Latest Example of Nepotism in the Church

[Not Buying It]

No thread yet on the big news about President Eyring's son being the new President of BYU-I?

http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith/4 ... ine-higher

As BYU-Idaho's 17th president, Eyring, 53, follows in the footsteps of his famous father, Henry B. Eyring, who led Ricks College (the school's forerunner) in the 1970s and now serves at first counselor in the LDS Church's First Presidency.

Come on, people, no one is going to call it what it is if we don't. Nepotism. Plain, pure, and simple.

Doesn't it feel nice to know your tithing money is going to help Church leaders help their kids get ahead in the world?

[Red Ryder]

Let's not jump to conclusions.

He could have been the most qualified of all the GA's sons.

[Korihor]

They've been sustained as leaders of the church, whatever they decide is obviously the will of the Lord.

God prefers to promote from within. It's not nepotism if it's foreordination.

[The Beast]

Yes, foreordiexcrementination.

[wtfluff]

Let's not jump to conclusions.

He could have been the most qualified of all the GA's sons.

QFT!

[AllieOop]

Come on, people, no one is going to call it what it is if we don't. Nepotism. Plain, pure, and simple.

Hey, J. Golden Kimball stated it pretty clearly:

“Some people say a person receives a position in this church through revelation, and others say they get it through inspiration, but I say they get it through relation. If I hadn't been related to Heber C. Kimball I wouldn't have been a damn thing in this church.”

I love reading his quotes

[AllieOop]

Here's this too:

After meticulously documenting and tracing family records among LDS leaders over the years, Quinn commented that “Where kinship was involved, (Brigham) Young’s successors appointed only men with close kinship relations to current or former general authorities. Aside from Wilford Woodruff, LDS presidents after Young also doubled his proportion of appointments with close kinship connections. Twentieth-century presidents Joseph F. Smith and Heber J. Grant more than doubled the founding prophet’s proportion of appointments with close kinship to other members of the Mormon hierarchy” (The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, p.169-170).

How does the current Presidency and Quorum of Twelve Apostles measure up? 100% of them are related in some way to current or former general authorities of the LDS Church. In the top 2 leading quorums – consisting of 15 men (The First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles), five of these men are directly related to each other. Four are related to each other by marriage. Four are directly related to former LDS Presidents. Five are directly related to former apostles. Two are married to wives who are direct descendants of former presidents. Five are married to wives who are directly related to former apostles. Seven are married to wives who are relatives of current general authorities or of their wives. The only apostle who has no blood ties to any other general authority is Apostle Richard G. Scott. But, true to form, his wife is related to several current general authorities and even descends from a former LDS apostle.

(The above was written before Uchtdorf was put in and iirc, he is not related to any of the others. I'm also not sure about any that have been called since him either.)

[MoPag]

I wonder how the faculty are taking this. My aunt taught when Daddy Eyring was there. I guess he was really hard to work with or something. She would never go into details (super TBM), but if anyone would ever bring it up she would get really quiet and uncomfortable.

Then I had a professor there, super sweet, former mission president, TBM but not like a$$hole TBM. Anyways, once someone brought up the fact that Eyring used to be president, and his face just fell and he looked at us and said: "My testimony really suffered when they called him the be an apostle." I never got any other details or stories, but Eyring was not liked there.

I wish my aunt was still alive. I would love to hear what she thinks about this.

[AllieOop]

I wonder how the faculty are taking this. My aunt taught when Daddy Eyring was there. I guess he was really hard to work with or something. She would never go into details (super TBM), but if anyone would ever bring it up she would get really quiet and uncomfortable.

Then I had a professor there, super sweet, former mission president, TBM but not like a$$hole TBM. Anyways, once someone brought up the fact that Eyring used to be president, and his face just fell and he looked at us and said: "My testimony really suffered when they called him the be an apostle." I never got any other details or stories, but Eyring was not liked there.

I've heard the same is true regarding Bednar. He was not well liked up there and was horrible to work with (from stories I've heard) and many were not happy when he was called to be an Apostle. It definitely seems to be a stepping stone, though.

[Not Buying It]

It isn't even always Church owned schools where you see this happen. Consider the president of Utah Valley University, Matthew Holland, son of Elder Jeffrey R.:

Holland was selected as Utah Valley University's sixth president by the Utah State Board of Regents in the spring of 2009 and officially began his tenure on June 1 of that year, succeeding interim president Elizabeth Hitch. Following the transition from a state college to a university in the summer of 2008, Holland became the first president of the university. Prior to joining UVU, Holland was an associate professor in the political science department at BYU in Provo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_S._Holland

Now think about that for a minute. He went directly from being an associate professor of political science to the president of a university? You can't tell me that was unrelated to who his father is.

The LDS Church is a gravy train for the families of high-ranking Church leaders, and we're the schmucks who pay for it.

(By the way, great quotes AllieOop!)

[Mormorrisey]

This even happens at the local level to some extent - we had 3 bishops at one point in our stake that had the same last name, and a fourth one that was an in-law of that same family. Unfortunately, you see it in politics (Bushes, anyone? Or in Canada, a couple of Trudeaus?) and in all sorts of facets of life, that one's name can carry people farther than they would under their own merits. It's like everything else about the church; if it really were Christ's chosen church, wouldn't a bunch of humble no-names, fishermen and workers, be the disciples, instead of the white, rich Utah white guys running the corporation? Nothing surprises me anymore, so I must admit the news just provoked a "meh, business as usual" vibe in me. Guess that cold-hearted apostate heart is getting harder by the minute.

[2bizE]

I wonder if being a GA is listed as a career path at any of the LDS schools. Alphabetically next to geologist maybe.

[well wandered]

Let's not jump to conclusions.

He could have been the most qualified of all the GA's sons.

Most qualified, least qualified.. Qualified is qualified, right?

*signature scribbling

[GoodBoy]

Now think about that for a minute. He went directly from being an associate professor of political science to the president of a university? You can't tell me that was unrelated to who his father is.

The LDS Church is a gravy train for the families of high-ranking Church leaders, and we're the schmucks who pay for it.

I am in academia, and no, moving from an associate professor to president of the university never happens. It had everything to do with who his father was.

[foolmeonce]

Now think about that for a minute. He went directly from being an associate professor of political science to the president of a university? You can't tell me that was unrelated to who his father is.

The LDS Church is a gravy train for the families of high-ranking Church leaders, and we're the schmucks who pay for it.

I am in academia, and no, moving from an associate professor to president of the university never happens. It had everything to do with who his father was.

I've never been in academia but have a degree or two. The hierarchy has always kind of confused me. What is the typical career progression, say from adjunct to president?

[fh451]

Now think about that for a minute. He went directly from being an associate professor of political science to the president of a university? You can't tell me that was unrelated to who his father is.

The LDS Church is a gravy train for the families of high-ranking Church leaders, and we're the schmucks who pay for it.

I am in academia, and no, moving from an associate professor to president of the university never happens. It had everything to do with who his father was.

No kidding. I could kind of understand this within the church school system, but UVU is allegedly a state school. The church hooks are in deep in Utah.

fh451

[Not Buying It]

Now think about that for a minute. He went directly from being an associate professor of political science to the president of a university? You can't tell me that was unrelated to who his father is.

The LDS Church is a gravy train for the families of high-ranking Church leaders, and we're the schmucks who pay for it.

I am in academia, and no, moving from an associate professor to president of the university never happens. It had everything to do with who his father was.

I've never been in academia but have a degree or two. The hierarchy has always kind of confused me. What is the typical career progression, say from adjunct to president?

An associate professor would typically be overseen by various levels of administrators including department chairs, deans, Vice Presidents, a Provost, all kinds of administrators. Matthew Holland leapfrogged over several levels in an absolutely unprecedented manner. He essentially went from having no administrative responsibilities to running an entire university. I suppose in the corporate world it would be like going from salesperson to CEO.

Must be nice to be an apostle's son.

[foolmeonce]

An associate professor would typically be overseen by various levels of administrators including department chairs, deans, Vice Presidents, a Provost, all kinds of administrators. Matthew Holland leapfrogged over several levels in an absolutely unprecedented manner. He essentially went from having no administrative responsibilities to running an entire university. I suppose in the corporate world it would be like going from salesperson to CEO.

Must be nice to be an apostle's son.

Thanks for translating for me. Yeah, a salesperson to a CEO would be a completely unprecedented .... unless it's a family business.............. and your................ dad owns ........... wait a minute, this happens all the time in the business world.


What are we complaining about???

[GoodBoy]

Now think about that for a minute. He went directly from being an associate professor of political science to the president of a university? You can't tell me that was unrelated to who his father is.

The LDS Church is a gravy train for the families of high-ranking Church leaders, and we're the schmucks who pay for it.

I am in academia, and no, moving from an associate professor to president of the university never happens. It had everything to do with who his father was.

I've never been in academia but have a degree or two. The hierarchy has always kind of confused me. What is the typical career progression, say from adjunct to president?

You often start out as
1. a research assistant, a post-doc or an associate in research (PhD usually required even at this step),
2. then an assistant professor,
3. then associate professor (usually get tenure at this step),
4. then full professor,
5. then department chair,
6. then like a center director,
7. then an associate dean in charge of research or teaching,
8. then the dean of the college,
9. then usually as a vice president,
10. then the provost,
11. then the president of the university.

So this guy skipped from step 3 to step 11.

[foolmeonce]

Wowie!!! What a miracle! Father surely must have big plans and high expectations for such a leader! He must have been very valiant in the pre-existence, reserved to help lead us in these the later days.

::It's been a while since I've spoken TBM. How did I do? Did it translate well? ::