Sunday, May 23, 1971

This was Sunday but a meeting of all the president had been called fro this day without my consent, and I felt it necessary to be there and also have Dallin Oaks there, because the question of the Negro-Priesthood doctrine of the Mormon Church was one that generally came up, and someone had to be there to defend the BYU.

We met from 9:00 AM until about 3:30 PM, and sure enough, the question of the Negro-Priesthood doctrine of the Mormon Church came up, but in a rather oblique way. President Newburn, of Arizona State, reported pressures on him for Arizona State to withdraw from the Conference because of the Negro doctrine of the Mormon Church, and he wanted to know whether it would be possible for him to remain in the Conference and not play the BYU. Immediately, and much to my happy surprise, President Heady, of New Mexico, spoke up and thought that was impossible. Every other President expressed the same view, so it was apparent to President Newburn that he either had to get out entirely or stay in and play round-robin. In the discussion I pointed out that the predicate of his criticism of Arizona State was wrong--namely, that we had a policy against black athletes at BYU, and that they were discriminated against. I think that my answer, together with other information I passed out, disposed of this charge. It was agreed that this fall, representatives of Arizona State would visit the BYU.

I came back in the afternoon with President Emery, of the U of U. He had valiantly supported our positions in the meeting of the Presidents, and brought a fresh look to the situation. The fact that there were three lawyers in the meeting--namely, Oaks, Emery, and myself, brought some new perspectives into the meeting of the Presidents.