Calling faith critical to higher education, educators launch new Commission on Faith-based Universities

June 4, 2024

A new initiative by the American Council on Education is making the case that faith is more critical than ever to higher education. According the Deseret News, the Commission on Faith-based Universities recently met in Washington D.C., bringing together the presidents of 35 religious affiliated institutions.

The leaders of these institutions say they wish to knock down the perception that faith is receding among young people.

Elder Clark G. Gilbert the commissioner of education for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is one of the new commission’s inaugural co-chairs. Clark says, “Religious schools are growing. This is counter to the narrative a lot of people have. From 1980 through today … the national average in university enrollments grew at 57% and religious schools have grown at 82%.”

The presidents say they want people to understand why American youth are searching for meaning.

Harvard law professor Ruth Okediji gave the conference’s opening keynote address. She noted that, “Students are hungry for purpose, and they are more hungry than you know. They are so hungry they will crawl through the desert to find it.”

Okediji says part of that hunger stems from the blessing of having plenty and the curse of having plenty without purpose. She said that, in an age of AI, search engines and social media, it’s easy to find answers to most questions.

But Okediji says the most important question these students must answer is, “Why? What does it matter? Why do I matter?”

According to the Deseret News, the Commission on Faith-based Universities is the outgrowth of a generation of conversations between leaders of different faiths and faith-based schools.

Photo: top, Credit: Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News