Pu’uhonua: How BYU–Hawaii Has Become ‘a Place of Refuge’

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By Sarah Jane Weaver, Church News

On February 7, 1921, President David O. McKay stood on the north shore of Oahu and witnessed a group of international school children participating in a flag ceremony at the Church school in Laie.

He would later note that the ceremony brought tears to his eyes.

Listen to this related Church News podcast Church News podcast: BYU–Hawaii President John S.K. Kauwe III on the spiritual and intellectual mission of the university

“What an example in this little place of the purposes of our Father in Heaven to unite all peoples by the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said. “We visualized the possibilities of making this … the center of the education of the people of these islands.”

That experience inspired President McKay to push for the establishment of the Church College of Hawaii, which today is Brigham Young University–Hawaii.

A century later, President McKay’s vision of a place where cultures and countries come together — “one in Christ” — has not changed, said BYU–Hawaii President John S.K. Kauwe III.

“This area of the island has always been known as a pu’uhonua, or a place of refuge,” he said. “It’s always been a place where all were welcoming, all were safe, and all were protected.”

Today the university stands between the Polynesian Cultural Center and the Laie Hawaii Temple. “All of those amplify the unity in Christ that’s felt in this place,” said President Kauwe.

President McKay’s words have now been adapted into the vision of BYU–Hawaii — “to be an example to the world of intercultural peace and unity through living the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

President McKay also prophesied that the university would produce leaders “the world would hunger for,” who would be “genuine gold.” And 100 years after his prophetic vision, the university’s graduates are delivering on those promises, said President Kauwe.

Sister Monica S. Kauwe, President Kauwe’s wife, said it is the students who make BYU–Hawaii so special. With the spiritual and academic education they gain at the university, they return “to their home countries as leaders in the Church and in their communities,” she said.

Kundan Yadav joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2013 in India. The primary supporter of his family, obtaining an education has required work and sacrifice. “There has never been a single minute or a second when I regretted the decision to come here,” he said. Church callings helped him learn about Church organization and leadership. He also learned how to form meaningful relationships, and his testimony grew. He met his wife.

As he met friends from different countries and cultures, he “became more humble.”

“We are all just one people from different places,” he said. “The common thread of the gospel binds us together.”

As a youth in the Philippines, Angela May Caburnay dreamed of attending school with others who shared her standards. In Hawaii, she found herself embraced in the “aloha spirit.”

She knows she belongs. “I love having a lot of cultures around me,” she said. BYU–Hawaii “is not just for one nation. This place right here, it is for everyone in the world.”

Johann Faana-Kong of Tahiti grew up surrounded by ethnic diversity. Still, at BYU–Hawaii he found himself surrounded and strengthened by cultural diversity. “Whatever my identity is, I feel welcome here. … This is just a special environment.”

Keni Reid, President Kauwe’s chief of staff, said he thinks of three things whenever he considers the work of BYU–Hawaii — disciples, leaders and intercultural peace.

Creating disciples and leaders is part of the university’s mission, he said. Promoting intercultural peace is part of the university’s vision. “We want to build disciples of Jesus Christ, who are leaders that can establish and be an example to the world of intercultural peace.”

Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a General Authority Seventy and commissioner of Church education, has called BYU–Hawaii the Church Educational System’s Asia/Pacific capstone. Roughly 100 countries are represented in the university’s student body.

It is the same vision foreseen by President McKay, who three decades after observing the 1921 flag raising ceremony founded the Church College of Hawaii on February 12, 1955.

On that day, he spoke of the influence of the new school. “From this school, I’ll tell you, will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good toward the establishment of peace internationally,” he said.

Later, during the dedicatory prayer, he gave further insight into the great potential of the place: “We dedicate our actions in this service unto Thee and unto Thy glory and to the salvation of the children of men, that this college and the temple and the town of Laie may become a missionary factor, influencing not thousands, not tens of thousands, but millions of people who will come seeking to know what this town and its significance are.”

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