The miseducation of vulture capitalists...

The Motley Monk was delighted to read an article in Inside Higher Education that a professor of finance at Iowa State University, Roger Stover, proposed teaching a course titled "The Application of Biblical Insight into the Management of Business/Organization." The course catalogue identified the goal of the course being "to employ the Bible for insight into handling the vital issues faced in a business."  Students would read How to Run Your Business by THE BOOK: A Biblical Blueprint to Bless Your Business.

Stover has been at Iowa State since 1979 and has received a college award for outstanding research, publishing dozens of scholarly published in finance journals.

So, why not a class applying biblical insights into business management, especially since the course would be a one-credit, pass/fail, independent study?

As with so many great ideas in academia, however, there are other people who have other ideas and will use their ideas to put the kibosh on an idea they don't like.

Three colleagues initiated a movement to end Professor Stover's class. An associate professor of Education, Warren Blumenfeld, a religious studies professor, Hector Avalos, and a colleague wrote a letter to administrators and circulate a petition. Blumenfeld said:

It was obvious he was going to be teaching a Sunday school class and giving credit for it. This is a violation of the First Amendment. This is not teaching world religions or even one religion, but one concept of one religion.

Blumenfeld also took issue with the textbook, written by the Christian leadership motivational speaker, Dave Anderson. On page 173, Anderson writes "...business partnerships with nonbelievers are strongly discouraged." Blumenfeld and Avalos said the course topic might be valid at a private institution, but not at public universities.

In response to the brouhaha, the Chair of the Department of Finance, Rick Dark, said the class was not subjected to the usual vetting process because it was an independent study and agreed with many of the points made by the trio, closing registration for the class. Dark's decision prompted one student columnist to argue the material was in line with the First Amendment and should have been offered, and another to cite the Constitution in opposing the class.

Stover has decided not to appeal the decision.

The Motley Monk would note that when educators fail to take religion seriously and actively work to keep it out of the curriculum, this serves only to marginalize morality if it does not keep it out of the classroom...even for undergraduates.

Ever wonder how "vulture capitalists" are miseducated?


Let the discussion begin...



To read the Inside Higher Education article, click on the following link:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/01/18/iowa-state-cancels-class-biblical-insights-business#ixzz1jpY3eXXI