The best-selling author and Christian apologist Dinesh D'Souza has been selected as the new president of the King's College, a small Christian institution located in the Empire State Building.
Mr. D'Souza is the author of books like Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus and What's So Great About Christianity. He was a White House policy analyst in the Reagan administration and is a former fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. In recent years, he has become well known for high-profile debates against atheists like Christopher Hitchens.
In some ways, Mr. D'Souza is a surprising choice. He doesn't have a background in academic administration, and he is a Roman Catholic, while the King's College's has "its roots in the Protestant evangelical tradition" according to its Web site.
But in an interview Mr. D'Souza said that would not be a problem. He attended a nondenominational church in San Diego and has called himself "a believing Catholic but a poorly practicing one." He said that the college was "very well administered," and his job would be to help tailor its mission—along with bringing in more students and more money.
"I've been kind of a think-tank scholar for most of my career," he said. "In that sense, I've been part of a faculty of scholars, but in some ways I've seen myself as a lone operator, and this is a chance to spearhead an institution with a great history."
Mr. D'Souza said he would like to see the college grow from 450 students to four or five thousand. He said he wanted to take something that is "very young and build it into something."
The King's College has had its share of challenges. Founded in 1938 and accredited in 1955, the college closed its doors in 1994 because of financial problems but reopened in 1998. When it reopened, it was under the auspices of the Campus Crusade for Christ, though the news release announcing Mr. D'Souza's selection said that the college's Board of Directors had voted to "begin a process toward transferring full ownership to the college."
Mr. D'Souza said when he was approached about the job, he thought it was a good fit, and his only hesitation involved geography. "The harder thing for me," he said, "was just moving the family from sunny southern California."
Comments
1. profperf - August 23, 2010 at 03:51 am
This appointment speaks volumes about the institution.
2. osholes - August 23, 2010 at 06:22 am
I'm sure that Mr. D'Souza and his fellow right wingers will pump enough money into this venture to ensure that the "college" succeeds, at least financially. It's a publicity stunt and has nothing to do with education.
3. drcfox - August 23, 2010 at 11:22 am
A university president whose highest academic credential is a B.A. in English from Dartmouth? Wouldn't that be "the soft bigotry of low expectations?"
4. tee_bee - August 23, 2010 at 01:00 pm
This university has immediately rendered itself a total joke.
5. dopefein - August 23, 2010 at 01:33 pm
This clown is still plying his trade of misinformation, and is now a president of a college? Dinesh, bro, I had to read some of your garbage in the early 90's as an undergraduate -- please step away from the academic work, it makes you look more foolish than you already do.
6. dinahparty - August 23, 2010 at 06:57 pm
examples such as this are why my MSEd is de-valued in the workplace and throughout any job search. If a college president can have a BA in English then why can't I find a higher paying job- I have a BA in English?!? Maybe if I'm published and grad students are forced to read me Ill get a better gig.
7. dsclaussen - August 23, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Neither the article nor any of the comments mention that the Provost at King's College is Marvin Olasky. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Olasky
8. mjvargas - August 23, 2010 at 10:32 pm
For the hoopla over "liberal bias" in higher education, why does no one call out complete liberal exclusion at most expressly conservative campuses? Somehow it's OK for conservatives to completely exclude liberals from their campuses, just because other institutions (according to them) tend to favor liberals? Does anyone else notice the hypocrisy there (we can be exclusively biased, but you can't even be a little biased)?
And while I'm posing rhetorical questions why is it that subtle (I would argue nonexistent) "liberal bias" in hiring is to be feared, but an overt litmus test of dogmatic conservative ideology is somehow acceptable?
9. rickinchina09 - August 24, 2010 at 01:30 am
It's amusing to read the utterly dismissive and derisive comments of posters here. Doubt they would deign to even consider posting the same in response to leftwing activists who populate college campuses. Ah, the arrogance of those who think they have a monopoly on virtue and academic pursuit of truth(s)!
10. drcfox - August 24, 2010 at 01:48 pm
Mr. rickinchina09,
What's "arrogant" about requiring that the president of an undergraduate baccalaureate degree-granting institution hold a higher degree than an undergraduate baccalaureate degree? Do you know anything at all about the norms of administrative hiring?
If an institution favors ideological correctness over credentials, as this appoitnment demonstrates, then it's something other than an educational institution. That's clearly what is at issue here, your attempt at a false equivalence/red herring notwithstanding.
11. stinkcat - August 24, 2010 at 03:15 pm
This is probably no worse a decision than making Dwight Eisenhower the president of Columbia.
12. laker - August 24, 2010 at 06:08 pm
The article also glosses over some of the more interesting (to me) history of The King's College. It was once located in an old hotel in Belmar NJ that is now in ruins. It was founded in 1938 and closed in 1994 after going bankrupt. The Campus Crusade acquired the name in 1999 and located it in the Empire State Building.
I worked with an alum of The King's College years ago, he was a very interesting, albeit quirky, guy.
D'Souza leads me to believe that he is more interested in the "bully pulpit" of a college presidency than in academic policy or curricula. The King's College may very well attract some new donors, but will likely suffer for its president's need for attention to be focused on him.
I'd like to know which colleges "rickinchina" has in mind with his "leftwing activists who populate college campuses" comment. I have worked in four different institutions and none of them had a pronounced leftwing bias, they all had a balance of liberal and conservative viewpoints and were able to accommodate dissenting points of view. Places like The King's College, Grove City, and Hillsdale seem less willing to permit dissent.
13. laker - August 24, 2010 at 06:11 pm
oops, meant to say it was once in the Briarcliff Hotel on the Hudson, that is now is ruins...not Belmar.