Trends in Higher Education

* Alumni of Hamilton College have established the Alexander Hamilton Institute, a center to revive the marketplace of ideas at Hamilton College.

In spite of an overwhelming vote by the faculty to condemn the center-to-be, the Institute has opened its door on private property across from the campus. Hamilton College announced the creation of a new center on September 6, 2006. It then announced a $3.6 million pledge for it from then-trustee Carl Menges on October 13.

The faculty vote followed in November, with the student newspaper noting that many objections came because some faculty thought the political views of the center’s founders were “offensive.” Mr. Menges has since resigned from the Hamilton Board of Trustees and joined the board of the Hamilton Institute. (ACTA news release, September 17, 2007)