UUSA
December 18, 2012
We need a University of the United States of America.
It would be set up much like the service academies (USAFA, Annapolis, West Point)…admission for undergraduates via Congressional nomination. Tuition room and board for free. Well..”free”. There would be a service payback of some sort. Generally less dangerous than the military, so there’s that. And presumably the post-service skills would be marketable.
On the Professor side, I imagine the research and scholarship to be like intramural NIH. For every discipline. Arts, Humanities and the Sciences. Professors will do great things without having to grub for extra grant support.
The flagship campus has to be in Detroit. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Real Estate will be cheap….and not just for the UUSA proper but also for the rapidly emerging spinoff businesses. Housing relatively affordable.
And lord knows Detroit needs the rejuvenation. Heck, most of the Rust Belt could use this kind of kick forward.
There will be no B-school. I can’t think of a possible “service” role for that nonsense. But the Medical School will provide the finest in evidence based, scientific, modern medical practice possible.
And the J-school….oh my lights. The tarnished Fourth Estate will be restored my friends. Just you watch. Every journalism student will be put through the science wringer so they know how to deal with facts and not the logic of the pull quote.
December 19, 2012 at 2:34 am
But that would require recognizing that the government can do something that the free market can’t do and that will result in a common good. There’s a political party entirely dedicated to dispelling that notion, and another one too scared of being called socialist to contradict them.
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December 19, 2012 at 3:12 am
There has been a bill before Congress for several years to establish the US Public Service Academy, which is more or less exactly what you’re talking about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Public_Service_Academy
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December 19, 2012 at 6:00 am
Dude, lay offe the government ditche weede.
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December 19, 2012 at 7:09 am
Now is that any way for the inaugural President of UUSA to talk PP?
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December 19, 2012 at 7:10 am
Cool hydropsych!
Hadn’t heard of that before.
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December 19, 2012 at 8:18 am
I may be wrong, but I think there is a MRU in Detroit. Why not just shove a ton of money (with strings attached) into Wayne State, I’m sure that would solve all of our problems.
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December 19, 2012 at 10:08 am
DB- don’t think small. The goal is for something totally different with major new investment. a shining camelot of Universities.
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December 19, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Do away with traditional college and department structures. Have flexible foci that faculty can identify with, but are able to move between at will based on where their research is taking them. Allow faculty/staff/students to propose and form new foci as warranted. But also have specific criteria for keeping foci – have sunset provisions built in.
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December 26, 2012 at 12:45 pm
[…] of workers The answer is not more guns Teachers and Mothers: Our Real Heroes After Tragedy UUSA Against any grand unifying theories explaining Sandy Hook Academic Administrative Fecklessness […]
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January 1, 2013 at 5:50 am
That’s al fine, but what will the football team’s mascot? And are we talking Div I or Div III?
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January 1, 2013 at 7:32 am
Not a real big fan of the college footballs, gotta tell you. Do we haaaave to?
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January 1, 2013 at 7:33 am
…but the school mascot would be the bald eagle of course. Whatever else?
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