The recent news of the death of Sam Borozan, “Mr. NAU,” reminds this retired faculty member of a time when NAU was regarded (along with other state universities) as a place that was worthy of substantial public support. Both our state government and fellow citizens once valued as a public good that our public schools, community colleges and universities were places where all of us could become better educated.
Now our public schools, colleges and universities are run by a Republican legislature/governor as business enterprises, increasingly out of reach for many Arizona students, with private education richly supported for wealthier students. To run education as a business is to recognize that a philosopher’s judgment that “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it’s the only one you have” is savagely true.
CHARLES W. “CHUCK” BARNES
Flagstaff
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