Thank you Jane Sanders!

By Rich Kozlovich

Matt Vespa posted an article entitled, Jane Sanders Ran Into The Ground Closes Its Doors, noting:

"Jane Sanders, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wife, ran Burlington College from 2004-2011. As president, she retrospectively took a financially idiotic task of expanding the college, taking on $10 million in debt to purchase a plot of land from the local Roman Catholic diocese. The plan to repay the debt was to increase enrollment and beef up fundraising, with both ventures ending in failure. In 2011, Sanders was shown the door (and given a $200,000 severance package). By 2015, the school was $11.4 million in debt, with $300,000 in unpaid bills. Most of the land acquired by Sanders was sold off, as the school was in an untenable financial situation. Now, the school that Sanders ran into ground is closing its doors at the end of the month."

Quoting  Politico:

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wife made a big-ticket purchase during her tenure as head of a small, private college in Vermont — and, in the end, the institution got burned.  Burlington College, which Jane Sanders ran from 2004 to 2011, will close its doors on May 27 due to financial and accrediting problems, it was announced Monday. The college has about 70 students. Jane Sanders’ tenure as president of the tiny school in Burlington, Vt., saw it make a bold real estate purchase to replace its cramped quarters: Sanders spearheaded a deal to buy 33 acres along Lake Champlain, in hopes that the scenic property would help the college attract new students and donors. To pay for the prime lakefront land, the college used $10 million in bonds and loans, according to reports by the Burlington Free Press.

He goes on to say: "But the large expenditure didn’t pan out, Sanders resigned the following year, and her successors could not save the college from financial ruin.  Yes, the Sanders are quite the gruesome twosome. Jane utterly destroyed Burlington College. The school only had a little over 100 full-time students, with a total graduate and undergraduate enrollment of less than 500--and she was to accrue a $10 million debt?"

While not excusing her idiocy and obvious lack of financial understanding - who just like her husband apparently believes money is created magically by the Golden Goose - someone besides her had to approve this plan!  There must be a board of trustees of some kind at this institution, and any transaction of that scale would have to go through them.  And it only took this consortium of financial blithering idiots seven years to realize she was incompetent?  The question that really needs to be asked is this: Just how competent is anyone else there? 

This school "offered a span of undergraduate programs in the arts, writing and literature, film studies, photography, fine arts, legal studies, transpersonal psychology/psychology, human services, media activism, graphic design and an individualized undergraduate and graduate degree program. The college offered students study abroad options within Europe".  "In August 2011, The Daily Beast and Newsweek ranked Burlington College as the #1 School in the United States for Free-Spirited Students" - clearly a left wing bastion contaminating growing young minds by training them to be community organizers - I didn't see anything they offered qualifying them for anything else.  This is an institution needing to go out of business.  So it appears Jane put this left wing dream school to rest - permanently.  The college announced on May 16, 2016 that it would cease operations by May 27, 2016.  A day for celebration. 

Thank you Jane Sanders!

It's also an example of what I've been saying for some time - let all institutions of "higher learning" be totally self funding - eliminate student loans and government grants to these schools and let them sell themselves on what they teach.  There will be some obvious outcomes.  One, a bunch of these places will cease to exist - good riddance - and those remaining will drop their tuition dramatically and professors will actually start teaching their classes instead of using teaching assistants.....and they may actaully teach young people something worthwhile - like American and world history - as it actually occurred. 

And who knows.  This might catch on and kids graduating from high school may actually know how to read, write, spell, work basic math and know where the countries mentioned on the news are in the world, without having to take remedial courses.

Wow!  Twelve years of actual learning followed by four years of education actually qualifying a student to do something productive.  What a novel thought!