The Most Militarized Universities in America
news.vice.com
news.vice.com
1. "schools whose students attain their degrees predominantly online;"
This is very unsurprising. Online education is very attractive for people in, for example, the military. Plus, many government service jobs just require a degree, not that it be from a recognizable school; in general, as is often mentioned here on HN, experience beats education and experience in this case usually means the military or prior government jobs.
2. "schools that are heavily involved in research and development for defense, intelligence, and security clients;"
I'm sensing that this is actually a relative minority on the list (although most of the recognizable names fall into it). There is considerable overlap between this category and the next two.
3. "schools in the Washington, DC area;"
Yes, obviously, plus schools close to large military bases (Cochise College, Fort Huachuaca; Central Texas College, Fort Hood).
4. "and schools that are newly focused on homeland security."
And I'm not entirely sure what the heck that's supposed to mean. There's money in "homeland security" much like there was money in nuclear weapon design at one time.
I suspect this article is an attempt to work up heat about a "education/intelligence community" doohicky to replace the venerable ol' military/industrial complex. And I think it's a failure, since what I think they've discovered is akin to "Google hires a lot of Stanford grads".
While I understand that this article uses concrete data, like the research money trail and other direct measurable links to the military, Texas A&M certainly _feels_ incredibly "militarized", almost like a military academy. There's a palpable air of austerity and discipline there that makes it so different from most other campuses I've been to, which have much more of the traditional church-y university look while seeming to be full of rowdy young kids.
While it's a fair criticism of a university, it's almost like criticizing a christian university for being too religious. There's a pretty drastic difference between it and other Texas schools, like UT.
For me, it was one of the biggest turn offs when I was choosing a college.
But the one that seems to be missing is Vanderbilt; that was one school I thought the government actively recruited from, and had close ties do. I was once told specifically that was where NSF administrators went to die.
For example, if lots of students walk on the grass around the MSC, it gets all trampled and torn up. The administration would have to spend a lot of money to maintain or fix it. But if the grass itself is a war memorial, then the students won't walk on it. In fact, they'll police each other so that if anybody does walk on the grass, they get a stern reminder.
Oh, and the grass on the football field at Kyle Field is a memorial too. Conveniently, the football team and the band can walk on this memorial without desecrating it. But if the fans were to rush the field after a game? Oh no, that would be extremely disrespectful. So A&M doesn't have to deal with the same kind of post-game chaos that you sometimes get at other schools.
It's really clever in a Machiavellian sort of way.
Several years ago, there was a bit of a squawk when an Aggie cadet drew his (ceremonial) sword on some visitors to campus who were walking on the grass.
The "A" in "A&M" stands for "Agricultural"; it stands to reason that they're proud of their grass.
(Obligatory disclaimer: UTAustin alum here. Come down to Austin! Walk on our grass! We're fine with it! Hell, walk on the grass at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium, for all I care. Just try not to get pooped on by the grackles. They're nasty.)
(Obligatory Aggie joke: Several years ago, they had a fire at the campus library. Several thousand books were lost. The worst part is, some of them hadn't been colored in yet.)
It's hilarious that Texas A&M is this far down the list -- and it does not make the list look well constructed. Their definition of "militarized" seems to mean "people who went to this school work for the government now" and then they act surprised by how many schools close to the seat of government feed into government IT. Some of these schools, like the University of Phoenix and Grantham University, are distance-learning institutions catering to people who already have jobs; these people almost certainly worked for the government before enrolling. Grantham University in particular bends over backwards to attract military veteran students.
I'm not sure what the value of this article is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senior_Military_...
It's whatever they could scrape together to substantiate a cool headline idea. Vice.
"Officer training program for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces."
Look at the nonsense Lamar Smith is currently putting NOAA through. http://www.wired.com/2015/11/congress-chief-climate-denier-a...
Having Smith as the chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee of the House (which oversees research funding for NASA, NOAA, EPA, NSF, etc.) is a travesty, and he individually deserves blame, but the whole GOP leadership is on board with his basic goals and tactics.
A funny change given how most of the USA's fighting happens away from its soil.
The goal with any Congress is to think what if the parties were reversed. Would the conversation be the same if Hank "[Guam] the island will tip over" Johnson asked for information on the collusion between an agency and outside agencies.
We have a government agency turning down a request by a voted in member representing the populace of the United States of America that elected him. There is no reason for a government agency to be doing this. They should be accorded the respect of the position, no matter how much someone disagrees with it.
We have a situation where the Republicans postulated that the IRS was coordinating against a group of individuals to prevent their recognition during an election, and were proven correct despite agency stonewalling. The agency head had a secret e-mail to avoid FOIA, so searching for a slip-up required going through thousands of e-mails.
Another agency had its Secretary running a private server as an end run around the FOIA. Where upon closer inspection reveals that the agency publicly deceived the populace on originations of a terrorist attack.
Additionally, the federal government has been on a bender with coordinating against individuals in the name of political purposes. Witness former Senator Stevens railroading, IRS' Lois Lerner, and EPA's Phillip North coordinating with EPA on Pebble Mine.
I was especially curious about how the Middle Eastern students felt. Then again most were from Saudi Arabia, who has something like the ~3rd largest military expenditure per capita.
We really are a hyper-militarized country if you think about it.
I remember a Chinese programmer in Silicon Valley complaining that he toted an AK47-like rifle but only got to fire three cartridges during his military service - a cost saving measure.
UND is know for its pilot program and have now moved full scale into drones which helps with keeping the local air force base. Ah, the games we play.
But Vice did not see fit to include a military hub star for the Salish Sea.
That's a degree mill university, online university with horrible reputation.
While I understand that this article uses concrete data, like the research money trail and other direct measurable links to the military, Texas A&M certainly _feels_ incredibly "militarized", almost like a military academy. There's a palpable air of austerity and discipline there that makes it so different from most other campuses I've been to, which have much more of the traditional church-y university look while seeming to be full of rowdy young kids.