AmConsul - Hermosillo July 10, 1989 Elder Richard Scott Council of the Twelve Church Headquarters Dear Elder Scott: Lola and I were both in Salt Lake for the Fourth of July weekend to attend the wedding of our niece in the Jordan Temple. To pass the time while driving up from Mexico we listened to some tapes of old Conference talks by Elders LeGrande Richards and Hugh B. Brown. President Brown said that the operating costs associated with BYU were the greatest single item in the Church's budget. While this may no longer be the case, it struck me that BYU still has to be an enormous burden on Church finances. The associated question then came that, having closed the schools in Mexico on the logic that State schools were not sufficiently good and extensive to serve the needs of Church members, and having sold or given away half a dozen other Church colleges to the State of Utah in order to devote the funds saved to more immediate Church operations, e.g. temple and chapel construction and missionary work, why are we still operating the BYU? We have Institutes near virtually every great university in the country which provide a much less expensive way of offering religion classes to our university students. And LDS students today have access to either private of state universities nearer their homes in virtually every state or country in the world. I am certainly not trying to "steady the ark". But I was brought up believing that communication in the Church runs both up and down the membership ladder, and I thought that as a new member of the Twelve and old friend from way back you wouldn't mind being prompted to think about the matter. All four of my children, and Lola my wife, are BYU alums. But with the rare exception of a few scholarship recipients, most BYU students come from some of the more affluent families in the Church. One wonders why their education should be subsidized when there are so many other pressing needs in the Church. I'd think it wouldn't be hard at all to "privatize" BYU (and Ricks and BYU Hawaii) as happened with both Harvard and Princeton. Nor do I see why the "Y" couldn't continue to maintain LDS standards in the hands of a private foundation headed by worthy members of the Church. If the "Y" is defended as a marriage factory, one might reflect on all the good LDS Institute kids who do quite a good job of marrying those they meet at Institutes associated with USU, the U of U, and dozens of other universities in the US, Europe, and Latin America. As a final thought, the "Y" has, so far as I am aware, produced only one General Authority. So it plays no essential role as alma mater of Apostles either. unfavorable light some have taken this to cast upon the institutional church provides another reason for perhaps wishing to secularize the university at some early date. Just over a year ago I sent Elder Hunter a number of observations regarding a number of other unmet needs I have seen and thought about during my thirty-four years of service as a US diplomat on four continents. Since Elder Hunter may not have made these available to new members of the Quorum, I avail myself of this letter to include these ideas for what they may be worth. They relate to operations of Church Health Services, Social Welfare and Educational Programs, and our Cultural Outreach potential in relationship to our expanding missionary program. All four ideas depend rather heavily on modifying the current membership record system -- as will be apparent as I develop my thoughts. A fraction of the money spent on the "Y" would go far towards funding the Trade Tech schools, Cultural Outreach, and Social Welfare programs suggested in the enclosed memorandum, advancing the interests of less well-to-do members in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, where people are now counselled to remain at home, building the Kingdom in their own countries. Sooner or later someone is going to have to pay attention to these temporal needs as was done earlier during the period of "gathering" when thousands of the relatively poor and uneducated were immigrating to the Mountain West. Lola joins me in sending regards and best wishes in your new calling. We both hope you'll pass on our best wishes to your wife. Sincerely,