Brigham Young University–Hawaii
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Brigham Young University–Hawaii (BYU–Hawaii) is a
private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grant (money ...
in
Laie, Hawaii Laie ( haw, Lāie, ) is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the Koolauloa District on the island of Oahu () in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, means " leaf" ( is a climbing screwpine: ''Freycinetia arborea''). The p ...
. It is owned and operated by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church). BYU-Hawaii was founded in 1955, and became a satellite campus of
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
(BYU) in 1974. In 2004, it was made a separate institution. The university's sole focus is on
undergraduate education Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
. The university is broadly organized into four colleges, and its parent organization, the Church Educational System (CES), sponsors sister schools in
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
and
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
. Approximately 97 percent of the university's 2,800 students are members of the LDS Church. BYU-Hawaii students are required to follow an honor code, which requires behavior in line with LDS teachings (e.g.,
academic honesty Academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, academic fraud and academic integrity are related concepts that refer to various actions on the part of students that go against the expected norms of a school, university or other learning institution. D ...
, adherence to dress and grooming standards, and abstinence from
extramarital sex Extramarital sex occurs when a married person engages in sexual activity with someone other than their spouse. The term may be applied to the situation of a single person having sex with a married person. Where extramarital sexual relations do n ...
and from the consumption of drugs and alcohol). A BYU-Hawaii education is less expensive than similar private universities since a large portion of tuition is funded by LDS Church
tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...
funds. The university partners with the LDS Church-owned
Polynesian Cultural Center The Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) is a family-centered cultural tourist attraction and living museum located in Laie, on the northern shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The PCC is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), wa ...
, the largest
living museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recrea ...
in the State of Hawaii, which employs roughly one third of the student body.


History

The LDS Church was established in the islands in 1850 following the
Edict of Toleration An edict of toleration is a declaration, made by a government or ruler, and states that members of a given religion will not be persecuted for engaging in their religious practices and traditions. The edict implies tacit acceptance of the religion ...
promulgated by
Kamehameha III Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K ...
, giving the underground Hawai‘i Catholic Church the right to worship, while at the same time allowing other faith traditions to begin establishing themselves. By 1919, the church was prominent enough in the area to build a
temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
in
Laie Laie ( haw, Lāie, ) is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the Koolauloa District on the island of Oahu () in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, means " leaf" ( is a climbing screwpine: ''Freycinetia arborea''). The p ...
. Two years after the temple was dedicated then- LDS Church apostle
David O. McKay David Oman McKay (September 8, 1873 – January 18, 1970) was an American religious leader and educator who served as the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1951 until his death in 1970. Ordain ...
stated the church would build a school in the area in the future. In 1951, McKay, as church president, began preliminary plans on the school, and in 1954 ground was broken for the new institution. Classes began at BYU-Hawaii in September 1955 as the Church College of Hawaii to accommodate the burgeoning LDS population in the Territory of Hawai‘i. This was largely a result of McKay's views on both education and strengthening the church outside of its longtime intermountain west U.S. base. The original class consisted of 153 students and 20 faculty meeting in old
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
buildings, with Reuben D. Law as the school's first president. The school's first buildings were dedicated on December 17, 1958. The college was at first a two-year college but was reorganized in 1959 to become a four-year college. By 1961 the college had been granted four-year accreditation by the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing School accreditation, accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary school, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, ...
. Dormitories, a cafeteria, and other buildings had also been constructed. LDS elders established the
Polynesian Cultural Center The Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) is a family-centered cultural tourist attraction and living museum located in Laie, on the northern shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The PCC is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), wa ...
in November 1963 as a means of preserving the Pacific cultures that the Latter-day Saints had encountered in their
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
work. In the 1970s, the school was also used to teach LDS missionaries pacific languages and cultures before going out to the islands. The center also provided jobs for students of the college. In 1974, the Church College of Hawaii was renamed Brigham Young University–Hawaii by the Church Board of Education and began reporting to the president of BYU in Provo, Utah. The school was governed as a satellite campus of BYU until 2004, when it was announced that the school would report directly to the
Commissioner of Church Education The Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, sec ...
. In 2007, Steven C. Wheelwright was appointed the university's president. On May 12, 2015,
Russell M. Nelson Russell Marion Nelson Sr. (born September 9, 1924) is an American religious leader and retired surgeon who is the 17th and current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Nelson was a member of the LDS Church ...
, chairman of the Executive Committee of the BYU-Hawaii Board of Trustees announced that effective July 27, 2015,
John S. Tanner John Sumners Tanner (born September 22, 1944) is a former American politician who served as the U.S. representative for , serving from 1989 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Since his retirement, Tanner has served as the Vice ...
would succeed Wheelwright as president. On May 12, 2020,
Jeffrey R. Holland Jeffrey Roy Holland (born December 3, 1940) is an American educator and religious leader. He served as the List of presidents of Brigham Young University, ninth President of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is a member of the Quorum of the Twe ...
, chairman of the Executive Committee of the BYU-Hawaii Board of Trustees, announced that Tanner would be succeeded as the institution's president by John S. K. Kauwe III on July 1, 2020. Kauwe becomes the university's 11th president.


Campus

BYU-Hawaii is located in Laie on the north shore of Oahu, about north of Honolulu. The campus covers between the mountains and the ocean shore. Dormitories, known as 'Hales', located on the south end of campus are capable of providing room and board for over 1,200 students. The Temple View Apartments provide housing for married students. These apartments are next to the
Laie Hawaii Temple Laie Hawaii Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) located on the northeast shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The temple sits on a small hill, half a mile from the Pacific Ocean, in the town of ...
which is located directly adjacent to the campus. The school's library is the two-story Joseph F. Smith Library.


Academics


Admissions and demographics

LDS students pay less for tuition than non-LDS students. Students who have been on LDS missions and have attended LDS seminary or
institute An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...
classes are also given particular consideration. However, LDS Church membership is not a requirement for attendance. Students are typically expected to have had at least a B average in high school, and an ACT score of 26 or
SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
score of 1130 or above. Non-native English speakers must receive a 61 or higher on the IBT
TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL ) is a standardized test to measure the English language ability of non-native speakers wishing to enroll in English-speaking universities. The test is accepted by more than 11,000 universities a ...
(500 on the paper test), a 5.5 on IELTS, or 75+ on the Michigan language test. BYU-Hawaii has a higher percentage of international students than any other baccalaureate institution in the United States, with 2,039 international students from 70 different countries which comprises approximately 65% percent of total enrollment. Approximately 97% of the student body are LDS Church members.


Organization

BYU–Hawaii offers 50 bachelor's degree programs, with a 15:1 student/faculty ratio. The school also offers a few unique majors, including Hawaiian Studies, International Business Management, Pacific Islands Studies, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). In Fall 2018, BYU–Hawaii restructured its academic organization from four colleges to seven faculty units. The programs under the former colleges were divided among the following seven faculty units: * Arts & Letters: Communication, Media, and Culture, English, Film, Visual Arts * Business & Government: Accounting, Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Political Science, Hospitality & Tourism Management * Culture, Language & Performing Arts: Anthropology and Cultural Sustainability, Hawaiian Studies, History, Integrated Humanities, Intercultural Peacebuilding, Music, Pacific Island Studies, Theatre, World Languages * Education & Social Work: English as an International Language, Social Work, Teacher Education, TESOL * Math & Computing: Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Mathematics * Religious Education * Sciences: Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Exercise and Sport Science, Psychology, Physical Science, Physics


Athletics

BYU-Hawaii formerly competed in the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
(
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
) Division II as a member of the
Pacific West Conference The Pacific West Conference (also known as the PacWest) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in California and Hawaii. T ...
. The "Seasiders" competed in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross-country, men's and women's golf, softball, men's and women's tennis, volleyball, and men's and women's soccer. Over its history, the school won two women's volleyball and eleven tennis championships (two men's and nine women's, along with one women's NCAA championship). In its early days, BYU-Hawaii also won a National Rugby Championship in 1967, as declared by the
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Rugby Union. Basketball and volleyball games were held in the
George Q. Cannon George Quayle Cannon (January 11, 1827 – April 12, 1901) was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and served in the First Presidency under four successive pr ...
Activities Center. The campus has several tennis courts, an outdoor swimming pool, and soccer and softball fields. Most conference home games in volleyball and women's basketball, as well as additional home games in men's basketball, were broadcast live around the world on BYUtv Sports. On March 28, 2014, the university announced that the athletics program would be phased out over the next three years, with money spent on athletics to be used to provide educational opportunities for an additional 500 students. The transition impacted all eleven (11) intercollegiate teams, including: men's/women's basketball, men's/women's cross country, men's golf, men's/women's soccer, softball, men's/women's tennis, and women's volleyball. Athletics at BYU-Hawaii ended following the spring sports in 2017.


Student life


LDS atmosphere

According to BYU-Hawaii's vision outlined by then-LDS Church president David O. McKay in 1955, the school "exists to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life and in their efforts to influence the establishment of peace internationally." All students are required to take religion classes as part of their curriculum and to attend Sunday church meetings, both LDS and non-LDS. In addition, class schedules are arranged to allow devotionals to be held weekly for the students to attend. Students from all walks of life are encouraged to learn from and strengthen each other as they all strive to further their education. A variety of clubs and campus organizations are available to participate in.


Honor code

All students and faculty, regardless of religion, are required to agree to adhere to an honor code, officially known as the CES Honor Code, but often referred to as the BYU Honor Code. Early forms of the BYU Honor Code are found as far back as the days of the
Brigham Young Academy Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
and educator Karl G. Maeser. Maeser created the "Domestic Organization," which was a group of teachers who would visit students at their homes to see that they were following the schools moral rules prohibiting premarital sex, obscenity, profanity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. The Honor Code itself was created in 1940 at BYU and was used mainly for cases of cheating and
academic dishonesty Academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, academic fraud and academic integrity are related concepts that refer to various actions on the part of students that go against the expected norms of a school, university or other learning institution. D ...
. Ernest L. Wilkinson expanded the Honor Code in 1957 to include other school standards. (At this time, Wilkinson, as President of BYU, had some authority over BYU–Hawaii as well.) This led to the Honor Code today: rules regarding chastity, dress, grooming, drugs and alcohol. A signed commitment to live the honor code is part of the application process and must be adhered by all students, faculty, and staff. Students and faculty found in violation of standards are either warned or called to meet with representatives of the Honor Council. In rare cases, students and faculty can be expelled from the school or lose tenure. One significant difference between the versions of the Honor Code used at the main BYU campus and BYU–Hawaii is specific prohibition of the drinking of kava by BYU-Hawaii students and faculty. Kava is a traditional Polynesian drink with some drug-like side-effects.


Alumni

Alumni of BYU-Hawaii include
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
recipient George E. Wahlen, delegate to
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
from
American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...
Eni Fa'aua'a Hunkin Faleomavaega, Jr. '64, and three-time national volleyball coach of the year Mike Wilton '72.


References


External links

*
BYU–Hawaii Athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brigham Young University-Hawaii Buildings and structures in Honolulu County, Hawaii Education in Honolulu County, Hawaii Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hawaii Universities and colleges affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Educational institutions established in 1955 1955 establishments in Hawaii Private universities and colleges in Hawaii