By ERIC D. SNIDER
Eula Monroe, BYU professor of mathematics education, goes to church every Sunday. She studies the scriptures regularly. She felt a personal witness from the Holy Ghost directing her to accept a job here. Teaching at BYU has strengthened her faith and her commitment to her religion.
Monroe obviously has a lot in common with some other BYU professors. Except for one thing. She’s Baptist.
Monroe, 56, is the only non-LDS full-time faculty member in the College of Education. Coming to BYU from Bowling Green, Ky., with a doctorate in education earned at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, Monroe has taught for 37 years.
So why would someone who has been a born-again Christian for 44 years come to a university that is so thoroughly LDS?
“It’s a long story,” she said in a very polite Southern drawl.
In 1990, she visited Robert Cooter, an LDS friend who was then on the faculty at BYU.
“Much to my surprise,” she said, “I got a phone call from the search committee, inviting me to come out for an interview.” She had no idea she was being considered for a position; she had not even applied for one.
Despite having loved the people in the department when she visited, she passed on the invitation to work here. “I felt I could not come at that time,” she said. BYU gave her the option to wait a year and then decide. She spent that year working, as usual, but she also spent it in prayerful consideration of the position.
When she came out for a full-scale interview in 1991, BYU Vice-President Dennis Thompson invited her to work with the Baptist Student Union on campus. This group, affiliated with a nation-wide campus group called Baptist Campus Ministries, was in need of an adviser, and Monroe saw spiritual implications in Thompson’s invitation.
“I felt it was the Lord tugging at me to consider this opportunity,” she said.
Next, she had an interview with Elder W. Mack Lawrence, then a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, which is standard procedure for hiring new faculty members. During this interview, she felt more spiritual influences.
“I felt the confirmation of the Holy Spirit that this is where I should be,” she said. “I did not have a decision to make; the Lord had made it for me.”
Monroe said she was sure the Lord wanted her here — “for the meanwhile.”
“I thought I’d probably stay a year, or maybe a little longer,” she said. Almost five years later, she’s still here, still working with the BSU, and she still loves it.
She has been very active in her field, winning several awards and doing research.
Being the only non-LDS person in her department has not hurt her relationship with the other professors. “I am treated absolutely wonderfully and love my colleagues,” she said. “I don’t just like them — I love them.”
Monroe enjoys her work with the BSU and feels the group is important. “I did not realize [before coming to BYU] the circumstances religious minorities might be going to school under,” she said. I was not familiar with the campus or with the intensity of the LDS faith as it prevails here.”
“My role is to support them and help them stay through their first year,” she said.
There are usually about 20 Baptist students at BYU, a few of which participate in the BSU. “We don’t get them all involved,” she said. “We don’t put any pressure on them for any particular activity. We just contact them and let them know we’re available.”
Monroe was mostly unfamiliar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before coming to BYU and had few LDS friends.
“I knew very little about the LDS faith,” she said, “And I refused to accept the anti-Mormon literature that was handed to me because I don’t feel it’s fair to other faiths.”
Monroe said she has learned a great deal since coming here. “I’ve learned to love and respect people who are of whatever faith they are,” she said. “I respect my colleagues and students for what they believe.”
She emphasizes, though, she is still a born-again Christian and intends to remain one.
“This doesn’t mean that my religion is any different from what it was when I came,” she said. “In fact, [my belief on] what it means to be a born-again believer has been strengthened. I’ve been able to sort out those things that are really central to my faith and my beliefs, and those that are not.”
“This has been a wonderful Christian growth experience for me,” she said. “It has strengthened my own beliefs and faith.”
