Dr. Frank Young spoke Friday to students about resolving the conflict between faith, science and society and the importance of self-evaluation of faith, values and truth.
"Find what is key, what is most important, most central in your life -- answer this before the term ends," Young said.
Young, director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness and National Disaster Medical System, spoke in Collis Common Ground about "The Collision of Faith, Science, and Society" as part of the Senior Symposium.
Young told students to evaluate what is important in their lives and not to be "the X Generation by drifting through it."
"Your generation will have an incredible moral and ethical dilemma," he added. "But what is acceptable today may not be acceptable tomorrow."
Young asked his audience to question for what things they would die as a way of examining their faith and values.
"Know clearly where compromise can be made in your life, be truthful in the best way you can approximate it, and welcome the testing of your ability to cope," he said.
Young said each person should resolve his or her own conflict between faith, science and society.
He described the "collision" in the speech's title as a conflict between faith, described in scriptures as "truth," science, the "approximation of truth" and society, the "consensus based upon cultural standards."
There are three steps to resolving the conflict between faith, science and society, according to Young.
"Actively, with friends and with yourself, struggle on what is a core value to you, and don't drift into it," he said. "Drift into college without defining your core, and you'll be in trouble."
"Also, examine the values. Measure each issue within the consensus, the approximation of truth and the truth," he said.
"Test what is at core with what you believe in whatever faith structure you have," he said.
Young, who has a Ph.D. in microbiology, has taught at Case Western Reserve University and the University of California at San Diego.
He served as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration for more than five years before being forced to resign in 1989.
Under Young, the FDA came under fire for its pro-industry stance and had to deal with a number of controversies, including charges that the FDA was lenient on misleading food labeling and that FDA officials took bribes from generic drug makers.
The senior symposium is an intellectual gift to the College from the departing senior class.
