It’s not the first time Trump has played with a “university” and if past is prologue, this one would be a major mess driven by ideology and ego.
IS THERE ANYTHING on the internet you can believe?
In the last week, internet viewers have been treated to photos of Donald Trump sucking on a pacifier and another one of his wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, Hillary Clinton trick-or-treating as a green-faced witch, and one of Chris Christy depicted as a beluga whale.
But this story on a major news site seems to have built-in truisms.
A recent news article in Politico started this way: “Donald Trump wants to “revolutionize” higher education if elected president.”
Donald Trump? The former president? The guy who started “Trump University”, ran it for five years and was ordered to close it and reimburse students $25,000,000for being a “fraudulent enterprise”?
Remember the class action lawsuit against Trump U? It was not a university and was also advertised as Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, LLC.
In effect, it was supposed to be a real estate training program billed as a “university”; it did not count for college credit, grant degrees, or give grades. What it did was rake in money from folks enamored with Trump’s persona, self-constructed “see how rich I am” reputation, and his self-aggrandizing book, “Art of the Deal”.
That Donald Trump? The one who is running for president and could win if he avoids prison after being indicted in three different jurisdictions on 91 felony counts?
That Donald Trump?
Recently the twice-impeached president, in a campaign video, emphatically stated that if elected he would create a federally funded online university that awards “free” degrees.
Of course, there’s catch: It would not allow “wokeness or jihadism” to be taught; it would be tax-payer funded.
Federally funded? Well, if passing dubious legislation counts, his new policy proposal would continue to tax large private university endowments and add plain-old tax dollars to pay for his “American Academy.”
The school would grant credit to prospective students for past coursework and then use their credentials to apply for jobs with the U.S. government and federal contractors, according to news reports.
STOP. BREATHE. Do what?
On the surface, Trump seems to be focusing on what he considers “wokeness” on college campuses due to certain responses to the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas.
Trump said, “We spend more money on higher education than any other country and yet, they’re turning our students into communists and terrorists and sympathizers of many, many different dimensions. We can’t let this happen.”
Who will run American University has not been decided; good money is riding on it being a Trump loyalist who will do his bidding…and agree to sign an iron-clad non-disclosure agreement.
Trump officials did state in a release they would look to include “private sector resources” and might include including “oversight by an existing government agency, a presidentially appointed board or commission, or a publicly funded private entity,”
Did you catch that? “Publicly funded private entity” is in the mix, which translates to “rich friends of Trump and other politicians” getting richer off tax revenue.
Would it be a good move to create a new educational model that would compete with the thousands of existing institutions of higher learning?
From an historical perspective, the idea of a national, American university is not new. In George Washington’s first address to Congress in 1780, he called on the new legislature to consider establishing a national university to promote science, literature and civic education. “Wokeness” was not mentioned.
TRUMP’S IDEA FOR a national university is steeped in political ideology, not education.
In his first year in office Trump pushed Congress to pass a 1.4 percent levy on endowment income; and 58 institutions paid a total of hundreds of millions on the income. The levy is on universities that have at least 500 tuition-paying students and net assets of at least $500,000 per student.
Various efforts that advocate the repeal of the tax have failed due to Republican party opposition. Trump also said he would also generate funding for the school by “fining and suing” wealthy universities, if needed.
Biden administration officials have pursued various debt relief efforts, including offering help to Americans who have debt from college but don’t have a degree.
Trump’s proposal calls for granting various types of credentials, including degrees, that are accepted by the federal government and its contractors. In his video, he said the American Academy would award credit for past coursework and give students the opportunity to complete their education for free.
A campaign official said. “We need to have affordable options for college without spending trillions and trillions of dollars.”
This isn’t the Trump campaign’s first foray into the education policy wars.
Earlier this year, Trump called for new accreditation standards for colleges and universities and proposed removing diversity, equity and inclusion administrators and promoting the defense of “the American and Western civilization” in school curriculum. He also called for entrance and exit exams for college and university students to make sure they got their “money’s worth.”
See it? See the plan? Create a nesting place for one-party conservatism and using tax dollars to do it.
If you don’t see it as a slap in the face of democracy…honestly, you are lost.
George Smith views the world from the back porch Bedspring Ridge, a dogtrot house he built in Sutton, Arkansas on old family land on a spot where his great-grandfather’s house once stood. There he lives and opines with his wife BobbieJean and a rescue dog, “Li’l Dawg.” A former newspaper reporter, editor and publisher, he has a master’s degree in business, is a retired director for a global technology company, has been a business owner, student of government and the behavior of politicians. He has been a college instructor, national motivational speaker, community development and festival development consultant and is a published author.