Leaders Reflect on What Makes BYU Unique

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By Rachel Sterzer Gibson, Church News

On October 10, 1975, Church President Spencer W. Kimball stood in the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, to address Brigham Young University faculty, staff, administrators and students in honor of the school’s 100th anniversary.

In his gravelly yet powerful voice, the Prophet spoke for more than 40 minutes to the gathered crowd, offering insights, perspective and counsel regarding the next 100 years of the university.

Now, 50 years later, that landmark address by President Kimball — titled “The Second Century of Brigham Young University” — is a touchstone for the school.

President Kimball taught that BYU would distinguish itself “not simply because of the size of its student body or its beautiful campus, but because of the unique light BYU can send forth into the educational world.”

BYU President C. Shane Reese noted President Kimball’s address has been referenced, highlighted and expounded upon in devotionals to the university by Church President Dallin H. Oaks; President Jeffrey R. Holland, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and several Apostles, including Elder David A. Bednar, Elder Quentin L. Cook, then-Elder D. Todd Christofferson and Elder Ronald A. Rasband. Both President Oaks and President Holland have been BYU presidents.

President Kimball’s address is “truly remarkable” and “prophetic,” said President Reese. President Kimball foresaw many of the ideologies and pressures that BYU and its students would face and then offered “a recipe for how we could be successful in spite of those mounting pressures.”

The main ingredient in that recipe? “Being willing, having the courage, the fortitude, to be different — to not merely ‘ape the world,’ to use his language — that we had to be willing to go out and to be a unique university, not only in the world but for the world,” said President Reese.

October 2025 marked BYU’s 150th anniversary — the midpoint of the second century spoken of by President Kimball. The sesquicentennial, said President Reese, offers university leaders and administrators the opportunity to look back and assess, “What progress have we made thus far?” And to look forward and ask, “Now what work have we left to do?”

In a recent Church News interview, President Reese and Keith Vorkink, BYU advancement vice president who is also serving as chairman of the sesquicentennial committee, reflected on this year’s anniversary and how the university “can lean into what makes us unique as an institution.”

Some of the Unique Characteristics of BYU

President Reese said that when individuals come to the Brigham Young University campus for the first time, they are almost always impressed by its striking mountainous backdrop.

“I have people come all the time to the office, and they see the mountains that surround this campus, and they are in awe of the physical surroundings,” he related.

But for President Reese, the true beauty of BYU will always be found in its students. “They’re energized, they’re faithful, they want to make a difference in the world. And being around those students really is the magic of this campus,” he said, adding that students “emanate a light. We believe deeply that that’s the Light of Jesus Christ shining through them.”

Quoting President Holland, President Reese emphasized that BYU must remain “unequivocally true and faithful to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ” (“The Second Half of the Second Century of Brigham Young University,” BYU University Conference, Aug. 23, 2021).

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Vorkink noted that in 1975 when President Kimball gave his address, there were many faith-based private institutions. Today, that number has dwindled. “So one of the ways that we have to … be different is to not weaken that tie but to strengthen it, because the pressures in higher education is to move away from faith.”

President Kimball spoke of the need for BYU students and faculty to be “bilingual” or able to integrate faith and academic disciplines. President Reese said: “We don’t shy away from faith, and we don’t use it as an excuse towards [not] achieving academic excellence, but we also are unwilling to sacrifice on building faith in Jesus Christ and in His restored gospel.”

Faith and academics are not mutually exclusive but are actually mutually reinforcing, said President Reese.

In his 2021 address, President Holland also emphasized the need to focus on undergraduate teaching. Higher education has become a faculty-centric endeavor that is heavily focused on research, President Reese said.

“We have a strong emphasis on research at BYU, but it will never, never supplant our primary objective, which is our undergraduate education. And we’re committed to that. That is one way in which we will be unique as an institution,” President Reese said.

Anchored in Service

Emblazoned on signage at the entrance of BYU’s Provo, Utah, campus is the university’s unofficial motto: “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.”

The late-President Russell M. Nelson taught that the motivation for education is to be of greater service. “He said having an education and getting knowledge is the difference between merely wanting or wishing to help someone else and actually having the ability to do so,” President Reese noted.

Vorkink noted that data shows that many young adults today are struggling with a lack of purpose. “What BYU can give them is a serious, important, essential purpose. The Church has created this environment for them to build skills and develop themselves as a total person, and then go out and serve the world,” he said.

Then-Elder Christofferson once taught that BYU is not intended to be a privilege enhancement, but a service enhancement (“Aims of a BYU Education,” August 22, 2022). Vorkink said, “How exciting is that to go forth and serve, like that sign says at the entrance of our campus, because they can do that with purpose.”

President Reese added that in a talk during October 2022 general conference, President Christofferson, now second counselor in the First Presidency, taught that the secret to creating a sense of belonging, and therefore combating loneliness, is to serve and sacrifice for others.

“It is an audacious concept that flies in the face of all worldly teachings, but that we have, through our gaining of our education, an ability to go out and serve, and that will strengthen our sense of belonging and sense of unity for the world. So we love this … unofficial motto of ‘Enter to learn, go forth to serve,’ because we believe that a BYU education equips them to serve, just as President Nelson has taught,” said President Reese.

Leading up to the 150th anniversary, President Reese said on campus they’ve talked about “How can we become more Christ-centered? How can we lean into what makes us unique as an institution? And the reality is, while we think that the students who attend this university, that they emanate a light, we believe deeply that that’s the Light of Jesus Christ shining through them.”

All their efforts to shine the “unique light” of BYU need to be done with humility, President Reese cautioned, “and an acknowledgement of the source, the ultimate source of that light, and that is Jesus Christ.”

Although the university still has work to do in becoming a Christ-centered university, “we’re absolutely resolute about doing so,” President Reese said.