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.
JohnScott responded on 11 Sep 2009 at 2:16 am #
I understand your disappointment but not your logic. Most academic institutions do not have the benefit of no fiscal responsibility and complete government support. Your school may be considered competition if they have the same high standards of the other Federal Service Academies (USNA, USMA, USAFA, USCGA, USMMA). Why Brown does not endorse you is the same reason they do not endorse Harvard.
Also, as a free school, you should expect to also have to decline 90% of your applicants, so again, your complaint does not follow the facts.
Finally, if the addition of your new idea (USPSA) subtracts funding from these established schools, I would hope that information is published and discussed. The presentation of your idea is both grand and grandiose. The facts seem less easy to find, and the originator may not KNOW the facts, as politicians and money enter the mix.
Best of luck with your idea to improve the world. To complain about a lack for support and the shortsightedness of other institutions of higher learning however is ignorant at best and disingenuous at worst.