, I don't know any alumni that aren't contacted unless the have specified that they don't want to be contacted. What they could do better at is tapping into the real Mormon money instead of hassling the rest of us every quarter.

12) Step up pursuit of federal grants and contracts;

Fine by me, but only in as much as they are able to retain their independence.

13) Eliminate any subsidy or favoratism for LDS applicants.

I don't really care one way or the other about this. Even non LDS students pay a nominal amount for tuition.

14) Recruit a new president with qualifications like Michael Young.

Here Here! I don't know why they ever thought that appointing a GA would be a good idea. Bateman was a disaster, the man had no clue as to how academia works. Samuelson is a step up, but I still think that a GA should never be president of any of the church schools. Appoint a highly qualified academic that understands the unique aspects of a Mormon university. That may or may not make him or her Mormon.

[SeattleUte]

You can't expect academic freedom and allow GA's to comprise part of the board, and rely on funding from the LDS Church like a public university does the government. If Catholic schools recieve money from "Catholic organizations" it is relatively insignifant. There is no comparison between their situation and BYU. None receive money from the mother church except Catholic University of America. While I was at Georgetown CUA fired a clerical professor for teaching that masturbation was okay.

Schools like Notre Dame and Georgetown don't even have that many Catholics teaching. Georgetown has almost no clerics.

1,000 percent increase in tuition may be a somewhat high. I'm talking about bringing tuition in line with other comparable private schools.

You can't improve student-faculty ratio and retain the current huge student body without vastly increasing resources. Reducing student body would be done in the interest of fiscal necessity given LDS funding would be cut off, with an ancillary benefit of improving admissions statistics. Reducing the student body wouldn't be a waste of resources. BYU's campus isn't THAT big. Maybe they could sell some of it and add to the endowment.

[New Mexican Disaster]

You can't expect academic freedom and allow GA's to comprise part of the board, and rely on funding from the LDS Church like a public university does the government. If Catholic schools recieve money from "Catholic organizations" it is relatively insignifant. There is no comparison between their situation and BYU. None receive money from the mother church except Catholic University of America. While I was at Georgetown CUA fired a clerical professor for teaching that masturbation was okay.

Schools like Notre Dame and Georgetown don't even have that many Catholics teaching. Georgetown has almost no clerics.

1,000 percent increase in tuition may be a somewhat high. I'm talking about bringing tuition in line with other comparable private schools.

You can't improve student-faculty ratio and retain the current huge student body without vastly increasing resources. Reducing student body would be done in the interest of fiscal necessity given LDS funding would be cut off, with an ancillary benefit of improving admissions statistics. Reducing the student body wouldn't be a waste of resources. BYU's campus isn't THAT big. Maybe they could sell some of it and add to the endowment.

As to numbers 1, 6,7, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14, there is no question in my mind that some modified version of these things would improve BYU as an institution. But many of the other suggestions would do little other than make the institution elitist. I am not at all clear on why that would be a positive.

BYU is located in an educational backwater and was founded and run by what amounts to a wierd little cult in the eyes of the establishment who actually give a shit about the elite status of an institution. It would take more than window dressing in order to be accepted into a very select group of institutions.

BYU is not fine how it is, but it should retain the bulk of its identity. It is not always good to strive to be the top rung of academia, after all it might start turning out self important windbags like Georgetown does so well.

[SeattleUte]

self important windbags like Georgetown does so well.

My plan is simple, proven and unassailable. It's not rocket science or innovative.

[RobinFinderson]

BYU is not fine how it is, but it should retain the bulk of its identity. It is not always good to strive to be the top rung of academia, after all it might start turning out self important windbags like Georgetown does so well.

BYU is fine as a pre-professional school for a small handful of professions. If it wants to be more than that it needs to create an environment where real academic freedom can thrive.

[New Mexican Disaster]

BYU is fine as a pre-professional school for a small handful of professions. If it wants to be more than that it needs to create an environment where real academic freedom can thrive.

I agree with this whole heartedly. I am not sure it should shed the items that make it unique in order to do that (in particular the low ball tuition and large student body). I would argue that it has a ceiling on how far it can go because of perception, which is incredibly important in the Academy.