And, on top of that, why did BYU come close to losing its accreditation? (Maybe on that last point, it just took the Mormon God a long time to wise up).
In these two notable areas, BYU has not enjoyed a particularly enviable historical track record.
Let us count the ways:
--BYU's Censure by the American Association of University Professors
For a history of how the prestigious American Association of University Professors (AAUP), among other actions, censured BYU for its anti-intellectual/anti-academic freedom attacks on its own professors (including on campus faculty members for joining and being officers in a BYU-formed chapter of the AAUP), see Bryan Waterman and Brian Kagel, "The Lord's University: Freedom and Authority at BYU" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 2002), pp. viii, 12, 12, 14, 185, 231, 308-09. 361n23) and Gary James Bergera and Ronald Priddis, "Brigham Young University: A House of Faith" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1985), pp. 204-05, 214, 218.
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--BYU's Near-Loss of Accreditation
For an account of how renewal of what former BYU political science professor Ray Hillam aptly described as BYU's seriously-jeopardized accreditation standing came under intense scrutiny by the Accreditation Committee of the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools (due to BYU president Ernest L. Wilkinson's arch-conservative, religiously-driven, anti-academic antics that eventually included establishing a secret student spy ring to ferret out "liberal" professors), see Bergera and Priddis, pp. 217-18.
In that witchhunt-like conspiracy to "out" the "testimonially-challenged" and other political "subversives" among the faculty, Wilkinson (with support and encouragement from my grandfather Ezra Taft Benson) had selected faithful BYU students to infiltrate Hillam's classes, take secret notes on his lectures, then report back to Wilkinson. The primary goal of this clunky and covert espionage operation was to monitor certain, specified BYU professors who were deemed to be politically unacceptable and whose testimonies of the LDS Gospel were therefore deemed suspect. Students were recruited by local Provo John Birch operatives and other radical sympathizers to enroll in the classes of the suspect teachers posing as legitimate members of the class, when in fact they were there simply to take notes of what the professors said and then report their findings to Wilkinson and Company. (Bergera and Priddis, pp. 12, 127, 159, 370).
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--Denial of BYU's Request for a Phi Beta Kappa Chapter
For an account of how BYU's application for a chapter of the venerable Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) honor society for the liberal arts and sciences was rebuffed because PBK determined that BYU was not deemd "academically mature enough," see Bergera and Priddis, p. 342.
For further details on how Phi Beta Kappa rejected BYU's application for a campus chapter a total of three times, concluding that BYU's "religious goals, specifically its aim to promote the acknowledgment of Jesus as universal savior, were not 'quite what Phi Beta Kappa exists to promote,'" see Waterman and Kagel, pp. 2, 190. As Waterman and Kagel note and quote, PBK was of the stated view that BYU's "narrow mission statement precludes inquiry. . . . If students are unable to question, there is no loberal arts education." (PBK also rejected BYU's bid for a one of its chapters because of the lack of enough BYU professors who were themselves PBK members and because of the provincialism among the relatively few PBK members who were in BYU's faculty ranks).
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--BYU vs. Academic Freedom
As one critic of BYU's academic "vision" (so to speak) scathingly observes:
"Assuring that BYU students will receive a religious (LDS) education, are 98 percent of the faculty who are Mormon. Some faculty members have attempted to obtain a measure of academic freedom, but have not been successful. D. Michael Quinn who attempted to attain academic freedom in his historical writings and research as a BYU professor, finally gave up his tenured position as a full professor of history and in his resignation letter, wrote: ' . . . [A]cademic freedom merely survives at BYU without fundamental support by the institution, exists against tremendous pressure, and is nurtured only through the dedication of individual administrators and faculty members.'
"Academic freedom is a cherished right of university professors, since it permits them to accomplish honest and objective research and to teach without interference and censorship from university administrators or others. Academic freedom also allows a professor or a student to express his/her beliefs (political, economic, religious, etc.) without arbitrary interference. Without academic freedom, points of view on issues within the university could be forced upon them by administrators and other controlling authorities. Academic freedom is especially important in the social science fields such as sociology, history, political science and geography which often deal with controversial areas. This is not to say that academic freedom is not important in other areas such as medicine, business administration, physics, English, foreign languages and the Arts. A one-political party control of a university, for example, that would prevent professors from being members of opposing parties or cause to be prevented certain research that might be harmful to the political party in control would be intolerable in a university within a free and open society.
"BYU does not have academic freedom as is generally proclaimed by the National Organizations of Professors (such as the American Association of University Professors) and restricts its students and professors from expressing or practicing anything that does not square with the teachings and doctrine of the church. To prevent professors or students on campus from being 'contaminated,' non-church approved films such as 'The Godfather' have been banned from the campus as have such speakers as Senator Edward Kennedy, Betty Ford, Senator George McGovern, Ralph Nader and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
"A student newspaper, 'Seventh East Press,' was banned by the university when it published an interview by Dr. Sterling McMurrin, former U. S. Commissioner of Education in which he stated:
“'I came to the conclusion at a very early age, earlier than I can remember, that you don’t get books from angels and translate them by miracles; it is just that simple. So I simply don’t believe the "Book of Mormon" to be authentic. I think that all of the hassling over the authenticity of the "Book of Mormon" is just a waste of time. Many things have been intentionally ignored and sometimes concealed or have been taken to have religious meanings or implications which, in my opinion, have no religious connections whatsoever. I believe that the Church has intentionally distorted its own history by dealing fast and loose with historical data and imposing theological and religious interpretations on the data that are entirely unwarranted.'
"Since the General Authorities still hold that the "Book of Mormon" is an authentic history, any attack on the book as being false is considered to be unfaithful. And there is irony in that BYU claims to be a university that teaches honesty and truth, while at the same time attempts to cover up all of the evidence that shows many of the Church’s doctrines and teachings to be false. As a result, conflicts between honesty and cover-up are constants in the church’s administration and leadership at the university not only among students and faculty but among relationships with outsiders.
"While BYU has managed to keep its accreditation by an outside agency in spite of its lack of academic freedom, it failed in 1992 to be approved for a local chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa 'the nation’s most prestigious academic honors society . . . on the grounds that its mission as defined was incompatible with academic freedom.'
"Several BYU faculty members have run into trouble with the General Authorities and the BYU administration. There was a great deal of opposition to the university rule that faculty members must have an annual 'checking-up' letter on file from their bishop saying that they were temple worthy which made all scholarly careers subject to the endorsement of non-academic, off-campus church officials.
"David Knowlton and Cecilia Konchar Farr appealed the negative results of their tenure reviews, Knowlton among other things for publishing in 'Dialogue' and 'Sunstone' and Farr 'for her feminism and support of abortion rights.' Another BYU Professor was fired in 1995 'over criticism of the violence in his award winning book of short stories, 'Altmanns’ Tongue.' Still another faculty member’s tenure was saved (he had completed research that 'suggested the church’s international activity level is considerably lower than convert baptisms suggest)' when he convinced one of the apostles of his sincere testimony. Another BYU professor was fired in 1996, 'contrary to her department and college recommendation. The reason for terminating the English teacher was for expressing feminist views off campus. . . . In support of this decision, a university spokesman notes that five percent of her student-evaluations complain that [her] courses in English literature do not offer ‘gospel insights’ and are not ‘spiritually uplifting,’ even though 95 percent of student evaluations rank her highly.'
"One official connected with the university was so upset with 'what the brethren want and what we know is right' that he said: 'It still bothers those of us who work here and must constantly juggle what the brethren want and what we ourselves know is right. You really have to wrestle with your conscience sometimes in cases like this, because if you don’t you’re going to be in deep trouble. There are no accolades for heroes here. You either keep you mouth shut and do what you’re told, or take a stand for honesty and find yourself immediately unemployed. Those, I’m afraid are the hard, cold facts of life when you decide to work up here.' . . .
"Academic freedom and freedom of speech are clearly not included in the goals of the General Authorities. The mission of the General Authorities is to perpetuate and enhance the Mormon Church and they have the financial resources to do this by having control of all income generated by the church. By offering several attractive career-building programs such as pre-medicine, law, education, pre-dentistry and pre-optometry, along with low tuition costs, they can attract promising students to their university. The students and faculty have the responsibility to support church leaders and to be faithful to church doctrine and teachings. For most Mormons, these are not difficult responsibilities, since they have been so immersed in church teachings all of their lives to be faithful to their church and to believe that the General Authorities are infallible. For others, who feel that freedom of individual thought, honesty and truthfulness, along with the basic American freedoms of speech and press are more important, they remain silent. The attitude often is: 'I get a low cost education with a good paying career, and for this I can pretend that I believe in church doctrine even though I know it is false.' In other words, it is much easier to accept things as they are than it is to fight for freedom, truth and honesty.
"Just as the United States Army has its military academy and the United States Air force has the Air force academy, the Mormon Church has BYU for training its future leaders. There are at least 100,000 leadership positions for Mormon priesthood holders to assume including bishops, stake presidents, mission, district and branch presidents, and the General Authorities. What better way could be found to provide for the thousands of leaders for the Mormon Church than to give them a low cost education which not only ensures further indoctrination into church teachings and beliefs, but also provides students with a lifetime comfortable income. And ten percent of this income will be funneled back into the church to pay for continued proselytizing and expansion of the church all controlled by a handful of men, the General Authorities. To these Church Authorities, it is a marvelous plan, but to the average American, who values basic freedoms and individual rights it can be disastrous. In reviewing literature on the Mormon Church, I have concluded that the General Authorities are bent on replacing the American free and pluralistic democratic society with a society controlled and governed not by freely elected officials, but by the male hierarchy of the Mormon Church who would control the appointment of all government officials, including the congressional members, governors, state legislators, local officials and even the President of the United States. It is believed that the ultimate plan of the Mormon Church and its authorities is to take all power to themselves, their president/prophet becoming the King of the world!
"And the Mormon Church hierarchy’s indoctrination program which also prepares leaders for the American government is having outstanding success, for according to a BYU survey of its students, 98 percent believe in Joseph Smith as a prophet and 98 percent believe that the Mormon Church is divine, the ['Only True Church on the face of the whole earth.'] In addition, 88 percent would 'place obedience to authority above your own personal preferences.' (These statistics have been furnished by Brigham Young University, and their authenticity has not been verified). This BYU survey is troubling for non-Mormons who have read extensively concerning the doctrines and beliefs and the history of the LDS Church and are convinced that Joseph Smith was a false prophet, that the doctrines of the church are not of a divine nature, and who believe that 'obedience to authority above your own personal preferences' is a most undesirable attribute for students in an American society."
(Charles L. Wood, "Brigham Young University Conspiracy," 9 February 2009, at:
http://mormonconspiracy.com/mormon-church-lds-conspiracy/2009/02/brigham-young-university-conspiracy.html)
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The glory of God is not academic intelligence--at least not the kind that BYU has unsuccessfully and exasperatingly tried over the years to hitch its educationally-checkered reputation to.
Perhaps BYU should simply quit trying to be in the world and of the world and just stick to being part of the Kolobian world.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2013 02:00AM by steve benson.