Valley Forge Military College first school to support Trump’s education compact

EXCLUSIVE: A army faculty in Pennsylvania has turn into the primary college within the nation to supply to affix President Donald Trump’s Compact for Educational Excellence in Training after seven excessive faculties declined to take part.

Valley Forge Navy Faculty despatched a letter to Dr. David Barker, the Trump administration’s assistant secretary for postsecondary schooling, expressing his want to be a part of the pact.

“On behalf of Valley Forge Navy Faculty, we write to specific our want and honor to be the primary army faculty to help you and our Commander in Chief, President Donald J. Trump, by signing the Compact for Educational Excellence in Increased Training,” the letter stated. “We share the Compact’s dedication to advancing instructional high quality, entry and accountability inside America’s larger schooling establishments, and we might be honored to take part on this vital nationwide initiative.”

College students in army uniforms stroll by way of the campus of Valley Forge Navy Faculty in Pennsylvania on an unknown date. (Courtesy: Valley Forge Navy College)

The varsity is a two-year junior faculty based in 1935 and gives an early commissioning program for officers within the U.S. Military, Military Reserve, and Nationwide Guard. College students graduate as army officers, and 98% of them switch to different schools to finish a four-year diploma after attending. The varsity additionally gives a “Citizen Chief Program” for civilians who need the construction and self-discipline of a army establishment.

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“Our mission – to teach, practice and encourage the leaders of tomorrow – aligns naturally with the Compact’s objectives of advancing institutional excellence and getting ready college students to make significant contributions to society,” the letter to the Trump administration stated.

The pact’s ideas embrace merit-based admission and hiring practices no matter race, gender, political orientation, ethnicity and nationality, and a dedication to the liberty of concepts and “abolishing institutional items that purposefully punish, denigrate and even foment violence on conservative concepts.”

It additionally asks universities to acknowledge organic intercourse for functions of athletics, restrooms and locker rooms, calls for political neutrality in larger schooling, and features a measure on collegiate monetary accountability and a few restrictions on admission for overseas college students.

In trade for participation, the federal government gives preferential federal funding to universities that be part of the pact.

College students at Valley Forge Navy Faculty kneel in entrance of a Blackhawk helicopter on an unknown date. (Courtesy: Valley Forge Navy College)

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Some faculties stated they really feel their missions already adjust to the pact’s provisions. Others stated they suppose the pact would undermine educational freedom.

However Valley Forge Navy Faculty has a distinct opinion.

“Participation within the Compact would offer invaluable alternatives for collaboration, shared studying and steady enchancment,” the letter from Valley Forge Navy Faculty continues. “We’re particularly wanting to contribute to discussions about management schooling, scholar resilience, and pathways from two-year applications to four-year establishments. These are areas the place Valley Forge has developed efficient practices and measurable outcomes that may profit related establishments.”

“Please take into account this letter as an expression of Valley Forge Navy Faculty’s full help and enthusiasm for the objectives of the Compact,” the letter stated.

An aerial view of the Valley Forge Navy Faculty campus in Pennsylvania taken on an unknown date. (Courtesy: Valley Forge Navy College)

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It was signed by Marine Corps Col. Stuart Helgeson, the president of Valley Forge Navy Faculty, and John English, himself a Marine Corps veteran, who chairs the college’s board of administrators.

“We’re a small, personal establishment, so if we’d permit it – and we now have some strong visions and objectives to resume elements of the campus to develop a few of our applications – and if it is a manner that we may help that occur, then we thought it was a great factor to do,” Helgeson instructed Fox Information Digital.

“We’re not chasing public cash from the Division of Training,” English stated. ‘We’re not chasing college students from overseas to pay exorbitant quantities of tuition charges to maintain your college working. That’s the present mannequin in larger schooling. We’re fully completely different with a really particular mannequin of creating officers for the US army. And as Colonel Helgeson likes to say, he’s on the market creating warriors.”

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The Trump administration solicited suggestions from 9 faculties, some public and a few personal, throughout the nation. A deadline for suggestions was set for October 20. Not one of the schools signed the pact, with MIT, the College of Arizona, Brown College, Dartmouth Faculty, the College of Pennsylvania, the College of Southern California and the College of Virginia declining to take part.

The Valley Forge Navy Faculty Chapel with blooming pink bushes. (Courtesy: Valley Forge Navy College)

Vanderbilt College and the College of Texas at Austin have expressed noncommittal views on the proposal.

“A few of these schools and universities are afraid of their very own shadow,” English stated, noting that they might concern backlash from college students, college and donors. “They do not know the place they are going and the way they’re main. Ours could be very, quite simple. We’re producing officers and warriors to serve within the U.S. army to maintain this nation secure.”

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Each males famous that the college already meets the necessities of the pact.

Helgeson stated partisan politics at Valley Forge shouldn’t be a think about scholar schooling or professors’ lectures. The varsity prides itself on impartiality and is strictly centered on graduating army officers to allow them to additional their very own schooling and serve the nation.

“Why do you let politics get in the way in which of your establishment’s progress?” Helgeson requested rhetorically.

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He listed a number of the objectives his college is making an attempt to attain, together with increasing the NSA-certified cybersecurity program and a brand new initiative for drone pilots.

“We wish to construct laboratories,” he stated. “We wish to proceed to enhance these applications in order that our nation can obtain these youngsters with the very best coaching obtainable. And if this permits us to get on board and qualify, why would not we?”

Learn the complete letter: Cell customers click here