Comments about ‘BYU professors have eye on pontiff’

Confused about some of the facts/comparisons you mentioned. You used percentages to demonstrate the number of minority students enrolled at BYU yet numbers for Notre Dame. Also, are the ONLY minority students at Norte Dame Hispanic? Just wondering why only that minority was singled out?

I am disappointed at the incredibly low numbers of minority and international students at BYU over the past decade. An increase of 1,600 more minorities and approx. 2500 international students in a church that grew by 3 million over the same ten years, mostly in non-white and non US areas is not acceptable. How do we expect these people to learn or how can they help us learn if we stay each in our home country? They have much to teach us from their diversity of experience and here we sit in our classrooms with 90% from the same background. BYU is really missing something here. How can we start scholarships for these kids and put pressure on admissions to change perspective??

A better comparison of the religious higher education system between the LDS church and the Catholic faith would be between BYU and the Catholic University of America, where todays speech is being held. Notre Dame is much different than the national Catholic University of the United States, the only one that is specifically tied to the Vatican, in much the same way that BYU has a direct connection with the formal leadership of the LDS church. Notre Dame on the other hand functions as a seperate institution led by a religious order who are free, although unlikely, to disagree with Catholic doctrine, whereas Catholic University is bound by papal charter to express the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. BYU also is charged with upholding and expressing the beliefs of the LDS church as its offical University. Notre Dame does not carry that responsibility or privilage. Perhaps before comparing Apples to Oranges it would be prudent to research the subject matter a little more thoroughly.

Hopefully they might learn something.

I just want BYU to continue playing ND in football. It would have been nice to play them last year considering they had the worst team in history. It just gives me goosebumps to watch BYU play ND. I have a HIGH respect for ND as a Mormon. Ive been to their campus and everyone treats you with repect. Great Academic institution.

Number:

You assume international students want or can come to the States for school. The opportunity to get international student visa has fallen greatly since 9/11, it is a great burden. Then on top of that you then have to deal with the economic difficulty. I think you are right in that we all can benefit from learning about others and new cultures, but all schools are suffering from a drop in international enrollment. It isn't what is used to be.

I am proud of BYU and their standards. Also being the most stone-cold-sober of the Universities is something to behold. I trust the administration and brethren to maintain the standards and to improve the academics and enrollment in the way it should go.

There's a pretty interesting phenomenon in South Bend that was not reported in this story. Several years ago, some very capable and bright LDS graduate students made their way to the Mendoza School of Business at Notre Dame to pursue MBAs. They had a very positive experience and made some great friends among their Catholic classmates. That pipeline has continued into other professional schools at ND and you would be surprised to find out how many Mormon students are thriving at, arguably, the world's finest and most recognizable Catholic university. Go Irish!

With the BYU being a commemerative to the biggest polygamist in America it is understandable why few non mormons desire to attend.

"I would imagine there are some nervous people in Catholic academic circles right now, wondering if he is going to announce further restrictions," Peterson said. He is also on the directors council of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

Sorry, but that paragraph was poorly worded enough to cause me to do a double take. At first glance is looked like it was saying the the Pope was "on the directors council of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship."

''Numbers'' doesn't take into account that many foreign members have very low education levels preventing them from being prepared academically. Over time that will change, especially with programs like the Church's Perpetual Educ. Fund.

CUA Student has it exactly right. CUA and BYU is a much better comparison than Notre Dame. CUA & BYU have legal exemptions as religious organizations that other universities, including Notre Dame, do not.

On BYU's statement of academic freedom, it speaks more to the university's right to be distinctively LDS than it does to a professor's right to freedom within the classroom. The university's right trumps all.

Catholics are great people and so is their religion. We love the Pope.

Numbers: I imagine expense is an issue with international students. The Perpetual Education Fund serves many of these people very well. Actually, I feel that BYU has done a very good job attracting international students. My experience has been that the BYU student body is quite diverse; I had no trouble meeting international students and that was 20 years ago. In addition, BYU has an english language school. These are students are at BYU, but are not regular matriculated students (i.e. not counted in the statistics). Many are there so that they can learn enough english to pass the TOEFL test to get accepted by BYU. Also, there are many good schools in the world; BYU cannot and should not be expected to fill all the needs of every member of the church worldwide.

RE: Numbers,

So you are saying you want BYU to accept every minority that applies to the school so we can learn from them? First of all how do you know minority students in your faith even want to attend BYU? You are assuming way too much. There are other schools besides BYU that minority students of your faith want to attend. What if the minority students you are referring to don't have the grades to get into BYU what then? It is not a change of perspective NUMBERS it is keeping standards the same throughout the admissions process no matter if they are a minority or not.

Hey Numbers,

Diversity schmiversity. Everyone knows that "promoting diversity" equals white guilt. I'm tired of hearing about "diversity." Anyway, if you do the math, about 13 percent of BYU students are minorities. I'd like to see the ratio of white to minorities among applicants, because I bet it's not much different from the actual student population at BYU. Pushing more minorities into an institution solely for the sake of "diversity" is a crock. All the white kids at BYU have earned their way into BYU, just like all the minorities at BYU have earned their way their--at least I hope they have, and haven't gotten into BYU in the way you seem to want, which is letting them in just because they're "diverse."

Hopefully (but I doubt it) the profs will pay attention to the Pontiff while he's in America.

Especially when he stresses interdependence - not isolationism.

As a graduate of BYU and Gonzaga University and now a current Catholic High School teacher, I can say that the main difference between a Catholic Education and BYU is the lack of academic freedom. Catholic professors and teachers are allowed to disagree publicly with Church doctrine among friends and in the classroom. For example, I am pro-choice and support the right for gay men and women to be married. I also believe that women should be treated the same as men in all situations, including the priesthood. These beliefs are antithetical to Catholic teaching, but I am still allowed to hold and espouse them without fear of losing my job.

Having matriculated at five instutions of higher education (located in the East, Midwest, and West) and graduating from four of them, I was too busy trying to get myself through school to worry about how many "diverse" groups were there. And they had absolutely no bearing on my ability to have a successful career, for 30 years, in my chosen profession.

I completely agree with the Catholic University student's remarks. The reporter for this story missed an enormous opportunity to report on Catholic University's student body and approach to "Catholic" education, as it is the only institute of higher learning directly affiliated with the Vatican. While Notre Dame may be more widely known, it is hardly the one that should have been referenced in this article.

As to Pope Benedict's reputation as being the "the enforcer of orthodoxy" -- that was his role when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. Now that his role has changed from Cardinal to Pontiff, so has his demeanor and approach. Again, another missed opportunity for a complete story.