Schools Find Ayn Rand Cant Be Shrugged as Donors Build Courses Excerpt:
John Allison, former chairman of bank holding company BB&T Corp. (BBT), admires author Ayn Rand so much that he devised a strategy to spread her laissez-faire principles on U.S. campuses. Allison, working through the BB&T Charitable Foundation, gives schools grants of as much as $2 million if they agree to create a course on capitalism and make Rands masterwork, Atlas Shrugged, required reading. Allisons crusade to counter what he considers the anti- capitalist orthodoxy at universities has produced results -- and controversy. Some 60 schools, including at least four campuses of the University of North Carolina, began teaching Rands book after getting the foundation money. Faculty at several schools that have accepted Allisons terms are protesting, saying donors shouldnt have the power to set the curriculum to pursue their political agendas, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its June issue. Excerpt: Benefactors rarely deviate from the universitys preferred projects, says Martin Shell, Stanfords vice president for development. We want to make sure we understand what the donor has agreed to and what weve agreed on, to make sure theres a meeting of minds so theres no confusion down the road, Shell says. Stanfords tightly scripted fundraising program didnt prevent a blowup with Hollywood producer Stephen Bing. After Bing pledged $2.5 million for an undisclosed purpose, he learned that Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) was running advertisements touting its earlier promise to donate up to $100 million to Stanford to support climate change and energy research. Bing, who backs environmental causes, demanded that Stanford prevent Exxon from using the schools good name in its marketing to promote itself as a green company. A group of alumni rallied to Bings cause and lobbied the schools board of trustees to vote their shares in support of a 2007 Exxon shareholder resolution calling on the oil giant to reduce its contributions to global warming. But that wasnt enough for Bing, who rescinded his donation in 2007 because Stanford refused to end its relationship with Exxon. Bing declined to comment. Read more here: link<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-05/schools-find-ayn-rand-can-t-be-shrugged-as-donors-build-courses.html> As a follow up, here is a link to a list of Universities that have programs for Labor Studies (link <http://uale.org/affiliate_listing/87>). Here is the description of one such program The City College Labor Studies program was created by the San Francisco labor movement in association with the college. Its aim is to prepare students for careers in the labor movement and in labor relations, and to educate workers about their rights. The department's credit program leads to either an A.A. degree or a twenty-one unit Certificate in Labor Studies. Core courses are American Labor History, Collective Bargaining, Grievance Handling and Arbitration, Labor Economics and Labor and Employment Law. Elective courses cover a wide range of topics including: Labor in Literature and the Arts, Workplace Safety, Peer Counseling in the Workplace and Labor Leadership for People of Color, for Women, and for Gay and Lesbian People. The program meets the educational needs of San Francisco area union locals primarily through its non-credit program. Non-credit classes include condensed versions of the "big picture" credit courses and a wide range of shop steward and leadership development classes. Non-credit classes are free and their lengths are tailored to suit the needs of the sponsoring locals. Current projects include development of an Immigrant Workers' Rights/English as a Second Language curriculum and workbook, in collaboration with the Center for Labor Research and Education at U.C. Berkeley. New directions include partnering classes with college and community vocational education programs and the community based workers' rights groups. Future plans include an expansion of the credit program to include community organizing and environmental justice classes, linked with an area-wide internship network. This will be coupled with a labor and community arts program which will chronicle working peoples' contributions to the Bay Area and project these out into the broader public arena. J - When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing when you see money flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws dont protect you against them, but protect them against you when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed. - Ayn Rand * *I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer - except that you have actual respo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:337823 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
