If you look at our list of college president endorsements, you might notice that we have won the support of many flagship state universities, including Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, and (most recently) North Dakota. But you also might notice that we don’t have many of the elite private schools. No Harvard, no Yale, no Duke (my alma mater),…What gives?

When Shawn and I first started working on the Academy nearly four years ago, we thought we would be able to win strong support from higher education leaders. After all, college leaders love to talk about their commitment to public service (particularly at graduation time). But as we stepped behind the rhetoric, we found a striking difference in how different colleges approach “public service” and how they view the efforts of other universities to encourage service. In general — and there certainly are exceptions — we have found that public university leaders have a broader sense of their service mission and assume that encouraging students to serve the public is one of their key reasons for being. These leaders tend to view the Public Service Academy as complementary to their efforts. They recognize, for example, that having the various campuses of the University of Michigan does not impede the efforts of Kalamazoo College or any of the other fine private schools in the state. The more opportunities, the better.

But many elite private institutions view us instead as competition — they fear losing students and/or funding to the Academy. We have had dozens of conversations with private school administrators who express concern that having a national Academy would somehow detract from what they are doing at their particular school. How sad and short-sighted — particularly when it comes from a school that rejects 80%-90% of its applicants! Apparently, these “leaders” would prefer to deny students more opportunities to serve rather than face the competition of a civilian Academy.

August 2009 witnessed the passing of a tremendous American who spent decades working to help our nation fulfill its most audacious promises: Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Yes, her brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy, was a tremendous legislator whose death has transfixed much of the nation, but Eunice led an extraordinary life full of enduring accomplishments. The ingrained sexism of the time may have prevented her from following her brothers into politics, but she did not simply stand on the sidelines — she was a force all her own. Moved by the troubles of her mentally ill sister, Eunice launched what became the Special Olympics from the backyard of her home in Rockville, Maryland, and she helped create the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She and her husband, Sargent Shriver, inspired millions of Americans to become active citizens. She will not be forgotten.