BYU Founder?

We just got out Winter 2006 issue of BYU Magazine and I'll have to admit I'm impressed. There's a freshness to the issue which is exciting. A couple of the articles stand out as interesting and unusual. I was particularly impressed with the article by David McCullough (p44) on "The Glorious Cause of America" in which he goes to great length to describe how American history at the time of the Revolutionary War was not pre-ordained, that it could have gone the "other way" just as easily not. And he cited several examples where a simple change of wind or lack of a single person's persistence could have changed the outcome of a batter or a strategical retreat.

Another article that was equally fascinating was the one by M. Sue Bergin (p 23) entitled "Uncommon Chemistry" and describing BYU chemistry professor Julian Boerio-Goates. Besides being an unusually talented instructor, she is one of the rare females in a male-dominated field and an even more rare practicing Catholic at Mormon BYU. But we all knew you don't need the priesthood to teach chemistry.

One item in the magazine was troubling, however. On page 63 is Hiedi Harris's award-winning essay celebrating the educational legacy of Joseph Smith, Jr. She says in her article (referring to Joseph Smith) "So why do we honor this man as a founder of our university?" And later, "That fact alone would qualify Joseph as an honored founder [of BYU]." There is no doubt that Smith has had a great influence on the church and that it will continue to do so for as long as the church exists but to credit him as a founder of a University that was truly the creation of Karl G. Maeser under the direction of Brigham Young, is stretching the meaning of "founder" completely beyond recognition. I don't know whether to blame the judges of the Brimhall Essay Contest or the editors of BYU Magazine but this is just silly.

File under: BYU