In light of current events, this is at least timely (link):
Rival strategists back a proposed political center
Ex-UD students Plouffe, Schmidt help out facultyBy RACHEL KIPP • The News Journal • October 21, 2009
Former political rivals David Plouffe and Steve Schmidt are teaming up on behalf of their shared college, the University of Delaware.
Plouffe, campaign manager for President Barack Obama during the 2008 election, and Schmidt, campaign manager for Republican opponent John McCain, are working with faculty and staff at UD to develop a political communications center at the school.
The center would focus on study of the role communications technology — such as YouTube, text messaging and other social media — has in political campaigns and policy debates. Organizers are hoping to offer an undergraduate minor program.
“A lot of universities in the country have centers for politics and policy and communications, they’re all out there,” said UD professor Ralph Begleiter, who is spearheading the center’s development. “But we think we may be among the few in the nation who are focusing on this new area of political communication and that’s going to be something we hope makes [UD] stand out from the crowd.”
Although nothing is official, Begleiter said faculty from UD’s communications and political science departments have been working on developing the center and met with university President Patrick Harker, Provost Tom Apple and other administrators about the idea.
“All of the people have been very supportive of it, very enthusiastic,” Begleiter said. “But it’s one of those things where we just have to make sure everybody’s OK and everybody’s in approval and then make the announcement.”
The scope of the center is also dependent on funding, Begleiter said.
“The university and the state and the entire nation are still in an economic crunch and new programs don’t happen out of thin air,” he said. “We’re really going to have to raise some funds to support this program. If it starts out modestly, it needs only modest funds, but we have lots of very, very big ideas. If people outside of the university say this sounds like a really good idea then we’ll be able to make it really a much more substantial program.”
Ok, first, I’m sure they can find someone to print some money to pay for it. Also, they can consolidate the communications, political science, and journalism schools into it. Because as it stands, communications coming from private companies and journalists must evidently pass the test of the politicians to avoid being hung out to dry with legislative repercussions.
Or, even better, they can add everything that ends in “studies” to the program (women’s, gender, ethnic, etc). Next they can adjust their faculty and add economics, because economic theories are being adjusted from what’s historically worked to “what works now. Accounting majors must also be included, because they won’t be able to find work if they can’t adjust the accounting to meet the expected outcomes, they’ll be looking for work. English majors might as well be added to that, as they’ll need to adjust language to fit what’s appropriate to political scientists. Pre-med students will need to take courses to ensure that they’re prepared to work with diverse groups and learn the public health system. What else? I could probably keep going and going…
When they’re done they could just call it the “Marx School”.