{"id":138944,"date":"2023-12-14T00:02:15","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T05:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=138944"},"modified":"2023-12-14T07:48:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T12:48:02","slug":"trumps-proposal-for-online-university-american-academy-receives-mixed-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/trumps-proposal-for-online-university-american-academy-receives-mixed-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s proposal for online university &#8216;American Academy&#8217; receives mixed reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>UPDATED<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>&#8216;We absolutely need more competition among colleges and universities for students,&#8217; political scientist said<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Academics and conservative leaders weighed in on former President Donald Trump&#8217;s recent proposal for an online college that would \u201ccompete directly\u201d with the \u201cfour-year university system\u201d and would not allow \u201cwokeism\u201d or \u201cjihadism\u201d in its teaching.<\/p>\n<p>Political scientist Samuel Abrams at Sarah Lawrence College told <em>The College Fix<\/em> Trump was correct that schools with &#8220;huge endowments&#8221; should be &#8220;scrutinized and monitored&#8221; like other nonprofit foundations.<\/p>\n<p>They should be evaluated based on how they are &#8220;enhancing their communities and fulfilling their mission of education,&#8221; Abrams wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/111336760169073700\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> on Nov. 1 on Truth Social that &#8220;in recent weeks, Americans have been horrified to see students and faculty at Harvard and other once-respected universities expressing support for the savages and jihadists who attacked Israel.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We spend more money on higher education than any other country\u2014and yet, they\u2019re turning our students into Communists and terrorist sympathizers,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s time to offer something dramatically different\u2026 &#8216;THE AMERICAN ACADEMY'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"truthsocial-embed truthsocial-video\" style=\"max-width: 100%; border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/111336760169073700\/embed\" width=\"600\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/embed.js\" async=\"async\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In the Truth Social video announcing his proposal, Trump said if he were elected in 2024, he would fund a degree-granting online university by \u201ctaxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments\u201d so as not to raise taxes.<\/p>\n<p>The university will make lectures and other content available &#8220;online, to every American, for free,&#8221; he said. It also will be &#8220;strictly non-political.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Abrams told<em> The Fix<\/em> that \u201cwe absolutely need more competition among colleges and universities for students\u201d due to their politicization by diversity, equity, and inclusion \u201cextreme progressive\u201d politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome schools are so deeply infected by DEI that righting them may be impossible,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, he is \u201cwary of an online college being an absolute replacement\u201d for in-person learning and does not believe America\u2019s need for \u201cdebate, dialogue, discourse, and learning\u201d can be satisfied virtually.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome schools teach skills wonderfully online,\u201d he wrote. \u201cBut if we are going to see direct competition with four-year university systems that investment needs to be made for in-person instruction and socialization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA huge part of the collegiate experience and learning takes place outside classrooms and that cannot be replicated online,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Students need real alternatives to progressive DEI strongholds and a physical campus and a new school is a way to achieve that; digital doesn\u2019t get us there,\u201d Abrams said.<\/p>\n<p>Abrams also said, \u201cthere is no way to keep colleges and universities from being political\u201d since they study politics and policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot police or limit one&#8217;s politics, but we can demand systems that promote open inquiry and debate,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Senior political columnist Timothy Carney of <em>The Washington Examiner\u00a0<\/em>wrote critically of the former president&#8217;s plan in a Nov. 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/trumps-unconservative-american-academy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opinion article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s &#8220;proposal for a federally funded, &#8216;anti-woke,&#8217; free university is rooted in [the] typical Trumpian errors: over-centralization, lack of prudence about the future, and a simplistic concept of both government finance and education,&#8221; Carney wrote.<\/p>\n<p>However, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk offered a positive take, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/charliekirk11\/status\/1720103970394513611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">writing<\/a> Nov. 2 on X that Trump &#8220;is vowing to REVOLUTIONIZE higher education.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8NEW\u2014President Trump is vowing to REVOLUTIONIZE higher education. His new plan would:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Create a free, federally funded online university called &quot;American Academy&quot;<br \/>&#8211; Ban wokeness and jihadism<br \/>&#8211; Allow credentials to be used to apply for government and federal contractor jobs<br \/>-\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eVneoGmaUM\">pic.twitter.com\/eVneoGmaUM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/charliekirk11\/status\/1720103970394513611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 2, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>The Fix<\/em> reached out to Hutz Hertzberg, Turning Point Academy&#8217;s chief education officer, and to TP USA&#8217;s general mailbox to ask for additional comments. No response has been received.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Fix<\/em> also emailed political scientist Keith Whittington at Princeton University asking whether he believes online college could be a suitable replacement for in-person learning and whether he believes academia is overly politicized. He has not responded.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/elections\/trumps-second-term-plans-anti-woke-university-freedom-cities-28f8123d?mod=Searchresults_pos1&amp;page=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> on Dec. 2 that historian Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage Foundation, said he &#8220;loves&#8221; the former president&#8217;s plan.<\/p>\n<p>However, &#8220;several former Trump administration officials said they were skeptical of the feasibility&#8221; of the proposed American Academy, according to the <em>Journal.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Fix<\/em> reached out on Dec. 13 to Cody Sargent, assistant director of media and public relations at the Heritage Foundation, to ask for more details on what Roberts favors about Trump&#8217;s plan and to ask for the organization&#8217;s thoughts on the advantages and limitations of an online university. It has yet to receive a response.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/professors-bemoan-donald-trumps-announcement-of-his-presidential-run\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Professors bemoan Donald Trump\u2019s announcement of presidential run<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:<\/strong> <em>This article has been updated with comments from Charlie Kirk and<\/em> The Washington Examiner <em>and additional details about whom <\/em>The Fix<em> contacted for comment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>IMAGE: @realDonaldTrump\/Truth Social<\/p>\n            <div class=\"article-truncate-control\">\n                <button class=\"show-complete-article\">\n                    Read More                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;We absolutely need more competition among colleges and universities for students,&#8217; political scientist said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1232,"featured_media":138956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085,1077],"tags":[52217,8796,52219,43440,18755,16027,5479,52229,28190,49544,1157,20429,20430,8968,50179,27363,52218,8795],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/AmericanAcademy72.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-A92","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138944"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139010,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138944\/revisions\/139010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}