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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
School presidents celebrate the value of faith-based higher education
WASHINGTON — Nearly 2 million students attend faith-based colleges and universities, a fast-growing segment of American higher education that now has a new tool to share its story. Over 50 college and university presidents gathered Monday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the nation's capital and vigorously applauded after watching the first episode of a new BYUtv documentary series, 'Higher Ed: The Power of Faith-Inspired Learning in America." 'Faith-based institutions are the bedrock of American higher education, and we've not paid adequate attention to that role and to that responsibility,' said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. ACE launched a Commission on Faith-based Colleges and Universities last year and Monday's event drew the presidents of dozens of commission member schools, including Notre Dame, Yeshiva University and Brigham Young University. The event also drew representatives of the U.S. Department of Education, the Faith Angle Forum, the American Enterprise Institute and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, as well as reporters from The Washington Post and other media outlets. The new BYUtv documentary highlights students and presidents at three faith-based schools — Catholic University of America, Taylor University and BYU-Hawaii. 'This is a way of saying, 'Faith institutions have a contribution to make,'' said Elder Clark G. Gilbert, the commissioner of education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Two additional episodes will be released in August and will include students from other commission schools. Those schools amount to 10% of the nation's colleges and universities and are excited to tell their stories, four presidents said during a panel discussion. Their stories need to be told even to people of faith, said Ryan Burge, the event's keynote speaker and a well-known analyst of data on faith and religion at Eastern Illinois University. Burge said it's a myth that college is a place where students lose their faith. 'College is not antithetical to religion,' he said. 'In some ways, it accelerates religion, enhances religion.' Data shows that the more educated Americans are, the more faithful they are, Burge said. He has found that the more Americans are educated and faithful, the more they flourish in numerous data sets. 'To summarize, education is good. Religion is good. Education plus religion is good,' he said. 'It causes trust. It makes us more loving of our neighbors. It increases our income. It increases all these outcomes.' In the documentary, Isabela Barboza said she decided to attend Catholic University of America because she decided that 'if religion is part of my life, it has to be part of my education and formation.' Taylor University student Hannah Wylie, whose parents attended Harvard and Brown, said she struggled before turning down her own Ivy League offer to attend the small evangelical school in Upland, Indiana. She is grateful she did. 'I wanted to be taught to think deeply about things I was doing,' she said in the documentary. 'I wanted to do things for a purpose.' Every college and university president in America is grappling with data that shows students facing a crisis of meaning in their lives. Rabbi Avi Berman, the president of Yeshiva University, took a moment of gratitude during the panel discussion because he found the documentary powerful. 'Young people are looking to university to find themselves and their values because they are not seeing answers to their deep, existential questions in the ephemeral choices being offered them in other institutions,' he said. Lipscomb University President Candice McQueen said she was grateful the documentary illustrated what colleges and universities like her Churches of Christ school in Nashville, Tennessee, bring to the table. The Rev. Robert Dowd, president of the University of Notre Dame, said his school takes a both-and approach to the holistic growth of its students. 'Notre Dame is a place where we educate the whole person, where both faith and reason are engaged, where matters of the heart as well as the life of the mind are very much valued,' he said. 'We want our students to grow not only in understanding, in knowledge and in technical skills but in wisdom, and we want them to grow in faith, hope and love.' Among those in attendance were BYU President Shane Reese, BYU-Idaho President Alvin Meredith, BYU-Pathway Worldwide President Brian Ashton and Ensign College President Bruce Kusch. BYU-Hawaii President John Kauwe wasn't at the Kennedy Center, but he was seen in the documentary riding a skateboard on the Laie, Hawaii, campus in white Nikes with a black swoosh and a splash of blue. 'What faith-based institutions offer is another type of belonging,' Kauwe says in the 30-minute film. The presidents met in working groups in the morning to learn about best practices around issues like hiring people who fit a school's mission and how to share and elevate stories about their faith-based schools. Elder Gilbert said the Commission on Faith-based Colleges and Universities creates a friendship for every school. 'There is connectivity for those who always feel like the odd man out,' he said.
Free Malaysia Today
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Malaysia's approach on Myanmar is future-focused, shows pragmatism, say experts
Malaysia is the first Asean chair to have successfully engaged both Myanmar's civilian government and the junta, showing that engagement does not necessarily imply recognition. (Bernama pic) PETALING JAYA : Asean's engagement with Myanmar on humanitarian efforts under Malaysia's chairmanship marks a necessary recalibration in a highly complex and challenging landscape, experts say. Asean has faced criticism for its slow progress in addressing Myanmar's political and humanitarian crisis, which Myanmar expert Andrea Passeri partly attributes to the junta's repeated refusal to comply with Asean's five-point consensus. But Passeri, who also heads the international relations programme at Taylor's University, said Malaysia's recent push for humanitarian aid signals a strategic shift, going further by promoting multi-track dialogue with various stakeholders. This is particularly crucial given the deep divisions among key actors, some of whom are unwilling to even meet, he said. 'The Malaysian chairmanship reflects a pragmatic shift away from rigid frameworks toward more flexible, outcome-driven initiatives. 'The public should interpret this as a recalibration of Asean's expectations, not an abandonment of its commitments. It's recognition that political resolution will require a longer timeline, greater creativity, and possibly new instruments beyond the five-point consensus,' he explained. 'Political outcomes remain stalled, but humanitarian access has slightly improved. That's meaningful progress in a context where previous attempts yielded little.' Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim previously acknowledged the limited progress of the five-point consensus over the years, yet expressed a degree of satisfaction with recent humanitarian engagements. 'Where do we go from here is still premature to suggest, but I am quite pleased that after a decade, this is the first serious engagement that we had,' he was quoted as saying. Malaysia is the first Asean chair to have successfully engaged both Myanmar's civilian government, as well as the junta, showing that engagement does not necessarily imply recognition. Passeri said Asean's decision to let the junta's foreign minister brief its members after the March earthquake, despite earlier restrictions, reflects a gradual shift toward principled pragmatism, where urgent humanitarian needs can justify limited departures from established norms. The Institute for Strategic and International Studies' Thomas Daniel also highlighted that Malaysia is aware its one-year chairmanship is insufficient to resolve the entire crisis. Instead, he said, Malaysia is focused on creating a robust foundation for successive chairs to build upon, recognising that starting anew each year is impractical. One key aspect of this approach is Malaysia's attempts to institutionalise the Asean special envoy to Myanmar through the provision of resources and staffing. Daniel also pointed out that Asean's structure was not originally designed to handle significant internal strife, but the situation in Myanmar necessitates that it adapts. Ignoring the issue or its critical role in resolution is not an option for the bloc, he said. He added that the immediate expectations should be focused on pushing for a de-escalation of violence and expanding humanitarian aid, as an immediate cessation of conflict is unrealistic. For those critical of Asean's pace, Passeri highlighted the essential groundwork that precedes more visible progress, including trust-building exercises with all stakeholders and unifying its internal stance. 'In practice, this means maintaining regular communication with all conflict actors, including ethnic armed groups and civil society, many of whom remain skeptical of Asean's neutrality. 'None of this guarantees success, but without these foundational efforts, any formal negotiations risk collapsing before they begin. 'The groundwork is slow, uncertain, and often thankless, but it is essential.'
