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Penn State Cult (Joe Knew)

Actually, Berkeley is a land-grant school.

True, and actually fits my greater point.

If it's a graph, and if the "y-axis" is quality of the University, and if the "x-axis" is population of the state: California's land-grant University is an "extreme case" data point on BOTH axes.

California has 50% more population than any other state in America. Not surprising it's academics are far superior to any other state's land-grant University. Cal's the one land-grant school that can truly BE at Ivy-esque levels.
 
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They follow a different academic model than every other B1G school. They have 20+ branch campuses that accept anyone with a pulse or HS diploma. In the old days, students with modest HS grades would attend the branch campus for 2 years and transfer to the main campus for the last 2 or 3 years. But now you can get a full degree from any branch campus. The quality of the education is marginal and more like a JUCO than an accredited university. The main campus is middle of the pack B1G academically. Strong engineering and earth sciences programs. No on campus medical school and they "bought" Dickinson Law and re-branded it as PSU so they could have a law program. The medical school is in Hershey, PA about 100 miles away

I know back in the 1990s when I was there (I'm an alum from one of those strong earth science programs :biggrin: ) only 2 or 3 PSU branch campuses were granting full degrees (w/o matriculating to University Park).

This trend by Penn State over the last 20 years is definitely "mission creep" --- it allows Penn State to get more state $$$ and does "crowd out" the other public Universities in the state, such as Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, et cetera (the PASSHE schools that typically compete athletically at the D-2 level in the PSAC).

Granting a full degree at a branch campus DOES make sense in some cases. Erie & Harrisburg for sure. Populated areas and not overly close to existing PASSHE schools. But DuBois, Shenango, New Kensington, et cetera --- come on.

Penn State has its role, the branch campuses have their role (I'm not among the Penn State folk who want to completely eliminate them, just restrain them to primarily be feeder schools), the PASSHE schools have their role, Temple & Pittsburgh have their roles, the highly-rated private schools (e.g., CMU, Penn, Lehigh) have their role.

2 weeks ago I was complaining about "mission creep" by NCAA, but it is true that Penn State has been guilty of some "mission creep" of its own.
 
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Isn't this the model that many OSU alums would like to see?
Rather than have an Akron U, BGSU, Ohio U, Miami U, make it "Ohio State - Athens Campus" "Ohio State - Bowling Green" ??
It's not something I've ever even heard about as a two time OSU alumnus, close follower of the state legislature and lifelong citizen of Ohio, so 'many' seems like an incorrect characterization of support for such a measure.
 
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Isn't this the model that many OSU alums would like to see?
Rather than have an Akron U, BGSU, Ohio U, Miami U, make it "Ohio State - Athens Campus" "Ohio State - Bowling Green" ??

I don't know about alums, but the faculty, administration and Board at Ohio State have no desire to absorb The Other State Universities. What we would like to see is that The Other State Universities know their role in the system and keep to it rather than their incessant empire building with each believing that they can achieve some kind of co-flagship status with The Ohio State University. Because of the idiocy of the 60s and 70s, Ohio has too many public 2 and 4 year universities and is ridiculously over saturated with Ph.D programs and law schools. Regarding the latter, the state should absolutely shut down Akron. As for the former, 2/3 of the doctoral programs are completely unnecessary crap that can't crack the top 100 in the National Research Council's rankings.
 
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I know back in the 1990s when I was there (I'm an alum from one of those strong earth science programs :biggrin: ) only 2 or 3 PSU branch campuses were granting full degrees (w/o matriculating to University Park).

This trend by Penn State over the last 20 years is definitely "mission creep" --- it allows Penn State to get more state $$$ and does "crowd out" the other public Universities in the state, such as Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, et cetera (the PASSHE schools that typically compete athletically at the D-2 level in the PSAC).

Granting a full degree at a branch campus DOES make sense in some cases. Erie & Harrisburg for sure. Populated areas and not overly close to existing PASSHE schools. But DuBois, Shenango, New Kensington, et cetera --- come on.

Penn State has its role, the branch campuses have their role (I'm not among the Penn State folk who want to completely eliminate them, just restrain them to primarily be feeder schools), the PASSHE schools have their role, Temple & Pittsburgh have their roles, the highly-rated private schools (e.g., CMU, Penn, Lehigh) have their role.

2 weeks ago I was complaining about "mission creep" by NCAA, but it is true that Penn State has been guilty of some "mission creep" of its own.

Not to knock the branch campuses too much but our company had some interaction with the Berks and Delco campus business students. I'll be kind and just say that these were the type of students you would have seen at community college 20 years ago and not at a B1G school. And their degree will not look any different than if they had been at UP for 4 years. Something very wrong with that model

Wasn't Spanier the one that expanded the degree programs at the branches and the world campus concept?
 
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True, and actually fits my greater point.

If it's a graph, and if the "y-axis" is quality of the University, and if the "x-axis" is population of the state: California's land-grant University is an "extreme case" data point on BOTH axes.

California has 50% more population than any other state in America. Not surprising it's academics are far superior to any other state's land-grant University. Cal's the one land-grant school that can truly BE at Ivy-esque levels.

Cornell is actually an Ivy and a land grant university (it's a funky hybrid in that it's a private school that also has land grant ag, and maybe some other, programs).
 
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Anybody out there that is looking for some serious insight into just how twisted the pedterno cult is, I suggest watching the documentary "Happy Valley" on Netflix. These fucking wackadoos are far more widespread than just a group of message board fanatics.

I had mostly lost interest in the wackiness of the cult over the last year or two, as they basically just bounce the same rhetoric around their little echo chamber, but I came across that documentary this past weekend and it reignited my hate for these lunatics.
 
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I may regret re-upping my Netflix subscription last month. Just how far into this epic will I get before wanting to gouge my eyes and ears out?
3 minutes or so...but you cannot look away. There is serious mental illness at play with these mutants. The stuff surrounding the Dear Leader statue is fascinating. The post-removal segment looks like a news reel from North Korea, no joke.
 
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