Another thing I've been meaning to comment on for a while. Back on April 30, the University of Utah announced that Michael Young, the Dean of The George Washington University Law School, will be its new president. That's just great. I met Young this February at the LDS Law Conference we had here at Harvard. He gave one of the keynote addresses and really impressed me. Shelly is good friends with one of his sons.

The interesting thing is that both the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune, in their respective articles about the announcement, went out of their way to mention that the fact that Young is an active Mormon won't have any negative impact on his presidency at the U.

Here's a quote from the Des News article: "He said he is a 'committed, active member of the LDS Church' and doesn't see that as a conflict in his new role. 'It's an important part of who I am and why I do what I do,' he said. 'At the same time I have spent my entire academic career outside of Utah. It has never been a problem.'"

Now, the U of U has a stereotypical reputation, due to its rivalry with BYU, of being a little rebellious and not quite as wholesome as BYU. There are certainly people there who are true enemies of the LDS Church. But most of the students and probably most of the faculty are active members of the Church. It strikes me as bizarre that anyone would think that Young's Mormonism would be a drawback at all in his position as President of the U. If Mormonism hasn't been an issue for him outside of the state of Utah, why should it be an issue at a new job in downtown Salt Lake City? If anything, it should be a benefit, because he'll relate better to the students, the community, and the Powers That Be (read: Church authorities) in Salt Lake.

The really weird thing, which has also been commented on extensively, is the fact that Young (a descendant of Brigham) is a BYU grad, and BYU's new president, Cecil Samuelson, is a Utah grad. Maybe they could swap.