Brigham Young University hosted Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for a speech at the Marriott Center for the university’s weekly devotional on Tuesday, January 27th. While Collins primarily focused his speech on his journey to Christianity through science, the move to host him itself caused disappointment and confusion among many students and alumni due to his controversial work at the NIH that seems contrary to core principles that BYU and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints stand for.
Collins started as director of the NIH in mid-2009 and was continually reappointed through the end of 2021. Most notably, he was the director during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was possibly the most significant health crisis of the past century. Collins’ direction during COVID is what has earned him the most scrutiny. In the years since the pandemic, Collins has been found to have knowingly lied to the public regarding COVID vaccines and natural immunity, mask mandates, and the effectiveness of alternative treatments. These lies pushed many Americans who were skeptical about the experimental vaccine to receive it, despite the risks and their concerns. They also potentially harmed or killed thousands who were refused “unapproved” treatments on the basis of malicious NIH guidelines.
The mishandling of COVID isn’t the only thing Collins has garnered controversy for. During his tenure as director of the NIH, Collins defended the use of fetal tissue from aborted babies in research, and even reversed Trump-era restrictions on the matter. Among those policies enacted under Trump was the assembly of the NIH Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board, which Collins oversaw the dissolution of under President Biden in April 2021. Collins’ NIH didn’t just talk about human fetal tissue research, however– they administered funding to gruesome experiments, such as one involving the creation of “humanized mouse and rodent models with full-thickness human skin” using tissue from aborted human fetuses.
Given his history, it’s understandable why many BYU students and alumni were upset to learn that BYU had invited Collins to be the speaker for the January 27th devotional. But this disappointment wasn’t universal among BYU students– even after his speech, most students still don’t know much about his leadership at the NIH. To these students, Collins’ message was simply one of many that ostensibly furthered the co-acting missions of BYU and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This lack of context would turn out to be troubling, as Collins used the end of his speech to talk about the decline in public trust in institutions and pleaded with students to put their trust back in our institutions, stating, “If we don’t have institutions that we can trust, then we have anarchy– and yet, our temptation seems to be, within the institution, to begin to take it down.” However, Collins failed to meaningfully acknowledge any of the NIH’s failures that occurred under his direction, choosing instead to place the bulk of the blame for declining trust on cynicism and political polarization. He urged students to reassess the way in which they evaluate the trustworthiness of institutions to avoid this cynicism and tribal thinking.
Hosting speakers with a track record that is contrary to the Church’s values and mission undermines the purpose of the devotionals and leads to the same decline in trust that Collins is so worried about, especially when speakers use the opportunity to push political messaging. Students expect devotionals at BYU to bring them closer to Christ and not be needlessly politicized.
Cover Photo Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/francis-collins-retires-the-scientist-who-brought-us-covid-19-vaccines-more-glbs-2687892-2025-03-02
Great summary. Thanks for drawing attention to this. As you are aware, this is a recurring pattern with BYU Administration bringing in Leftist speakers to the campus.