Campus Reform: DePaul University

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According to a recent Bloomberg report, the state of Illinois may face up to $35 billion dollars in unpaid bills. This is primarily due to overwhelming costs of Medicare and Medicaid programs in the state, that will undoubtably increase exponentially with Obamacare coming into effect.

"But it's not my fault!" former Westwood students cried when they realized their faulty choice.

In Economics we must correctly identify who is really at fault for our financial conditions. But for Illionis attorney generals, only one person is to blame for students making poor financial decisions, and that is the university of Westwood (story here).

Students looking for a plush job in government employment, with an easy criminal justice degree opt out of going to the much cheaper public universitites (cheaper, no doubt, because of subsidies and tax payer dollars!), to going to a university like Westwood where a tuition can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

"15+ Trillion dollars in debt and counting? No problem! Let's spend some more!" is basically what our politicians are saying today.

Despite the fact that every new rail project that the government continually pursues for the sake of "Job creation" has been a major bust, and extraordinary economic strain on our local governments, they continue to push forward with a socialist agenda of planned economics and increased federal spending.

Last month, CampusReform.org reported on the biased way in which student fees often find their way into the hands of left wing student associations at the expense of funding conservative groups on campus.

We specifically highlighted the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who violated student group the Badger Catholic's First Amendment rights by denying them any student fees while at the same time allocating the student group "Sex Out Loud" $100,000. The school administration was forced to back off after the Alliance Defense Fund helped Badger Catholic appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit who agreed that the group's rights were violated.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is a prominent legal organization whose mission is to defend and sustain individual rights at America's colleges and universities. Each month, FIRE highlights a college or university with a particularly bad and, more often than not, unconstitutional speech code. FIRE's "speech code of the month" for September goes to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

In addition to providing transcripts and SAT scores, students applying for admission to Elmhurst College can now disclose their sexual orientation.

"Would you consider yourself to be a member of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender) community?" is now among the questions asked of students applying for admission to the college in the fall of 2012.

While students are not required to answer the question, those that answer "yes" are eligible for a scholarship worth a third of the cost of tuition.

The school says the question and the scholarship advance the promotion of diversity at the college, although it is not clear how asking an optional question about sexual identity actually promotes diversity.

Elmhurst College, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ, also offers a concentration in Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Studies and this fall will begin a series of lectures and discussions on "Christian theology and the LGBT person."

Student allocations fees are a major funding issue on college campuses across the country.  These fees are mandatory and must be paid in addition to a student’s tuition.  

Unfortunately the allocations process is usually run by biased administrators and left leaning student government associations.  These fees always find their way into the hands of left wing student associations at the expense of funding conservative groups on campus.

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is a prominent legal organization that specializes in protecting our “first liberty”, the right to religious freedom.  A large portion of their work involves defending religious student groups who frequently face problems in this skewed allocations process. Most recently, the ADF helped Badger Catholic, a group at the University of Wisconsin in their case against the school’s administration.  Like any other student group on campus, Badger Catholic used student fees for leadership training, speakers, large group events, and retreats.

The University of Chicago (UC) announced that Henry Paulson will begin a five-year appointment as a senior fellow at the University beginning this July. Paulson served as Treasury secretary from 2006 to 2009 and prior to that served as chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs from 1999 to 2006.

During his appointment, Paulson will start the independent Paulson Institute “to promote international engagement, with a special emphasis on relationships between the U.S. and China.”

Paulson is joining a university who’s current and former faculty and alumni have won 85 Nobel Prizes, “including the Nobel Prize for Peace awarded in 2009 to President Barack Obama, who taught at the University’s law school for twelve years.” So by those standards perhaps Paulson will win the Nobel Prize in Economics?

Do you know who’s teaching at you school? You can take action by researching and publicizing the political contribution patterns of your school’s faculty and staff.

Notre Dame Board of Trustees member Roxanne M. Martino resigned from the Board today in wake of reports criticizing her for donating thousands of dollars to pro-choice organizations.