Benjamin Cluff
| Benjamin Cluff | |
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| President of Brigham Young University |
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In office October 1903 – December 1903 |
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| Succeeded by | Karl G. Maeser |
| Principal of Brigham Young Academy |
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In office January 1892 – October 1903 |
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| Preceded by | Karl G. Maeser |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
February 7, 1858 Provo, Utah |
| Died | June 16, 1948 (aged 90) Los Angeles, California |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
Benjamin Cluff, Jr. (February 7, 1858 – June 16, 1948) was the first President of Brigham Young University, and the school's third principal. Under his administration, the student body and faculty more than doubled in size, and the school went from an academy to a university, and was officially incorporated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Cluff changed class periods from half an hour to a full hour, adopted the official colors of the university, started summer school and the Alumni Association, encouraged the university's first student newspaper (White and Blue), provided the first student loans and developed an intercollegiate sports system.
Cluff lived in Coalville, Utah prior to his starting studies at Brigham Young Academy in 1877, where he studied in the Normal Department. After one year he became a teacher at Brigham Young Academy. He then went on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Hawaii in 1879. In 1882 he returned to teaching at Brigham Young Academy, teaching everything from language to bookkeeping. In 1886 he received approval for a leave of absence to go to the University of Michigan and was set apart to study there by John W. Taylor.
Cluff received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. He also served as president of the Ann Arbor Branch of the LDS church while there. At the time he left for the University of Michigan Cluff had two wives, Mary the daughter of David John and Harriet "Hattie" Cullimore.
By late 1891, Karl G. Maeser had to be replaced as principal of Brigham Young Academy. He had been called to oversee the entire LDS education program, and was unable to do both jobs. The Board of Trustees' initial choice was the twenty-seven-year-old James E. Talmage, but before they could extend the invitation, he was hired by an LDS college in Salt Lake City. They instead chose Cluff who had just recently graduated from the University of Michigan. Cluff had returned to Brigham Young Academy in 1890 when he began teaching classes such as educational psychology. He also was the moving force behind the class of 1891 organizing with officers and electing Richard R. Lyman as their class president.
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