Ronald Reagan University - Voodoo Academics
Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:25 am
At least in one way, this proposed school is carrying on the tradition of our 40th President -- wildly optimistic forecasts. Call it "voodoo academics."
Note the bolded (by me) passages. They somehow plan to attract 10,000 students with SATs over 1400 to a school with no track record, no alumni support system, an acknowledged conservative bias and no government scholarship money?
In other words, they want smart rich kids who don't mind spending a ton of money on a pedigree-less vanity school?
Finally, isn't it funny that there's a typo listing "applied science" twice, when Reagan's only interest in science was if it could build a magic missile shield? (I wonder if there will be a Creationist program.)
Ryan
Build one for Gipper
Ronald Reagan University proposed
By Peggy Lowe, Rocky Mountain News
April 27, 2004
Fans of the 40th president hope to have a Ronald Reagan University in Colorado by the fall of 2006.
Already, organizers have a promise of 200 acres of donated land in Adams County, and designs and fund raising have begun on what could be an $850 million campus, said Terry Walker, the Ronald Reagan University founding president.
The land, reportedly valued at $50 million, is owned by Steve Schuck, a Colorado Springs businessman who has funded the school-voucher movement.
Schuck's land is near Front Range Airport, but Walker would rather build the university in Douglas County.
Walker said Reagan often alluded to a "shining city on the hill," including in his 1981 inaugural address.
"Because he had a vision of a shining city on the hill, I want us to be on a rolling plain, looking at the Front Range," Walker said.
Schuck said he's offered his "enthusiastic" support to the project, even though he's not certain of all details of the project.
"I love (Reagan's) legacy, and I will do anything I can to perpetuate it and memorialize it," he said.
The school will be a general university with traditional disciplines, except a medical school, Walker said.
There will be a law school and a graduate school of public and international policy. There will also be schools of performing and visual arts, divinity, applied science, engineering, applied sciences, and natural and math sciences.
The university will be funded through private donations, and no taxpayer money will be used, Walker said. The project has the support of the Reagan family and longtime Reagan advisers such as Edwin Meese, who served as Reagan's attorney general, Walker said.
"Ed Meese can pick up the phone and call every wealthy person in the country," Walker said.
Walker hopes the university will compete with the nation's top schools, such as Stanford, Princeton and Harvard.
They hope to attract the top 3 percent of U.S. students and will only allow students who have an SAT score of 1,400 or above, he said. A perfect SAT score is 1,600.
"We're going for the creme de la creme," Walker said.
Ronald Reagan University will hopefully have 10,000 students and 2,000 faculty and staff by 2010, Walker said.
Walker and Rep. Jim Welker, R-Loveland, outlined the plans to the House Education Committee on Monday in a resolution calling for legislative support of the project. The plan passed on a 6-5 vote, with the panel's five Democrats voting no.
But Welker said he understood that it was a political vote.
"If someone would have proposed a Bill Clinton University, how would Republicans vote on that?" he asked.
Note the bolded (by me) passages. They somehow plan to attract 10,000 students with SATs over 1400 to a school with no track record, no alumni support system, an acknowledged conservative bias and no government scholarship money?
In other words, they want smart rich kids who don't mind spending a ton of money on a pedigree-less vanity school?
Finally, isn't it funny that there's a typo listing "applied science" twice, when Reagan's only interest in science was if it could build a magic missile shield? (I wonder if there will be a Creationist program.)
Ryan
Build one for Gipper
Ronald Reagan University proposed
By Peggy Lowe, Rocky Mountain News
April 27, 2004
Fans of the 40th president hope to have a Ronald Reagan University in Colorado by the fall of 2006.
Already, organizers have a promise of 200 acres of donated land in Adams County, and designs and fund raising have begun on what could be an $850 million campus, said Terry Walker, the Ronald Reagan University founding president.
The land, reportedly valued at $50 million, is owned by Steve Schuck, a Colorado Springs businessman who has funded the school-voucher movement.
Schuck's land is near Front Range Airport, but Walker would rather build the university in Douglas County.
Walker said Reagan often alluded to a "shining city on the hill," including in his 1981 inaugural address.
"Because he had a vision of a shining city on the hill, I want us to be on a rolling plain, looking at the Front Range," Walker said.
Schuck said he's offered his "enthusiastic" support to the project, even though he's not certain of all details of the project.
"I love (Reagan's) legacy, and I will do anything I can to perpetuate it and memorialize it," he said.
The school will be a general university with traditional disciplines, except a medical school, Walker said.
There will be a law school and a graduate school of public and international policy. There will also be schools of performing and visual arts, divinity, applied science, engineering, applied sciences, and natural and math sciences.
The university will be funded through private donations, and no taxpayer money will be used, Walker said. The project has the support of the Reagan family and longtime Reagan advisers such as Edwin Meese, who served as Reagan's attorney general, Walker said.
"Ed Meese can pick up the phone and call every wealthy person in the country," Walker said.
Walker hopes the university will compete with the nation's top schools, such as Stanford, Princeton and Harvard.
They hope to attract the top 3 percent of U.S. students and will only allow students who have an SAT score of 1,400 or above, he said. A perfect SAT score is 1,600.
"We're going for the creme de la creme," Walker said.
Ronald Reagan University will hopefully have 10,000 students and 2,000 faculty and staff by 2010, Walker said.
Walker and Rep. Jim Welker, R-Loveland, outlined the plans to the House Education Committee on Monday in a resolution calling for legislative support of the project. The plan passed on a 6-5 vote, with the panel's five Democrats voting no.
But Welker said he understood that it was a political vote.
"If someone would have proposed a Bill Clinton University, how would Republicans vote on that?" he asked.