BYU students and employees cannot be passive, says President Samuelson - BYU News Skip to main content
Intellect

BYU students and employees cannot be passive, says President Samuelson

Paying homage to all who have built Brigham Young University into what it is today, newly inaugurated President Cecil O. Samuelson said Tuesday that today's students and employees cannot be passive.

"We cannot neglect or be passive about either our environment of faith or our commitment to academic excellence," he said. "In all that we do, we want to bless our students by never allowing the balance between these fundamental basics to become tilted in any direction."

President Gordon B. Hinckley, world leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and chair of the BYU Board of Trustees, conferred authority on Samuelson in a brief inauguration ceremony.

All efforts at the university must focus on its students, Samuelson said.

"Our common commitment to and understanding of their growth and spiritual and intellectual development is the reason we exist as a university. There are many wonderful universities, and we applaud enthusiastically the great good they do.

"We will try with confidence to be as good as the best in certain, carefully selected areas. But we will not be detracted nor detoured from the fundamental 'charted course' that makes our mission distinctive."

Samuelson quoted Elder Neal A. Maxwell, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ, as saying:

"LDS scholars can and should speak in the tongue of scholarship, but without coming to prefer it and without losing the mother tongue of faith."

He also recalled Brigham Young's counsel to Karl G. Maeser, the school's first principal, ". . . that BYU ought not to teach even the alphabet or multiplication tables without the Spirit of God" and also that members of the Church of Jesus Christ should "be a people of profound learning pertaining to the things of this world."

Samuelson thanked a large number of people for their contributions to BYU, including President Hinckley, members of the Board of Trustees, other Church leaders, "our spectacular students, able staff and administration, and our devoted faculty."

He remembered those who assist and enable the university by paying tithing to the Church.

"This includes the poor and meek who may never have the privilege of a direct BYU experience for themselves or their family members," he said. He also thanked leaders, friends and alumni who generously give to the university.

Writer: Brent Harker

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Geology meets history: BYU professor studies WWII shrapnel on Normandy beaches

June 05, 2025
Eighty years after D-Day, BYU geologists uncover lingering WWII shrapnel on Normandy beaches to study how history still shapes the coastline today.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Forum: Lessons from Noise: Crackle to Calm

June 03, 2025
This year’s Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, Kent Gee, delivered his forum address on the science of sound and how he and BYU students have contributed to significant research in the acoustics industry.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

BYU study finds the real reasons why some people choose not to use artificial intelligence

June 03, 2025
In a recent study, BYU professors Jacob Steffen and Taylor Wells explored why some people are still reluctant to use GenAI tools. While some people might worry about an AI apocalypse, Steffen and Wells found that most non-users are more concerned with issues like trusting the results, missing the human touch or feeling unsure if GenAI is ethical to use.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=