- Ernest L. Wilkinson
Ernest L. Wilkinson (
4 May 1899 –6 April 1978 ) was president ofBrigham Young University (BYU) from 1951 to 1971. Previous to becoming president of BYU, Wilkinson had served as a lawyer in Washington and New York. He was born in Ogden,Utah . Wilkinson served as attorney for the Ute Indian Tribe in their suit to be compensated for land never paid for by the U.S. government as part of the Treaty of 1880. In 1950 this suit was upheld by the United States Court of Claims and as a result, the Ute tribes were awarded the sum of $31,938,473.43. (Source: The Utes, a Forgotten People. Wilson Rockwell, p. 252)Wilkinson earned his undergraduate degree at BYU. He then earned a law degree from
George Washington University and a doctorate fromHarvard Law School . [ [http://magazine.byu.edu/g/?act=view&a=207 "BYU Magazine" Fall 1999] ]Under Wilkinson's administration, BYU expanded in all ways. The number of students increased several times over. He instituted aggressive recruiting methods where faculty would accompany general authorities on visits to stake conferences and tours of missions. This changed BYU from having a student body mainly from Utah to having a student body from virtually every state in the nation. Under his administration the number of buildings on campus grew tremendously. BYU also for the first time granted
Ph.D. s.Wilkinson was the ninth
Commissioner of Church Education ofThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . During his tenure, the position bore the title "Administrator–Chancellor of the Unified Church Schools System".In 1964, Wilkinson won the Republican Party nomination for the
United States Senate , but lost in thegeneral election to incumbent Senator Frank Moss.ources
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