Brigham Young University Hawaii
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Seal of Brigham Young University Hawai‘i
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Brigham Young University Hawai‘i, is a private co-educational university in the town of Lā‘ie thirty-five miles from Honolulu, Hawai‘i on the windward coast of the island of O‘ahu in the United States. A campus of the Brigham Young University System anchored in Provo, Utah, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and named after the American religious leader, colonist, first territorial governor of Utah and founder of Salt Lake City. One of the foremost institutions of Brigham Young University Hawai‘i is the Polynesian Cultural Center, the largest living museum in the State of Hawai‘i.
Establishment
The LDS Church was established in the islands in 1850 following the Edict of Toleration promulgated by Kamehameha III, giving the underground Hawai‘i Catholic Church the right to worship while at the same time allowing other faith traditions to begin establishing themselves.
Brigham Young University Hawai‘i was founded in September 1955 as Church College of Hawai‘i to accommodate the burgeoning LDS population in the Territory of Hawai‘i. The college was reorganized in 1959 to become a four-year college. LDS elders established the Polynesian Cultural Center in November 1963 as a means of preserving the Pacific cultures that the Latter-day Saints had encountered in their missionary work. The center also provided jobs for students of the college. In 1974, Church College of Hawai‘i was elevated to the rank of university by the Hawai‘i State Legislature and renamed.
Athletics
BYUH competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division (NCAA) Division II as a member of the Pacific West Conference. The team name is the Seasiders, they compete in Men's Basketball, Men's & Women's Cross-Country, Men's & Women's Golf, Softball, Men's & Women's Tennis, Volleyball, and Men's Water Polo.
Resources
- Brigham Young University Hawai‘i (http://www.byuh.edu)
- Polynesian Cultural Center (http://www.polynesia.com)