After addressing an assembly of students, faculty, administration and alumni at Brigham Young University-Hawaii on Nov. 18, President Howard W. Hunter issued a formal charge of responsibility to the institution's new president, Eric B. Shumway.
Speaking on behalf of the university's board of trustees, President Hunter charged Pres. Shumway: "Dedicate your service to enlarging the capacity of those who study and work in this blessed place to learn over a lifetime, to live productively in association with others, and to grow in faith in God and in truth."Pres. Shumway, in responding to the charge, acknowledged the courage and dedication of those who built and blessed the university.
Further, Pres. Shumway said, "I accept your words of love and admonition, President Hunter, with all my heart to be my walk and talk throughout my tenure as president of BYU-Hawaii."
Pres. Shumway noted that the day was a celebration of BYU-Hawaii, originally founded as Church College of Hawaii nearly 40 years ago. "It is significant that Hawaii' is in both titles. For usHawaii' suggests more than just a place for a serious educational institution. . . . Ha means the breath of life,' and Wai'iever living water.' The Aloha Spirit of the Aloha State permeates this campus, and two of Hawaii's mightiest ideals are at the very heart of education here, Harmony amidst Diversity,' and . . .The life of the land is preserved in righteousness.' "
He added, "God our Father is the author, custodian, and advocate of all truth - truth that is apprehended through intellectual inquiry; truth that is understood feelingly through religious experience, and truth that is distilled upon the soul as wisdom from all of life's encounters. Each of these encounters has an educational function in the preparation of each soul to understand God's truth. With God our Heavenly Father, all truth, wherever found or however apprehended, is circumscribed into one great whole. Ultimately, there are no contradictions, no quarrels, no inscrutable paradoxes, no mysteries. In the meantime, we are commanded in scriptures (note, commanded) to learn by study and by faith, one not being more important the the other in this context."