Comments on: Obama v. Patrick http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/blog/news/obama-v-patrick/ Public Policy Research Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:19:06 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: R.J. O'Hara http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/blog/news/obama-v-patrick/comment-page-1/#comment-2087 R.J. O'Hara Tue, 12 May 2009 03:46:58 +0000 http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/blog/?p=926#comment-2087 I am interested in education reform at the college and university level -- in particular, reform of the administrative divisions of student affairs and residence life that have grown rapidly in recent decades and become completely detached from academic life, especially in large universities, both public and private. Readers interested in charter schools might be interested in this recent post of mine, developing an analogous idea of "charter (residential) colleges": <a href="http://collegiateway.org/news/2009-charter-schools-charter-colleges" rel="nofollow">http://collegiateway.org/news/2009-charter-schools-charter-colleges</a> This is not a *curricular* proposal -- rather, it is a proposal to gradually replace the large, centralized housing bureaucracies on many university campuses with small, permanent, non-profit residential societies that provide educational and social support to students. There are a number of existing precedents (including one in Boston), and this is in fact not far from the original concept of a "college" (as distinct from a university) as it existed centuries ago. Given the Commonwealth's many colleges and universities, and our strong philanthropic community, Massachusetts ought to be fertile ground for the growth of more independent, residential, collegiate societies of this kind. —Bob O'Hara, Fitchburg I am interested in education reform at the college and university level — in particular, reform of the administrative divisions of student affairs and residence life that have grown rapidly in recent decades and become completely detached from academic life, especially in large universities, both public and private.

Readers interested in charter schools might be interested in this recent post of mine, developing an analogous idea of “charter (residential) colleges”:

http://collegiateway.org/news/2009-charter-schools-charter-colleges

This is not a *curricular* proposal — rather, it is a proposal to gradually replace the large, centralized housing bureaucracies on many university campuses with small, permanent, non-profit residential societies that provide educational and social support to students. There are a number of existing precedents (including one in Boston), and this is in fact not far from the original concept of a “college” (as distinct from a university) as it existed centuries ago.

Given the Commonwealth’s many colleges and universities, and our strong philanthropic community, Massachusetts ought to be fertile ground for the growth of more independent, residential, collegiate societies of this kind.

—Bob O’Hara, Fitchburg

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