HE BEHREND BEACON
Military schools change to boost enrollment
by Tim Wyatt
The Dallas Morning News
College prep has gained the high
ground on close order drill, and it's
enough to make a drill sergeant weep.
After a half-century of declining
enrollment that thinned the ranks of the
country's private military academies
from 600 to three dozen, most schools
have found that preparing students for
college life, rather than for a tour of
duty, is filling dormitories once again.
"Their objective is to put kids in
college and have them be successful
there," said Lewis Sorley, director of
the Association of Military Colleges
and Schools of the United States.
"And they want to be considered on
their own academic merits."
Sorley said growing numbers of
parents contact his association because
they see military schools as offering a
safe, values-based educational
environment. That translates into what
Sorley describes as a small universe of
private schools -- half of which are
coed -- with high academic and moral
standards and no tolerance for drug and
alcohol abuse.
Discipline and regimen haven't
relaxed that much over the years,
Sorley said, although it's a far cry from
when he graduated from San Antonio's
Texas Military Institute in 1951. As
then, today's student-to-teacher ratios
rarely top 13-to- I . But the stereotype
of being dumping grounds for troubled
young males doesn't apply anymore to
military schools, he said.
Parents "are primarily worried that
their children are not reaching their
potential," he said, "and that public
schools don't have the resources to
meet individual needs."
Regimented resources and a secure
environment come at a stern price,
however. Military school tuition, room
and board can cost from $15,000 to
$21.000 a year. Those figures don't
include air fare for the frequent trips
home recommended by many schools.
By comparison, New Hampshire's
Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the
nation's most prestigious preparatory
schools, runs about $24,000 a year.
Statistics on military school graduation
rates, SAT scores or the percentages of
students who go on to college aren't
kept by Sorley's association, but many
of the schools typically boast that 90
to 95 percent of their students move
Winfrey's lectureship at Kellogg
graduate business-school debate
by Greg Burns
Chicago Tribune
November 12, 1999
Prof. Don Haider was working at
Columbia University's business
school years ago when the famed
Arthur J. Goldberg arrived in a
limousine, ready for action.
The former United Nations
amhassador, labor secretary and
Supreme Court justice had touched
off a sensation among students when
he agreed to teach at the Ivy League
school in New York. Alas, as Haider
recalls it, Goldberg bombed.
"He told them everything he knew
in the first class," said Haider, a one
time Chicago mayoral candidate who
now teaches at Northwestern
University. "By the time he got to the
tenth class, he was talking to himself."
These days, Haider and his fellow
faculty members at Northwestern's
Kellogg Graduate School of
Management are casting a critical eye
on another famous success story.
The jury's still out on media tycoon
Oprah Winfrey, who along with long
time beau Stedman Graham is
teaching the popular course,
"Dynamics of Leadership." Oprah's
latest role as "Prof. Winfrey" at a top
ranked school spotlights a source of
tension in the booming realm of
graduate business programs. Some
worry a growing reliance on
practitioners for classroom instruction
could overshadow the scholarly
mission of academic research and
original thinking on business topics.
Indeed, Winfrey's side job at Kellogg
has prompted a gut-check among the
business-school elite. True to her talk
show roots, Winfrey has set tongues
NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS
on to successful college careers.
Pushing college preparation has
allowed some schools to be more
selective in admitting students and
hiring faculty, according to James
Dwight, president of the Florida Air
Academy near Cape Canaveral. So
hazing or alcohol and drug abuse aren't
a problem, he said, "We simply don't
have to put up with that stuff."
The majority of parents trying to get
their sons into his all-male academy for
grades eight through 12 expect their
children to gain self-discipline as much
as academic prowess. "We're still
combating the image of shaved heads
and once-a-year visits home at
Christmas," Dwight said of the school
his father founded in 1961. "With our
kids, the military aspect isn't
emphasized as much as other schools.
But that's not to say there's no structure
"Their objective is
to put kids in
college and have
them be successful
there"
or discipline."
Like other military academies, the
school has supplemented its core
curriculum with computer programs
and high-tech equipment. And like
other military schools, the percentage
of its graduates who pursue military
careers has remained at less than 10
percent. Dwight credits the school's
unique aviation program, which can
add another $3,000 to $6,000 in fees,
as the main reason the school has
reached its 400-student capacity each
year for the past 12 years.
"It draws overachievers, and we
want overachievers," he said. Capt.
Mark Samuels of Missouri Military
Academy said enrollment at his all
male school is at its highest in four
years. He said single and working
parents are learning that their kids need
the guidance, role models and close
supervision that a 24-hour regimented
environment can give. The 110-year
wagging about whether top B-schools
are in danger of going soft in their
quest for publicity, big-money
donations and high scores in the
closely watched Business Week
rankings.
No question, Winfrey isn't
everyone's academic ideal. "On the
face of it, it's not Chicago's style,"
said Mark Zmijewski, deputy dean at
the University of Chicago's Graduate
School of Business. "Our most
famous people teaching in a
classroom are Nobel Prize winners."
While neither Kellogg nor any other
top-20 program is in danger of
becoming a vocational school, some
believe celebrity-dazzled students
might be at risk of getting
shortchanged in the long run.
"I worry that some schools are
placing their primary emphasis on
what the students want to learn," noted
Ilker Baybars, senior deputy dean at
the Carnegie-Mellon business school
in Pittsburgh. He wouldn't name
names, but he added, "The academic
degree programs ought to be more
than that."
Yet Winfrey has found at least some
support among her new colleagues at
Kellogg, who say the presence of the
show-biz star is fitting at a school
known for its emphasis on marketing
and group activities never mind
if her academic credential is a
bachelor's degree from Nashville's
Tennessee State University. Said
Haider, a Columbia Ph.D and Kellogg
professor of public management:
"Oprah thus far has been a brilliant
move."
Added Roger Myerson, a Harvard
Ph.D and Kellogg professor of
decision sciences: "We were
-Lewis Sorley,
director of the
Association of Military
Colleges and Schools
of the United States.
old academy was named an
"exemplary private school" by the U.S.
Department of Education last year.
"Since the discovery of attention
deficit disorder, many parents are
coming to realize that a military
school's discipline is perfect for their
kids," Samuels said. "They don't leave
with the ability to do close order drill,
but with more mature and disciplined
skills to handle college life."
The Mexico, Mo.-based school
divides its 290 students into two
divisions, grades four through eight
and high school. While they don't
spend time out of the classroom
polishing cannon barrels, cadets are
rarely idle, with supervised study and
mandatory physical education taking
up a good deal of their time off, the
captain said. The campus also has a
student-run newspaper and radio and
television stations. At $29,000 a year,
including a cadet bank account, the
troops aren't the only ones working
hard to make the grade.
"It's a sacrifice for the parents, too,"
Samuels said
Just three military academies remain
in Texas. The Texas Military Institute
is a 106-year-old Episcopal-run coed
school in Northwest San Antonio. Its
60 boarders pay about $19,000 a year
in tuition; day students, the bulk of its
student body, pay about $9,000 annual
tuition. Religious affiliation and coed
campuses characterize at least half the
country's military schools. San Marcos
Baptist Academy has included both
elements since its inception in 1907.
San Marcos requires boys in grades six
through 12 to participate in its Junior
ROTC program. Its Bth-through 12th
grade girls have the option to join the
corps of cadets, and about 20 percent
choose to do so. Paul Armes, the
school's president. said San Marcos
Baptist has taught girls etiquette and
social skills for years, but that in the
last six years the school has focused
on teaching leadership and community
service skills that have been a regular
part of the boys' curriculum for
decades. The school's name alone
speaks for its stance on God and
country. "We're not a little Bible
school," said Armes, though the
academy's students are required to
attend chapel on Wednesdays and
Sundays and arc required to take a few
Old Testament courses.
"But in all honesty, that's a positive
thing that many parents can respect
delighted." Ravi Jagannathan, a
Carnegie-Mellon Ph.D and Kellogg
professor of finance, echoed the
sentiment: "The university is a blend
of things." Naturally, as Jagannathan
pointed out, the final analysis will
come after the course ends Nov. 30,
and student evaluations are tabulated;
"You have to wait and see," he noted.
A glance at the syllabus for
Winfrey's "Dynamics of Leadership"
reveals a moderate workload,
grounded in both academic and
popular treatments of the somewhat
fuzzy subject matter.
Winfrey gets a rare second billing
behind Graham, who has taught part
time at Kellogg before and who sold
the school on the idea of team
teaching a leadership class with hi's
significant other. Each is said to be
earning the standard rate for an
adjunct professor, not quite $5,000,
while students pay $25,872 in annual
tuition. Neither Graham nor Winfrey
would comment for this story. The
pair have assembled a 475-page
packet of readings for the course,
which encompasses ten, three-hour
sessions held at a steeply tiered
lecture hall on the Evanston, 111,
lakefront campus.
Their selections range from a case
study of Washington Post Co. to a
one-page article, "Emotional IQ, A
New Secret of Success." Several
chapters of Graham's 1997 book, You
Can Make It Happen supplement the
335-page textbook, Principle-
Centered Leadership, by Stephen
Covey, best-selling author of The 7
Habits of Highly Effective People.
Discussion subjects such as
"Understanding Yourself as a Leader"
might seem familiar to fans of
NOVEMBER 19, 1999
regardless of their religious
background. It's also one of our great
strengths, and we're not apologetic
about that."
If there's one holdout for the
traditional military school setting, Col.
Tom Hobbs, a retired Marine, is proud
to say it's the Marine Military
Academy in Harlingen, Texas.
"The lifestyle here is regimented and
demanding," the colonel said. "And the
cadets are truly unbelievable in what
they can accomplish."
After a 1997 incident in which a
cadet's throat was slashed by a fellow
student, the school faced a barrage of
lawsuits from parents who alleged that
the academy didn't provide adequate
supervision and overlooked vicious
hazing practices by cadets. Hobbs
declined to discuss the lawsuits, but
said the academy's daily routines and
overall mission aren't going to change.
The cadets and staff, which includes a
healthy core of other former Marines,
are still honor-bound to follow the rigid
customs and courtesies of the Corps.
From the day green eighth-graders
arrive for basic training, that routine is
supplemented by self-discipline and
personal responsibility.
But even among hard-charging
Marines, Hobbs said, college
preparation is the goal. A recruitment
brochure notes sardonically that "home
economics and bicycle repair are not
part of the curriculum." Reveille blows
at 5:50 a.m. on school days -- cadets
are allowed to sleep in until 7 on
weekends -- "and by 5:55 they're up
and going all day," said Hobbs. By the
time the first class bell rings at 8:30,
his troops have undergone calisthenics,
eaten breakfast, cleaned up their
barracks and marched in formation to
the flag-raising ceremony. At noon, a
"pass and review" drill precedes lunch.
Then it's back to the books for another
four hours.
The next two hours can be taken up
with boxing or judo lessons, rifle
practice or golf. And after dinner it's
two-and-a-half hours of mandatory
study, leaving 30 minutes of spare time
before lights out.Hobhs talks about the
school's positive influence on young
men from personal experience. His
youngest son graduated from the
Marine Military Academy in 1996 and
is in his junior year at the University
of Texas. "Adolescent boys do best in
this structure," he said.
Rekindles
Winfrey's TV talk show, and 26-year
old Kellogg student Jeff Jones
concedes that part of the class
amounts to "self-help" on an elevated
scale. No surprise, Winfrey sets the
mood. "She's funny. She's
personable. She keeps the atmosphere
light."
"It's much more interactive than
most classes," said Jones, who is
among 110 second-year MBA
students in attendance. "Prof. Graham
takes quite a serious, academic
approach. It's a fairly rigorous class."
So what's the message? "The
biggest point is that not every
successful leader is born," Jones said.
"They develop. They set a goal and
look inside themselves." They also
make powerful friends, as evidenced
by the recent guest lecturer at the
Winfrey-Graham class: Amazon.com
mastermind Jeff Bezos. Leadership
courses, along with those on
entrepreneurship, have become staple
fare for practitioners teaching at B
schools much more so than
economics, finance or other
traditional fields. Nontenure-track
faculty frequently get tapped for
courses requiring special expertise,
too, such as derivatives, real-estate or,
lately, E-commerce.
Meantime, programs are expanding
fast, in part because of the surging
economy, but also because the annual
Business Week rankings have put a
premium on greater size, some say.
Schools need a critical mass of
students to make recruiting trips more
productive, pleasing the corporate
headhunters who form the most
important voting bloc in the rankings,
according to Maury Hannigan, a New
York-based consultant to recruiters.
U. Of Cincinnati spruces up
image with world-class buildings
by Tabari Douglass McCoy
Campus Correspondent
University of Cincinnati
November 10, 1999
CINCINNATI, Ohio (TMS) The
University of Cincinnati is spending
big bucks to give itself a new face in
the new millennium that school
officials insist will attract to campus
architecture buffs from around the
PHOTO BY J. MILES WOLF
The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies on
the University of Cincinnati campus.
The university has come up with a
master plan containing a list of
construction projects expected to cost
more than $450 million. By the time
the work is finished, school officials
say they'll have a masterpiece that will
set the university apart from any other.
Already, the plans have grabbed the
attention of some of the world's most
famous architects. The elite Princeton
Architectural Press is including UC
among a soon-to-be-released 20-book
series chronicling the development of
what it considers the most
architecturally significant campuses in
America and Europe.
Many students say they're pleased
with all the attention but are really
hoping someone remembers to leave
them a few parking spaces near their
classes. Building proposals call for the
school's east and west campuses and
satellite suburban colleges to be more
connected through a system of open
spaces and walkways. Already
completed this year are two of the
plan's biggest projects: construction
of a new center for molecular studies
and a new music conservatory
Where
there's
by Rachel Sokol
and Paul Laßocco
Campus Contributors
Emerson College
BOSTON (TMS) Given that
homecoming, football and sports in
general aren't widely associated
with Emerson College, a band of
students determined to start a
cheerleading squad on campus are
getting some pretty funny looks.
"What do we need cheerleaders for?"
asked sophomore Ryan Murray. "It's
not like we have a football team."
No matter, the cheerleading hopefuls
say. They want to add zest to the arts
focused campus, long known for its
aversion to conformity. They also want
to fill stands at the college's games with
more than just athletes' parents and
significant others.
"Just because I am interested in
communications and journalism
doesn't mean I don't enjoy sports," said
Nicole Witkov, one of several members
of Emerson's women's volleyball team
who is working to establish the squad.
"Just because we're an art school
doesn't mean sports have to be
shafted."
So far, 14 women "eight
definites," Witkov said have signed
up for the squad. They're watching
scrimmage games to determine where
cheerleaders would fit in best during
halftime or with cheers from the bench.
And they're already practicing their
routines some of which are recycled
from their high school days in the
college's student union.
Until the black, purple and white
sample uniforms Witkov ordered
arrive, the women hope to cheer
wearing matching aerobic tanks and
"People already want to come to (the
conservatory), but this should make
it very appealing to outsiders and
people looking at the school," said
Lonna Larger, a junior majoring in the
conservatory's electronic media
program. "I think it's going to be a
great campus. This should make it
even better."
But in some ways, the construction
is causing problems. It has made
parking on or near campus more
difficult. The university replaced one
parking lot with a grassy knoll and
tore down a popular parking garage,
leaving many students without
parking spaces close to their classes.
As a result, the surrounding business
district and residential areas that
already place priority on public
parking now find themselves engaged
in a parking war with students.
Jessica Cappel, a senior business
major, said she's eager for the
university's parking problems to be
"It's [the parking] horrible," she
said. "I have to hike clear across
campus to get where I'm going. I
think the future will be OK once it's
all finished, but right now it's all
hectic."
University officials say that parking
should return to normal if not
improve once all the dust settles.
"The bottom line is we're not losing
parking, and we are gaining more
green space," said Chris Curran, the
university's assistant director of
public relations.
there's
an 'A!'
shorts for the upcoming men's
basketball season, which begins Nov.
20. "We're stubborn. We won't give
up," said senior journalism major
Marsha MacEachern. "This is
definitely something we want to do. We
are very excited about it." Getting the
rest of the campus as fired up is another
matter entirely, many students said.
"It's a joke," sophomore Nick
Majocha said of a potential squad.
"How can you have cheerleaders when
Just because I
am interested in
communications and
journalism doesn't
mean I don't enjoy
sports."
you don't have real sports?" Besides,
cheerleaders those happy, perky
types are "against everything
Emerson is," said sophomore Megan
Bradner. "We're a surly, cynical
bunch."
None of the criticism really matters,
MacEachern said. After all, the
college's athletics department is
pleased with the idea.
"I am supportive of other on
campus groups, so why shouldn't they
be supportive of us?" MacEachern
said. "Emerson is about expressing
yourself in different ways."
PAGE 10
a will,
-Nicole Witkov,
members of Emerson's
women's volleyball