How significant can a very small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania be? Pretty significant if it's Grove City College.
Never heard of it? Well, you should and you certainly see the impact of what it does.
Look at any Right Wing Think Tank's list of personnel - in the US or abroad - and you will likely find a Grove City connection. There are so many, it's impossible to list them all. But here are a few ways that Grove City matters on policy issues including the environment, education, minimum wage, and anything economic and conservative.
First, a bit about Grove City College as a college.
Grove City College is located at 100 Campus Drive, Grove City, PA 16127 724.458.2000. Its freshman class had 608 students, evenly divided between men and women, ensuring a good social life within the college community.
It is on the Young America's Foundation Recommends Top Ten Conservative Colleges.
THE MISSION OF GROVE CITY COLLEGE
Since its founding in 1876, Grove City College, committed to Christian principles, has striven to be equal in academic quality to the finest four year colleges. It seeks to provide liberal and professional education of the highest quality that is within the reach of families with modest means who desire a college that will strengthen their children's spiritual and moral character.
When the College was chartered, a broad, Christian-based cultural consensus prevailed in America. By charter, the doors of the College were open to qualified students "without regard to religious test or belief." The founders of Grove City College, consciously avoiding narrow sectarianism, held a vision of Christian society transcending denomination, creeds, and confessions. They were committed to the advancement of free enterprise, civil and religious liberty, representative government, arts and letters, and science and technology. Believing that the fruits of civilization would be destroyed if religious and ethical roots were allowed to wither, the founders intended that the claims of Christ as God and Savior and of inspired Scripture be presented to all. They hoped that through its program of intellectual, moral, and spiritual education, Grove City College would produce young leaders, whatever their creed or confession, capable of pushing civilization forward on every frontier.
Grove City College remains true to the vision of its founders. Rejecting relativism and secularism, it fosters intellectual, moral, spiritual, and social development consistent with a commitment to Christian truth, morals, and freedom. Rather than political, ideological, or philosophical agendas, objective truth continues as the goal of liberal learning. The core of the curriculum, particularly in the humanities, consists of books, thinkers, and ideas proven across the ages to be of value in the quest for knowledge. Intellectual inquiry remains open to the questions religion raises and affirms the answers Christianity offers. The ethical absolutes of the Ten Commandments and Christ's moral teachings guide the effort to develop intellect and character in the classroom, chapel, and cocurricular activities. And while many points of view are examined, the College unapologetically advocates preservation of America's religious, political, and economic heritage of individual freedom and responsibility.
GCC wants to be free of any federal control and has even gone to the US Supreme Court over this issue. So extreme is this goal that Grove City students cannot receive loans or scholarships that have any connection with federal funding.
That does not mean that GCC wants the federal - or state - governments to be free of its influence. Not satisfied with its many ties with RWTT throughout the country and world, Richard G. Jewell, GCC president announced that he wanted to establish an institute at GCC.
Faculty there have talked about developing an institute or center that would deal with public policy issues, and Jewell will be exploring whether such an idea is feasible after he takes office early next month.
Such a center would probably apply the school's conservative Christian values to its studies of such issues as the environment, separation of church and state, and tax and fiscal policy, campus administrators said.
He described those values as "freedom of markets, private property rights, limited constitutional government and Christian values shaping the moral order. When we got into any particular public policy issues, I would expect the solutions would be consistent with those sorts of values."
Vision and Values
Jewell's wishes have come true in the Center for Vision & Values. It just held its inaugural conference The Road from Poverty to Freedom, in April 2005.
Just because GCC is conservative does not mean it can't live in the modern world. The Center for Vision & Values even has its own blog.
Ties to RWTTs
Here is just a small list of RWTT with ties to GCC.
The Shenango Institute for Public Policy, also located in Grove City, Pennsylvania, is so tied in with Grove City College that its website carries this disclaimer on the page that lists its officers:
Note: While the main staff members of the Shenango Institute are Grove City College employees, the Shenango Institute is a separate legal organization from Grove City College and receives no funding from Grove City College.
Michael Coulter, Vice-President of the Shenango Institute for Public Policy, is associate professor of political science at Grove City College.
The National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise is the sort of place that we are talking about when the subject of charitable choice comes up. It
provides effective community and faith-based organizations with training and technical assistance, links them to sources of support, and evaluates their experience for public policy.
Societal problems addressed by NCNE's grassroots network include youth violence, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, homelessness, joblessness, poor education and deteriorating neighborhoods.
The National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise publicizes
events calendar events at Grove City College. For example, Apr 4, 2005, The Center for Vision & Values Conference - "The Road From Poverty to Freedom: A Look Backward and Forward at The War on Poverty" Grove City College Grove City, PA
The Lone Mountain Coalition, part of the Property and Environmental Research Center [Improving Environmental Quality Through Markets], has ties to GCC through Michael Coulter, Vice-President of the Shenango Institute for Public Policy, Grove City, Pennsylvania, and associate professor of political science at Grove City College.
{side note: The link to "who funds PERC" is, well, lacking in information about funders. It just asks for money. So if you want to know, it will take some work.
GCC even has international ties. It is, for example, listed with links on the website of the Institute of Economic Affairs, the UK's original free-market think-tank, founded in 1955. And on the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) Freedom Network.
Most interesting are the ties to the Mises Institute. Three members of the Ludwig von Mises Institute faculty are also faculty at GCC. Jeff Herbener is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and professor of economics at Grove City College. Shawn Ritenour is an associate professor of economics at Grove City College and an adjunct professor at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Ala.
The most important of these joint appointments is Dr. Hans F. Sennholz. He earned his Ph.D. in economics under Ludwig von Mises and has been a major influence in right wing economics through his position at GCC and elsewhere.
GCC has ties to Michigan through Lawrence W. (Larry) Reed, president of Michigan's Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Reed received his B.A. in Economics from GCC in 1975. Reed is past president of the State Policy Network. The SPN is the professional service organization for America's state-based, free market think tank community. Mark your calendar: the State Policy Network 13th Annual Meeting, focusing on education and health care reform. September 29 - October 1, 2005 in Charleston, South Carolina
The Academic Advisory Committe of the John Locke Foundation, which supports the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy includes Dr. Walter E. Williams, the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, George Mason University, holder of a Doctor of Humane Letters from Grove City College and John Moore, Former President of Grove City College, who "led the College through its withdrawal from federal student loan programs, which completed the College's break from federal ties."
Media
Many of the links above show that GCC faculty are active in publishing, including in op-eds in newspapers, that promote conservative ideas. In addition GCC prominently posts links to its faculty's op-eds and articles, something most colleges would consider unimportant as faculty publishing. GCC obviously does not. It wants to spread its influence.
They are also guests on conservative shows, such as the David Allen Show. For example, Dr. Earl Tilford, GCC Professor of History, discussed the "Myths of Vietnam."
Lately, Hanoi Jane has been in the news promoting her new book and her viewpoint that government lies wasted lives needlessly in Vietnam. Dr. Earl Tilford is a professor of History at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Professor Tilford will be talking about the myths of the Vietnam war been promulgated by institutions of higher education across America.
News about the new GCC e-newsletter Vision & Values Concise gets notice outside GCC, for example, at the Traditional Values Coalition website. The TVC "are fighting at many levels to hold on to America's foundational moral principles, even as they seem to be being stripped away from us at every turn by so-called progressives."
Conclusion
This is just a small window into the world GCC is a part of and is constructing. It's impressive for a small, almost invisible school.
There are constant claims that the Left has taken over academia and is trying to brainwash students. Certainly GCC is going for the gold in the influence department.