The Unique Mission of BYU: Responses to Elder Holland's Recent Address

Jeffrey R. Holland is a senior church leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition, he is the chairman of the executive committee of the church board of commissioners, and a former president of BYU. He recently gave a talk that has since become highly controversial.   I'm an alum of BYU, and wanted to discuss more with thoughtful friends.    Now, you should note just how tricky a topic this is. It's sensitive and difficult, and I guarantee we didn't handle it perfectly--but we tried to engage honestly, and that's a start.   And I think we add a bit of signal (not just noise) to the conversation. From my background as a school administrator, I saw this more in terms of "we need to do better" than perhaps any other thing--in teaching, in research, and in the basic functions of the university. There have been numerous talks in recent years that have addressed this plainly, and I felt that it's impossible to understand this talk outside the context of the others.   Even if you don't agree, I hope you get something from it. And also, I hope that this crowds out the less thoughtful voices out there who share my take.   A number of articles are cited in our discussion, which I've included here. The most important, however, is Elder Holland's address itself:  https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-jeffrey-r-holland-2021-byu-university-conference    After Elder Holland's talk, Tad Walch penned the following article: "The news people misssed in Elder Holland's BYU talk." Part of our hope in this podcast was to bring it back to these things, without taking attention away from other things.  https://www.deseret.com/2021/8/26/22639600/churchbeat-newsletter-lds-mormon-church-elder-holland-byu-talk-missed-news-clark-gilbert   The first bit of context is then-Elder Oaks' talk in which he first mentions musket fire language, and also asks teachers to be better teachers. https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/dallin-h-oaks/challenges-mission-brigham-young-university/   Then there is the talk by Elder Bednar specifically addressing humility and meekness. When I read it, it felt like a kind, loving, but very direct rebuke.  https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/david-a-bednar/walk-meekness-spirit/   Then there is Elder Holland's address to the Maxwell Institute.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpUN29orJmM   Finally, the Second Century Address by Spencer W. Kimball.  https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1829&context=byusq   Taken together, I believe that the focus of these talks is that BYU has a unique mission, and that to fulfill that mission will require total unity and a commitment to excellence like we've never before sesen. BYU will not look like any other university--which will allow it to bless lives like no other university.  Hope you enjoy the podcast. Would love to hear you engage below.