Patrick Henry College, a newer evangelical 4 year institution focused on training home-schooled students is being charged with one of the worst crimes to date: raising too many conservative leaders. According to David Kirkpatrick of the New York times, seven of the White House's 100 interns were pulled from the school's 240 student enrollment and one works for the Bush re-election campaign. Apparently that's one too many in the eyes of the political left. According to a woman interviewed for the article (who happens to be the education policy director for a liberal advocacy group), "The number of Patrick Henry interns in the White House scares me to death." It's a travesty I'm sure. I do realize how scary that word "evangelical" is in the name of an academic institution. I think my dear and very Christian parents nearly had hernias when I told them I was considering transferring to Oral Roberts University three years ago. It is interesting how something like this even warrants media attention. This is how colleges should be--specialized. Every university is seeking to be have a mark on its student population. Have you seen the glossy layouts for college brochures these days? You'd think you were being sold a timeshare. Yet, while it is scary to many that such a small school would push out such a large percentage of leaders of a certain thought persuasion, I can name off 10 universities and colleges right now (my former university included) that are responsible for consistently producing some of the most liberal, God-hating, morally relative leaders of the 21st century. Here's a hint, most of them are in the New-England area. Now that's scary.

The charge against the school's president is a charge that can be made against just about any president of a university, provided he or she is not a tool of the alumni or Board of Directors. Institutions of higher education want the reputation of raising up leaders provided you think the way they want you to think. I used to work in my university's annual fund office, I know how dirty the fundraising campaigns can get. It is unfortunate however, that because this school is a proponent of conservative thought, the opportunists cry, "Conspiracy!" I say it is time for education reform in America and that means universities as well. I say kudos to a a small school gaining a reputation of integrity in their students.