RA: Lecture at Noon

PLEASE ANNOUNCE AND ENCOURAGE STUDENTS AND FACULTY TO ATTEND

At the request of the Australian Area Presidency BYU has invited Professor of Sociology Gary D. Bouma from Australia to visit Utah and to give a lecture at BYU. Professor Bouma is Chair of the UNESCO Interreligious and Intercultural Relations committee in Asia Pacific. Professor Gary Bouma is a very influential opinion leader in Australia and is among the ones with whom the Church most wants to cultivate a relationship. He is one of the most prominent commentators on Christian and non Christian faith traditions in Australia. His role with UNESCO and the World Parliament of Religions shows his significance. We are delighted he accepted the invitation to give a lecture at BYU. May I extend a special invitation for you and your students to attend.

Time: 12:00 noon

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Location: Conference Room of the David M. Kennedy Center

Lecture Title: AInter Religious Understanding@ Pete

Erlend D. Peterson
Associate International Vice President
Ext. 2-1803

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So this was forwarded to me by a sociology professor, encouraging me to attend this special lecture. First and foremost, I have to comment that the use of official titles was very impressive. In one paragraph they fit in Area Presidency, Chair of the UNESCO Interreligious and Intercultural Relations committee, World Parliament of Religions, and Associate International Vice President. That is obviously for ethos effect.

BYU students who are enrolled in majors in the colleges of humanities, family home and social sciences, and political science are the primary target of this email. These are students that generally have free time because their majors are easy. Just kidding. But they are usually more interested in things like religious and cultural diversity issues, and especially in a foreign setting.

The Vice President of the University signed his name to this message and highlighted how important it is to the Church that this visitor be treated with respect. To BYU students, that is like getting a calling. It's serious business to be invited to help the Church. Citing Dr. Bouma's achievements and the Church's desire to cultivate a relationship with him was enough to fill the room past capacity.

This is a fairly typical announcement for a man of Dr. Bouma's prominence. I have seen various emails like this one that invite students to listen to some of the most distinguished of academics. They seem to be very effective, partly because everyone wants to rub shoulders with the leaders of the fields they are interested in. Some students are genuinely interested in the presentation, and need very little persuasion. Some students are lazy about their outside-of-class learning, and they need a prodding to get them to attend. That is pretty well accomplished by means of lots of fancy titles. I think it worked wonderfully. I even skipped my class to go.