The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE. 

Two former presidents of Brigham Young University sat down to reflect on the school’s influence and history to mark 150 years since its founding in October 1875.

President Dallin H. Oaks, the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, joined President Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the discussion. From a recording studio on Temple Square in September, they talked about BYU’s influence on them as students and leaders, the university’s spiritual obligation and educational mission, and the growing presence of women in its professional schools. Both are graduates of the university and expressed deep gratitude for their BYU education and its prophetic leadership.

BYU’s Spiritual Obligation and Educational Mission

President Holland emphasized the spiritual obligation of BYU, describing it as a university founded on the belief that students are children of God.

“It is a university. We come there to study and to take degrees — and it’s everything from art to zoology. But running through it is a foundation and a theme that these are children of God,” President Holland said. “We’re to teach them for eternity. ‘Education for eternity’ is a phrase that we use.”

President Oaks reflected on the challenge he had during his tenure (1971–1980) of balancing spiritual and academic responsibilities.

“Coming as I did from a professor of law at a great university, I had no experience with balancing the spiritual,” said President Oaks, who taught for 10 years at the University of Chicago Law School. “The rest of [university administration] I was familiar with, but it was a struggle for me all the time I served at BYU to watch the thermometer registering spiritual temperature. I think the university [today] does it much better than I in my struggles was trying to do it.”

The two leaders said that two of BYU’s significant spiritual influences are student congregations and the presence of returned missionaries (including those who learned another language) or students studying to be missionaries.

“That is a powerful advantage that our Church Education System institutions have in the quality of education they can offer,” President Oaks said.