The Daily Universe celebrates 50 years
This story originally appeared in the Daily Universe on July 5, 1989
By Phil Webb/b>
Amidst cardboard boxes and piles of books, President Jeffrey Holland gave his last official words of advice to the student body: “Work hard and love the Lord.”
After nine years of service at BYU, Holland left his office for the last time Friday to make room for President Rex E. Lee, who began his term Saturday.
“This office holds memories of a lot of highs, a lot of lows, a lot of tears, and a lot of joys,” said Holland of his term in office.
“I think we’ve made a lot of progress, and I think we always have, it’s the very nature of life,” said Holland of his BYU experience.
“Students are coming here better prepared and leaving more qualified to contribute to society … we’re an even better, stronger and more faithful university.”
Speaking of “Excellence in the eighties,” a program involving recent BYU graduates, Holland said, “it allowed us to tell the BYU story, to be more public … it gave us a soap box to stand on and we stood on it.”
One result of Holland’s efforts has been a steady increase in the number of students seeking admittance to BYU. In discussing the admissions increase over the past several years, Holland referred to BYU as a remarkable but limited resource and said, “the new challenge for the university will be choosing who will get the opportunity (to attend BYU).”
What will Holland miss the most? “People; I’m going to miss people. I’ll miss them in a very personal way, but that’s life. We all step forward and do what we can do and walk on,” he said.
Holland is moving to follow his calling as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“This work is very exciting to me. It’s a work of faith and devotion and I will do it with every ounce of strength that I have.”
Holland Challenged BYU students to learn everything possible about their faith, their values and their heritage.
Copyright Brigham Young University 30 Nov 2005
