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Aug. 23, 2006

Proposed College Resurfaces, in Virginia

The founders of Founders College are shifting their focus, geographically if not philosophically.

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Two and a half months ago, a group of academics and others steeped in the philosophy of Ayn Rand had applied in two states, Maine and North Carolina, to create a new private, for-profit institution, and its leaders’ connections to Objectivist philosophy led to speculation among regulators in both states that the institution, wherever it landed, would have Rand’s teaching at its core.

But in mid-June, the project seemed to go underground. Officials in both states said that Founders officials had canceled proposed meetings and site visits in which state officials planned to gather information about the proposed college and decide whether to approve the applications. Last week, officials in both states said they had not heard a word from the Founders team since late June, and that they assumed the project was dead.

Founders College is not dead, though — it has just shifted its gaze, in multiple ways. On August 15, an entity known as Founders College Education, Inc., applied to a state panel in Virginia for certification to begin operating a degree-granting, for-profit postsecondary institution there by September 2007; Alan Edwards, who oversees the licensure process for the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia, said a decision on the college’s application, made by the council’s staff and top officials, could come within two weeks.

Officials affiliated with the proposed institution are under contract to buy an 1,100-acre estate in Lynch Station, Va., in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Lynchburg, pending due diligence and the approval of county zoning officials. Century 21 lists the property (which includes two lakes, five barns and a horse riding ring) as having been on the market at a price tag of $12 million.

Gary Hull, an instructor at Duke University who will preside over Founders College as its chief executive officer and chairman, says the college will be distinctive because of its single-minded focus on the liberal arts. Most colleges today, he says, have become “swamped by political correctness, by diversity, and by other other nouveau political movements over the last 20 years, pushing out all of the core courses. Other liberal arts colleges have become very watered down by layering in a whole bunch of subjects we think are completely irrelevant to a core undergraduate education.”

Founders would begin with just a handful of key majors — history, literature and the arts, economics and philosophy — plus a B.A. in business and a certificate program in education. Students would take a set curriculum in the first two years dominated by mastery of “important concepts that are hierarchically structured and integrated” through the academic program. “Our goal is to transfer an important body of knowledge to the next generation and teach students how to think — to set their minds on fire,” Hull says. The institution would put its (wholly nontenured) faculty through a rigorous 60-hour teacher training program aimed at ensuring “passionate, quality teaching.”

Hull directs the Program on Values and Ethics at Duke and edited The Ayn Rand Reader, and audio of his five-hour seminar, “An Introduction to Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand,” is featured on the Web site of the Ayn Rand Institute.

That background — and the fact that he and a Duke colleague, Eric Daniels, founded a nonprofit group in 2005 that describes its mission as providing “a reality-based, rationally grounded education, by applying Objectivism, the philosophy of Rand, to all of the Corporation’s activities and undertakings” — prompted concerns that Rand’s embrace of laissez-faire capitalism and “rational self-interest” would dominate a Founders education.

While Hull acknowledges that Objectivism is his “own personal philosophy” and that of some of the proposed institution’s other leaders, “there is no ideological orientation of Founders College. It is not an Ayn Rand university.”

He says that professional instructors, just like professionals in other fields, don’t let their personal views dominate their teaching. “We will not put up with” teachers who inject their viewpoints inappropriately into their classroom presentations, Hull says. “That’s why some of us are escaping from academe today — because there are political litmus tests for how people advance or get fired.”

Rand’s ideas “will be presented in class alongside competing ideas when the topic is appropriate,” Hull says. “If we have a class discussion about abortion, pro and con, we’ll present the religious arguments against it, and in favor, we might use Ayn Rand’s argument, but other arguments, too.

Adds Hull: “She’s not going to get any more special play at Founders than Marx does, Plato does, or any of the popes do.”

— Doug Lederman

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Comments

The Grand Right Wing Committee

Looks like it will take a hundred men to invent this candle. Best of luck to them.

Diogenes, We are at The State, at 7:05 am EDT on August 23, 2006

Hull is hilarious

I am rooting for these guys, just because I think it will be funny. Hull’s comments are hilarious, and I want more of them! Does he really think that liberal arts schools don’t teach “core” courses? Can he name a single liberal arts college without calculus, micro and macro econ? Being “swamped” with “diversity.” Oh no! I guess in Virginia, he can be assured that he won’t be flooded with “diversity.”

Larry, at 7:05 am EDT on August 23, 2006

Yeah, my school sure does suffer from being swamped in diversity. How dare anyone point out yet again the fact that the population of the state we’re in is 30% racial minorities, while the proportion on our fair (pun intended) campus is only 8%?

Ayn Rand is an intellectual joke, a Soviet emigre with a female hard-on for fetishized American masculinity. If this school ever gets off the ground, I pity its hapless students.

willie mink, at 8:25 am EDT on August 23, 2006

Why Not?

With Regent, Liberty, Christendom, and Patrick Henry in attendance, Virginia is already the right wing academic capital of the universe. I’m surprised Hillsdale hasn’t opened a branch campus here. These guys will fit in great.

Virginia Native, at 8:35 am EDT on August 23, 2006

Why Bother?

Rand’s novels are engaging, fun, and thought-provoking. As a philosophy, though, objectivism is cold, uncaring, and rigid. They are already trying to become politically correct by saying that it will not be an “Ayn Rand university.” In that case, why bother? Why spend $12 million on the property alone plus all the buildings, salaries, etc., if you are not going to adhere to your distinctives? One reason is obvious: the gentleman is in the beginning stage of building his own personal kingdom.

Have a happy day!

Cal, at 9:35 am EDT on August 23, 2006

How about “Flounders” College

If you want serious, radically traditional, primary-source based liberal arts, then try St. John’s College (Annapolis or Santa Fe), Shimer College (Chicago), or programs like Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies.

Yes, textbook-driven, menu-style liberal studies is a joke. Even the textbook authors have rarely read the original sources they site. God forbid that the faculty have even read the textbook. But in environments obsessed with the exploitative profit approach of business and the fad programs of educationists, in-depth engagement with serious thought is considered a waste of time. The last people to read their “founders” are from these two groups.

And it is a for-profit?? Now that is funny. Add to that, this animosity toward tenure (so if you are politically correct you will be fired???). That is even funnier.

MDG, Director of Graduate Studies at Kentucky State University, at 9:40 am EDT on August 23, 2006

Citations please

Mr. MDG:

I’ll bet your colleagues in Kentucky really feel good about you representing their academic inclinations. Your statement, “Yes, textbook-driven, menu-style liberal studies is a joke. Even the textbook authors have rarely read the original sources they site. . .” On what body of research does the honorable director of graduate studies base that bold-faced, unsubstantiated allegation? Such emotional rhetoric is a very sad reflection on the state of intellectual integrity in American higher education. The ground is well-prepared, so is it any wonder that educational alternatives — for-profit and otherwise — are popping up? Whoever these Founders folks are, they apparently are sufficiently convinced of the value of their mission to justify a significant investment in that vision. You talk, mock, belittle, and denigrate; they act. My sense is that there is more substance behind their convictions than lurks beneath your rhetoric.

Scott, at 10:15 am EDT on August 23, 2006

Scott, It is unclear what sort of investment has been made yet, and who the investors are. Indeed, the fact that they abandoned one plan, and started another makes me think that their mission (besides making money) is not as clear, and their spirit is not as willing as it seems.

I just had an idea. Scooter Libby wrote a novel, too. It is called “The Apprentice.” Maybe we could start a school around the ideas embodied in that novel.

Larry, at 10:50 am EDT on August 23, 2006

Spelling

Dr. MGD: one sites a building (or perhaps a university), but cites a resource. Cite is short for citation. If you’re going to take an intellectual shot at someone, get it right.

Tom, at 11:00 am EDT on August 23, 2006

Why not?

Larry:

It is without hesitation that I agree with your observation that the jury is still out regarding the motives and spirit held by the Founders. Let’s face it, there are nearly 5,000 for-profit “colleges and universities” in the US alone (assuming you consider the end of an offshore dock an extension of the mainland), and more than a few of them are little more than private money market funds for the owners. That said, there are also some very reputable, academically rigorous and innovative institutions out there whose for-profit status is no more insidious than the Notre Dame Foundation, the billion-dollar or so endowment of which happens to also provide for a very healthy lifestyle for those who manage it. So if you think there is a niche that we can fill via “The Apprentice,” let’s see if there are some deep pockets out there who will buy into the vision!

Scott, at 11:55 am EDT on August 23, 2006

question for Scott

Scott, I would be interested to know what for-profit institutions you consider to be “very reputable” and “academically rigorous” and how you know that this is so. Thanks.

Larry, at 1:00 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Ayn Rand Institute a Great Idea

I think that a private university grounded on liberal ideals (in the 18th century sense) is a great idea. Universities have, since well before the days of William F. Buckley’s “God and Man at Yale” been centers of left wing advocacy. Now that the left’s ideas have been empirically discredited (to wit, the mass murder that they cause, the violations of human rights that they entail, the economic destruction that they bring and the depredation of the environment that they encourage) one would think that universities would do what they are supposed to do and analyze why the left’s ideas have failed so miserably and what alternatives might be devised.

There has been no such analytical thought. The academy’s ivy is cob webbed, and in the social sciences its ideas are the ideas of one or two centuries past. The academy claims to study society, but the most innovative social ideas come from businesses. The accademy’s ideas need refreshing, because collegial processes have guaranteed that academic institutions remain locked in an ultra-conservative, backward looking past. Into this void leaps Founders University. I wish them the best and am confident that they can do no worse than the current, failed institutions.

Mitchell Langbert, Associate Professor at Brooklyn College, at 1:25 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Mitchell, surely you meant to type the “right” rather than the “left"? If not, what in the world do you mean, laying so many evils at the feet of the left when other observers would lay them at the feet of the right? And if you’re referring to “communism,” the Evil Empire and all that, let’s clear that one up—that wasn’t and isn’t “the left.”

willie mink, at 3:25 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Response for Larry

The two institutions that I can personally attest to knowing something about, and whose reputations are well established, in part by virtue of being regionally accredited, are Capella and Walden — both in Minneapolis. In the case of Capella, it was one of the 14 charter members of the North Central Association’s Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP), funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. There are now 170 AQIP participants, but Capella has been particularly noteworthy in its efforts to work closely with the Higher Learning Commission of the NCA to ensure that its quality metrics, in fact, reflect sound academic programs. As an AQIP systems appraiser with first hand knowledge of its accreditation reports, and experience on-site, I can attest to the rigor of its programs, the integrity of its curriculum, and the overwhelming degree of satisfaction expressed by its graduates. This is but one example, although Walden seems to enjoy similar status. The point is that there is no direct correlation between “for-profit” and academic quality. Regrettably, there are quite a few non-profit institutions out there who are contributing more that a little to the credentialed illiteracy that increasingly reflects American culture.

Scott, at 3:30 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Your Application is On the Way!

Dear Mike:

Since your evil, left wing institution is such a failure and the left is “discredtied” (although so is the right, unless you have forgotten the civil rights violations of a certain, ultra-right, failed Austrian former art major), I’m sure, as an associate professor, that you’d be willing to give up your job security and tenure and join these fine readers of Anthem-as-the-Bible in their entrepreneurial venture! I’ll drop a line and make sure they send you a job application c/o the chair of your department! Make a few copies! Send it around to your friends. Just remember that there are a large number of ex-Patrick Henry College faculty in line ahead of you as well as their former President! On the other hand, did they drop their Maine campus plans? If not, the fresh air may do you good!

Diogenes, We Are at The State, at 3:30 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Scott, Okay, I get it. You have first-hand knowledge of the merits of for-profit institutions. Unfortunately, many real employers and most graduate schools will not take their degrees seriously.

Mitchell, How can a political idea be discredited? Yet alone politically. It isn’t an assertion of the truth. It is a statement of preference regarding the nature of the state. Are you saying that if you and I were to eat dinner, and I were to tell the waiter that “apple pie would be nice,” that you would state that my preference for “apple pie” and been disproven in favor of a preference for chocolate cake?

According to many, academe is monolithic. Yet somehow, the country is pretty much evenly divided politically (going by the major parties as a proxy for political beliefs.) So, even assuming that there is brainwashing going on, it has little residual effect.

Larry, at 3:45 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Teaching Students How To Think

Good Luck to Founders College! Any college that starts out with a different philosophy already faces a distinct challenge: to live up to that philosophy. However, the idea of teaching students how to think is not new in Higher Education — Shimer College in Illinois has been doing so for over 150 years, with core courses and a Great Books program, based on the philosophies of Robert Maynard Hutchins. No, Larry — Shimer does not even offer Calculus, Micro and Macro Econ. However, as a college with a very different philosophy, it constantly endeavors to follow its dream.

Barb, graduate (of) at Shimer, at 4:00 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Regarding Larry’s Comment

According to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni’s recent survey, only 14 percent of campuses require a course in American history; 12 percent in general literature; and not even one of thecampuses surveyd directs students to study economics. Moreover,the percentage of college graduates judged proficient in prose literacy has dipped from 40 to 31 percent.

Wow, higher education is doing a bang up job. Let’s all congratulate ourselves. Right on, Larry.

Mitchell Langbert, Associate Proessor at Brooklyn College, at 4:00 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

differences between offerings and core requirements

Mitchell, Requiring a course is different than offering it. While I think that most schools should offer a course in American history, one’s education is by no means incomplete if they don’t take it. Instead, a student should understand theories of history and how to learn more about it. As for me, I never took a course in American history, but in my professional career, I often must understand various events (usually not the flashy ones, however) very well.

As to your comment on “prose proficiency” I wonder who is doing this “judging.” I never took a prose proficiency exam. Nor is one required. Perhaps you can explain who administers this test, so we know that you are not making it up.

Barb, I looked at the catalogue from your school and all of the classical liberal arts topics are taught. They are given flaky-sounding names, but they are all there.

Larry, at 6:00 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Founders College

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! I an very excited about the idea of Founders College-at least one can be assured of an objective education-something that I sorely missed when I attended college. If they locate here in Virginia, I would seriously consider attending this school.

Robert, at 7:20 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

The catch

The catch is this. They don’t have to “pump” Ayn Rand’s Objectivism thru the veins of students (teach them “what” to think). But,rest assured, they WILL teach students “how” to think... that is, maintain an active (not open), focused mind with the proper method of using their faculty of reason and it’s tool, logic. They do that... they will have educated students to be rational (not in the sense that they don’t qualify to be locked away, but in the sense that they can properly reason... THINK. We all want that (or do we?), and mankind desparately needs that! Some commenters here may dread that, based on these responses. A mind is not a dangerous thing, if you use it. If you do want that, enroll your kids at Founders ASAP... and apply for a teaching position also.

LDS, at 8:40 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

Hurray, Gary Hull and Eric Daniels! You’re really going to do it and it will be great.

SJD, at 9:55 pm EDT on August 23, 2006

SJD, They failed once. Don’t be so sure they can make a go of it second time. I wouldn’t invest in people with such a record of failure.

Larry, at 9:45 am EDT on August 24, 2006

Then don’t invest in them.

SJD, at 12:20 pm EDT on August 24, 2006

Unity in the University

Will we ever get over these opposing teams in higher education: for-profit versus non-profit, public versus private, academic versus vocational? I look at the language being used in these discussions, and it is as if higher ed has been divided into teams, trying to “beat” the others or win others over to a particular philosophy. While intellectual discourse is great and a friendly argument stimulating, I have to wonder at universities that promote a single, narrow school of thought or philosophy. It is FAR too much like Congress, duking it out in a bi-partisan struggle that goes nowhere. Is this dynamic really helpful to students? Does it make faculty or administration any more successful in educating the college bound? I tend to think not.

Katherine, at 2:00 pm EDT on August 24, 2006

Kudos to Hull and Daniels

Best of luck to Gary Hull and Eric Daniels in their efforts to open Founders College. I hope they achieve their goals and make lots of money in the process.

John W. Bales, Professor at Tuskegee University, at 5:55 am EDT on August 27, 2006

Superb Teachers

I have had the pleasure of attending many lectures on philosophy by Gary Hull and American history by Eric Daniels, and they are both superb teachers. I am confident that any student who approaches them with an active mind will have an intellectual adventure to benefit them for a lifetime. Hull and Daniels deserve every success, but the greatest winners will be their future students.

Phillip Schearer, at 5:50 am EDT on August 30, 2006

Rand’s ideas helped me be succesful I hope to hire graduates.

If there will now be a college teaching the philosophy of Ayn Rand, Objectivism, I am applauding their founders for their daring and persistence.

Only thanks to the objectivist ideas I learned, I was able to rationally choose America as my new home country, find a great can do wife and build a solid profitable enterprise. In other words, her ideas are the really workaking tools for my happiness.

Before that, all I, my wife and my staff got taught on other schools was irrationality, filled with subjectivism and altruism of the socialist or the religious kind. Neither of those ideas worked in real life, as history has shown repeatedly, even with me personally.

Blind faith, assuming that facts depend on one’s opinions and wishes, that we can never understand teh world aroudn us, that individual rights are not absolute but subject to other people’s needs, that trees are more important tha humas, all as it is taught in todays other colleges DOES NOT WORK.

I will be proud to receive the job application and resume of the first graduate of this school in 2011, when we will certainly be hiring again to continue our further expansion.

Peter Leeflang, CEO, at 9:55 am EDT on September 5, 2006

Bravo

I came across Thomas Jefferson’s advice to his nephew [1] and was surprised how many great books are no longer studied in today’s university. After reading a few of Jefferson’s suggestions and talking to other educated people, it was clear how deficient our education had been.

If the Founders’ College can re-introduce the great classical ideas and cultivate the capacity to discover, learn, integrate, and apply this vast knowledge, it will be a success. If it nurtures innovators, it will be a stunning success. I wish it well.

[1] http://tinyurl.com/2h2up4

Jason Pappas, at 2:31 pm EST on January 31, 2007

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