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Inauguration - Elder Neal A. Maxwell

It is a genuine personal privilege, in the presence of his contributive presidential predecessors, to welcome President Eric Shumway as he officially commences his tour of presiding over this fine institution. Of course we can't really pretend to welcome Eric and Carolyn Shumway to this campus, it has been their home where President Shumway has been teacher or administrator for 27 years. No wonder Eric and Carolyn bring such special blessings of extensive familiarization and intensive preparation, including their unusual love of Polynesian and other Pacific Basin peoples.

This is a special institution. In addition to its steadily producing student credit hours--an important but by no means total approach to its educational mission--this institution has had, does have, and will have an opportunity to demonstrate in an unusual way how a community of saints can blend with a community of students and scholars. Symbolically and practically, the proximity of the holy temple to this special university campus signifies that blending.

In this Eden-like setting, 60 different nationalities and 30 different languages are represented on a campus unusually free from ethnic strife and racial bigotry, the very things which savagely divide so much of today's world. This very outcome is part of what President David O. McKay and others have envisioned. Indeed, how does one find a majority on this campus?

Who are the minorities? Perhaps it is the very few who are not yet serious about becoming the men and women of Christ. If so, may that minority be dissolved. Many talk about the urgency of establishing peace in the world and rightly so. There are reams of such sincere rhetoric, but peacemaking is finally impossible unless a sufficient number of individuals are themselves spiritually at peace and inwardly composed. True peace is so much more than a temporary respite from fighting because of fatigue. Nor is peace merely that stillness enforced by a dominant sword.

Moreover, in what has been called mankind's "March of Folly," we see the flagrant, personal defects in various dictators and flawed leaders strewn throughout world history. Again and again, errant, individual follies have been transmitted by leaders only to be acted out tragically in the larger society. An ancient descendant from religious truth declared that in the rough and tumble of life, individuals prospered according to their genius, and conquered according to their strengths, and what was so done "no crime." The wicked, said Isaiah, "are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Those in whom such an internal war rages--selfishness and restlessness for want of righteousness--can scarcely help develop external peace.

Once again, however, this institution has an extra edge enabling it to contribute to the world in holistic ways, including the outward leaven of righteousness to be found in those of its graduates who have inward peace. No wonder President Marion G. Romney spoke about how this institution could be a "living laboratory in which individuals who share the teachings of the Master Teacher have an opportunity for developing an appreciation, a tolerance, and an esteem for one another." Mankind has not had much success in keeping the second commandment by loving our neighbors as ourselves, without also keeping the first great commandment, loving God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. Try as mankind may to achieve the brotherhood of man without the Fatherhood of God, it is cosmetic and does not last!

Granted, what is accomplished on this campus occurs on such a small scale. Yet all who have had much experience serving as change agents in society realize that, before change can occur, one of the most essential elements is the existence of a convincing model. If people feel something just can't be done, they are unlikely to attempt it. Even small models, therefore, can be great guides, for by "small means the Lord can bring about great things." This small campus, though imperfect, is a very important model! The BYU-Hawaii family includes, for instance, many individuals who are bilingual in an added way--by having literacy and fluency in both the things of the mind and of the spirit.

Alas, many more desire to be blessed by enrollment here if they but could. Yet the painful limitations on enrollment at this institution preserve a particular blessing: the benefit of small classes and of facilitating genuine and personalized interaction between students and faculty.

Technology, for example, can do much to save money and to help education. But, insensitively used merely to cope with numbers, technology in higher education could become an inadequate substitute for a wise and interactive faculty. This could lead to a superficiality and educational deprivation. T. S. Eliot lamented long ago about indiscriminate information: "Where is the life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

One professor has said of students here, they "don't just study science, they do science." Such doing would be very difficult in either large classes or with largely indifferent professors. All of the foregoing and so much more being accomplished here wouldn't be possible, of course, if the BYU-Hawaii Campus were not so directly, constantly, and beneficially associated with BYU and the Provo campus. There are so many blessings which flow like refreshing surf to bless this institution because of that productive relationship.

You are blessed with a wise Commissioner of Education, Elder Henry B. Eyring, who wears his Harvard colors today, but whose heart is as humble as his mind is keen. Less important than the temple, of course, is yet another blessing: the Polynesian Cultural Center. Almost all students who come here either already understand or soon learn about the gospel of work. The work-study program is so crucial! We are grateful to the Polynesian Cultural Center for its very important and continuing contribution. As a student's mind expands there is no harm in having some lubricating sweat on the brow. This is especially appropriate in view of the enormous contribution of the Church's tithe payers, so gladly given, in order to sustain the objectives of this special campus.

In just a few years this campus will reach its half-century mark. With a cap on enrollment, an assigned target area, a clear statement of purpose and mission, and a multitude of support systems in place, President Shumway will have the task of "staying the course" into the second half century. "Staying the course" may not sound glamorous, but it will actually be arduous in a roiling sea of global and social change. Furthermore, within that constancy is opportunity. Because of the shared vision of the administration, faculty, staff, students, and alumni, higher levels of accomplishment will occur on this campus. The best lies ahead! There will be even wider radiating effects which pulsate outward from this place as the Lord makes His facilitating moves on the checkerboard of the nations.

"Staying the course" thus sounds easier than it really will be, because this institution will function in the context of radical change on this planet. The drift away from traditional and religious moorings and toward secularism is real and relentless. One has only to "call the roll" of institutions which once had strong religious identities to sense how profound change has been. Christianity has great relevancy for education and vice versa, but there are not many places left where such can be demonstrated. Significant large-scale encounters between nations are occurring and will occur along cultural and religious fault lines.

Competent bridge builders and meek peacemakers, blessed by enabling education and empathy, will be at a premium. Such circumstances will combine to make the uniqueness of this institution and its graduates even more relevant. Thus "staying the course" will require skill and inspiration in the midst of global turbulence and sharpening polarizations. As Jesus foretold, in the latter day the nations of the earth will be "in distress with perplexity." Though happily isolated in certain ways, this institution cannot be isolated from awareness of all the various trends which will roll across this planet--some with the speed of a tsunami--others slowly but powerfully.

The growth of the university's sponsoring Church will bring both blessings and challenges. There will be healthy competition for the resources of the Church, but more importantly, the globalization of the Church will place us in the already noted context of distress and perplexity. How blessed this institution is by having a Board of Trustees who have global responsibilities but also take a keen interest in the entire Church Educational System and in all its institutional entities, including this campus.

God has said He will "hasten my work in its time" and, further, that "all things must come to pass in their time." Amid a final compression of distressing events, He will even shorten the agonies of the last days for the elects' sake. This compression of events will offer opportunity as well as adversity. In the midst of such turbulence, as President Harold B. Lee said, this institution, in ways not now clear to us, will also become "a beacon light of truth to Asia." After all, Asia is the largest land mass and it is where the largest number of Heavenly Father's children live.

In President Shumway we have a helmsman who can lead and guide amid such opportunities and challenges. President Shumway will see to it that faith and study continue to combine here. He will also insure that there is the sacrifice within the entire BYU-Hawaii campus family in order to "bring forth the blessings of heaven," blessings so needed individually and institutionally.

Those who know President Shumway best know him to be a warm, loving, and caring personality. He understands the complimentary roles of justice and mercy. So he is able to do what few people can do: function well at the intersection where justice and mercy meet. Eric is slow to judge and quick to praise. His mind has a fixed set of principles, but he is eminently fair. He is an exemplary father, husband, and grandfather, and he is bilingual--knowing and expressing the things of the spirit as well as those of the mind.

He comes so well-equipped, including his special empathy for those who come out of so many cultures to this special place. Deeply imprinted on President Shumway's soul, when he served as a missionary so long ago in Tonga and still later as a mission president there, is an unusual empathy born of first-hand experience. President Shumway was the first president of the BYU-Hawaii singles stake, illustrating how he is an ecclesiastic as well as an academic. His loyalty to the Church and its leaders is unquestioned.

For all of us, it is well to remember that the Lord sees no conflict between faith and learning as in His revealed words urging education and discovery: " that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgements which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms "

"And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." Faith and learning are thus mutually facilitating, not separate processes. Robert Frost's line, "something there is that does not love a wall," is certainly applicable to the undesirability of building any wall between mind and spirit. The pursuit, discovery, and preservation of truth remain vital for this institution. Significantly, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ adds another dimension to our view of truth.

To begin with, there is no democracy among various truths. They are not of equal significance. These gradations among various truths might be represented by imagining a wide circle. Clustered near the outer edges of that circle are truths which proximate reality. But these particular facts, such as airline schedules and exchange rates, have only a momentary utility and relevancy; their's is a short shelf life. They are useful, however, and need not be ignored. Yet these facts are simply not on the same footing as other truths.

Scattered in the next band inward are more important truths. These truths, for instance, include those discovered and verified by the highly serviceable scientific method. These bless mankind so much, such as in the realms of medicine and technology. They respond to the workhorse ways of reason and research. For instance, in the realm of astrophysics, they tell us much that is useful about the what and how of the universe, but they cannot and do not presume to tell us why the universe exists. Hence, these are still proximate truths, not ultimate truths.

Stephen Hawking, displaying that meekness found in great scientists, wrote: "Although science may solve the problem of how the universe began, it cannot answer the question, `Why does the universe bother to exist?' I don't know the answer to that." Hawking also wrote: " if we do discover a complete theory Then we shall all be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason--for then we would know the mind of God."

There is an on-going churning and revising among some--fortunately not all--of these truths. With regard to some of these important truths, one can be "ever learning" but still never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." Even so, these truths are very important and valued, and society's investment in related education is a high yield investment.

Certain questions are to be answered only by revelation. The highest grade of knowledge, "the truth," Paul taught, is "spiritually discerned." Therefore, only when mind and spirit combine can we penetrate the inner realm of the large circle of truth. In the smaller circle of that large circle of truth lie what Paul called the "deep things of God." These have a much greater significance than fleeting facts at the perimeter. There is a constancy and lastingness, not churning, among these strategic truths. These truths, for instance, tell us why the universe exists. These truths are as personal as they are crucial.

Consider Enoch's tender exclamation after the expansive vision the Lord gave to him of so many things. The assurance Enoch sought and most needed was reflected in his reassuring words about God amid stretching astrophysical considerations. Enoch exclaimed, "Yet thou art there!" Such truths represent the highest order of truth. Thus we constantly need to distinguish between the truths which are merely fleeting facts, and those which are useful, and those which are crucial as well as discerning those which are eternal.

It is the restored gospel which gives us this latter sense of proportion. Nephi lamented over the spiritually unstudious who "will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge." In using the words "great knowledge," he was referring to a particular gradation of knowledge. Jesus lamented that some had lost the "key of knowledge." The Prophet Joseph Smith defined the word, "key," as being "the fullness of the scriptures."

So it is, that for a disciple of Jesus Christ, genuine academic scholarship is a useful form of worship, it can even be a dimension of consecration. Hence, one who seeks to be a disciple-scholar will take both his scholarship and discipleship seriously. Meekness marks both a true disciple and a true scholar. Meekness, however, is not rampant on this planet. All around us in the world there is too much reveling in recognition, an embarrassing public search for status by many, and an almost narcotic appetite for applause. Abraham Lincoln wrote insightfully of these incessant strivings for more glory among the most talented:

" It is to deny what the history of the world tells us is true, to suppose that men of ambition and talents will not continue to spring up amongst us. Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees no distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief.

It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving free men."

Power and genius are safest, therefore, with those most Christlike. In fact, heaven's power is accessible only to such individuals. No wonder the Lord warns us that earthly power and authority, as used by the natural man, is abused by "almost all!" History so sadly attests.

One of the exceptions to the "almost all" declaration is with us today--President Howard W. Hunter. He is a bright and meek man disinterested in power per se, but keenly interested in loving and serving. He once said to a small group of us discussing Jesus' stunning atonement that he was especially impressed with how Jesus, after accomplishing His atonement, nevertheless gave all the glory to the Father. It takes a truly meek man to rejoice in the perfect meekness of Jesus.

Those who search for truth and those who are blessed to possess so much of it need to be meek. Thomas Merton noted Ghandi's searching question: "How can he who thinks he possesses absolute truth be fraternal?" The obvious answer is that truth must company with love and meekness--as exemplified for us in the character of Jesus. This meekness is required in order to have an inspired interplay between Christianity and education.

May this campus, under President Shumway's leadership, continue to show the way by "staying the course." The combination of humility and competency will bring new discoveries and joys. Tens of thousands in the world who will never set foot on this campus will be blessed and served by the thousands who have been blessed to be here!