The Shame of Harding University
For our national and global readers, the four writers on this blog attend Harding University, a conservative Christian university located in Searcy, Arkansas and affiliated with the Church of Christ. A quick glance at the posts on this blog should easily show that we are probably well outside the mainstream school of thought at this particular school, but we enjoy our discussions and we have all benefited greatly from our contact with a lot of great students and professors. Harding has a lot to reccomend it in terms of its personal connections.
That being said, Harding’s biggest shame has been its suppression of academic freedom that has come in the form of censorship and intimidation. In the past, this blog has written about censorship and intimidation that has come from the administration, teachers, and school-sponsored organizations that clearly advocate a right-wing, close-minded approach to understanding religion as well as politics. It is understandable that a Christian institution would want to have certain ideological goals in mind, but it is inexcusable for an academic institution to actively suppress open dialog in favor of one-sided indoctrination. One of the worst recent examples of this type of intellectual oppression is the apparent censorship of Dr. Mark Elrod, who runs one of the most popular blogs in Arkansas.
Dr. Elrod’s blog has attracted almost half a million viewers over the past few years, and recently, he attracted even more notoriety after an audio interview with downintheblog.com and some subsequent blog posts on the politics of gay marriage. Evidently, not all of this attention was positive, though, and some individuals chose to complain to the Harding University administration instead of challenging any of the points made in the interview or the posts. To its enormous shame, the Harding administration seems to value certain of its loud alumni over its obligations as a legitimate academic institution. As a result, Dr. Elrod will be making his blog private.
Harding has a lot of qualified teachers and a lot of great people who make up its tightly-knit community. Although it has great potential as an academic institution, Harding’s greatest shame is its disregard for academic freedom. It is important that students learn how to think, not what to think. If Harding truly desires to be a university, it must turn from its shameful habits of censorship and embrace the most fundamental value inherent in higher education: the value of ideas and continued discussion.
Although the views and expressions of this blog are the respective views of the individual writers, I second everything said and add the following: institutional intimidation in the form of censorship is an affront to academic integrity. I hope that one day Harding University will issue a formal apology to Dr. Mark Elrod.
A formal apology would be nice.
That’ll be the day…
This is hardly the first time that Harding has done something like this, but until enough people stand up and call them out on it, they will keep up with this terrible tradition.
And to anyone who might be personally offended at my judgment of Harding, know this: I criticize because I think it can and must get better.
I’ll disagree with the last part of David’s comment. Harding is irredeemable. The financial irresponsibility of the University has created a situation in which it is in such dire need of money that it will whore out any and all aspects of the social and academic environments in exchange for contributions from hateful yet wealthy alumni. It isn’t going to change because the type of “university” that it fancies itself to be is a logistical impossibility. I am ashamed of my participation in this academic farce. There is an undeniable (yet small) circle of true intellectuals of all religious and political stripes, and that allowed me to somehow survive a generally unpleasant four year stint in the place where thousand are forced to live like the Politburo wants them to. I dealt with the annoyance of being censored while at Harding, but I can scarcely imagine the frustration of those who have built their lives there. They can take HU hero Dick Cheney’s advice to Pat Leahy. I wish for nothing but its destruction.
I should have known that you would disagree, jkkuwitzky, no matter what I wrote. :)
Its either my generally combative and disagreeable personality or your far left yet oddly religious views. Either/or.
There are times when I am ashamed of my association with the behavior of people who call themselves Christians.
I cannot see how the attitude toward Dr. Elrod can even come close to being called Christian.
I hate this attitude that so many have, that “If you don’t believe exactly as I believe then you ARE be wrong.” /rant
I count the moments I spend in front of a classroom at Harding University as some of the greatest moments of my life.
There are people who would give anything to have my job. I teach and interact with some of the brightest and most talented people in the world.
Unfortunately, there are many people who see me as an adoration and a threat to Christian education.
But, for the record, I was not “pressured” into changing my blog from “public” to “private” status.
I made this decision on my own as the result of the general frustration I have with members of our fellowship who want to make a spiritual judgment about me based on my political views.
In the last few days, much of that angst has been directed toward my employer and, as a result, toward me as well.
I would much rather have a private conversation about things that are important to me than a public conversation that leads to additional complaints about me to the Harding University administration.
I envy your independence and youthful energy. Keep up the good work and I’ll see you in the “private” zone.
“On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy,” to the list of crimes punishable by death.”
The mullahs of Tehran seem to be learning from their counterparts in Searcy.
Disgusting. The world and the blogosphere need Mark. Especially in this political year. We’re about to witness history if Obama gets elected and only a few will be able to discuss this on his site.
Talk about Gnat Straining 101.
Best of luck to you Mark.
Once again, Mr. Elrod states he was not pressured…but people will still be ripping on Harding that he was pressured. I don’t know how much clearer he can be.
I’m tired of all this “academic freedom” crap. Simply being a teacher at a university does not grant you the freedom to say anything you want without consequences.
Some of you need to grow up a bit and understand the real world and understand that the real world is not a utopia.
Roland-
It’s all well and good to make a comment, but don’t come here and in one fell swoop label every commenter here immature and naive. Just because we may believe in academic freedom of expression despite conservative pressures that give your jolly bits a jump, it does not mean we are naive.
I will agree that simply being a university professor does not allow one to say whatever he or she wants. A professor cannot make terroristic threats, he or she cannot sexually comment about students or colleagues; but the professor must be able to offer different thoughts to the discourse–whether it be political, religious, or academic. A university cannot stifle the discourse and consider itself a serious academic institution.
I would suggest that you attempt to understand academia–it’s not the real world pal.
It isn’t utopia for me to have my belief that professors should have more freedom of speech than the average employee of any other institution.
Nobody would call your employer to report your dissident political views on a subject in any other job, whether you worked for US Steel, Morgan Stanley, or Kellog’s. They would assume that your political views were yours alone and that you had the right to hold them and express them. If they did report issues to your employer in any other setting, the employer would do nothing.
I think it is vital that professors have not only the same amount of freedom of speech that typical employees do, but more. It is vital to the universal atmosphere that must exist in a university for it to be of any value. If the university is crushing dissent through open threat, subtle intimidation, or social stigma, then it is all the kind of institutional censorship that threatens Harding’s ability to exist as a university.
And yes, Harding is a private Christian school, so it would be understandable for its community to silence a dissenting professor who was actively undermining core Christian values in the classroom when they were hired to teach the opposite. But it is another thing altogether for the community to pressure an individual who expressed privately held views on a blog completely separate from the university which do not undermine the goals of Christian education at all.
I’ll second Kolby’s thoughts. The place is doomed. It’s been doomed since Benson took over. Contrary to its image as a school run like a business, Harding is constantly hand-to-mouth. Since it depends on an ever shrinking demographic for its ever shrinking undergraduate population, it now has to trawl for cash with specious post-graduate degrees (a master’s in “leadership?” WTF is that?) Burks is slowly but surely running the place into the ground, and when he goes (he’s already stayed longer than the rules state that a president may stay), he will be replaced with someone at least as insipid as he is, seeing as how he’s had plenty of time to stack the Board with likeminded people.
The place is a clown college. It’s only going to get worse. DO NOT let your HU degree be your final degree. Get master’s degrees from other institutions IMMEDIATELY after you graduate.
I would like to see HU students take up the cross for academic freedom. Religion should never force an academic community to think in a conformists way. This is sad. I would like to see students force a change.
Good post guys!
Oh, yeah. I forgot…Kolby knows all. Yeah, he knew it all when he was predicting a John Edwards candidacy as well. Harding, doomed. That’s funny. People were saying the same things when I went to Harding back in the 80′s and they started to do a lot of much needed renovations.
Whenever I see a Kolby post and his pseudo-intellectual, condescending comments, I get ready to laugh.
JH, I’ll make sure I pass along your warning to my very successful friends who graduated from Harding. Maybe they can float you a loan. lol.
I see you all are still on the band wagon that Harding is hushing him up when he came out and said they are not. Either he is a liar or not. I take him at his word that Harding officals did not intimidate him to take his blog private.
Former Harding student checking in with a question:
Has Harding ever opened up the Ken Starr files? Someone I know who worked there in the late ’90s told me they kept several of his published writings under lock and key during the Impeachment. (Ken Starr was an undergrad at Harding in the late ’60s, and wrote a coupe of opinion pieces for the newspaper, IIRC.) The idea was to keep who-knows-who in the media from descending on the University and saying who-knows-what-whether-it’s-true-or-not.
Perhaps the Elrod Affair is another case of Harding simply trying to keep its name out of the papers?
Or perhaps because they are exhausted from what is required to defend themselves against false accusations time and time again?
That is extremely interesting. I am so looking into that next semester.
I don’t think I ever claimed to know all, but I can see how purveyors of a worldview based on certainty would make that mistake. I think I’m on record as being mildly embarrassed at my poor prognostication record regarding the 08 primaries, but I don’t see what this has to do with anything at this point. I’m sure you still harbor ill feelings toward me from an earlier time when I was perhaps a bit too bombastic in this sort of forum. I’ve made great effort to mature in this regard, but I see you haven’t.
I never said Harding was doomed, I said it was irredeemable. By that I meant that the sort of changes David expressed a desire for earlier in the thread are unlikely to happen. Their business model is such that they are able to afford their development plans with the fundraising plan they have put in place, which by necessity precludes the sort of change that some might desire. Now that I have a graduate degree from a serious institution I really don’t give a damn, but I was addressing the issue proposed by someone else. Sorry for the pseudo-intellectualism. I read Roland’s blog earlier and actually have some sympathy for his grievances vis-a-vis l’affaire Elrod, but it seems that your internet schtick seems intent on burning the bridges that might lead to an adult conversation.
No one forced you to attend Harding. You chose to stay all those years and yet you have the audacity to cry, rant, rave and complain over spilled milk. There were innumerable universities that you could have chosen but instead you chose Harding which means you clearly saw Harding as being a top quality school. Your selfish attitude is what is degrading Harding University. Grow up and act like an adult for once! And unlike you I have the guts and the courage to properly identify myself which means you are the one ashamed of your views. I will go to my grave defending Harding University from cowards like you.
I never went to college until after I retired from the military. Why? Because the only one my parents were willing to pay for was Harding College (at that time). That is how a person is FORCED to attend Harding. I don’t know if that is why he attended but your assumption that no one is forced to attend a school they don’t like needs to be adjusted because there are millions of college students who do not have personal fortunes to pay the high tuitions of today or even yesterday.
Kolby, I am all for an adult conversation however, you are probably right. I probably do still harbor some feelings from another blog conversation with you. That and I woud rather have a conversation over a couple of beers than a glass of chardonnay. I will give Elrod props..in conversations I had on his blog I always felt we were sitting in the student center (over some cokes).
Rest assured I would never drink chardonnay. I’m a burgundy or Oregon pinot noir man, though I also enjoy the occasional beer (import, of course). I apologize for any past offense I may have given, though I seriously doubt I said anything abrasive enough to warrant residual feelings (given that our online paths have not crossed for some time now).
Aw, that’s cute… they’re making up! :)
I have to engage in enough dull partisanship in my occupational life. I see no reason to further engage in it with parties that claim to be open to reasonable conversation.
And yet you refuse to give us your name.
This is interesting. Now that more profs are blogging it will be interesting to follow if this kind of thing becomes a trend. There’s certainly possibility for conflict. I guess colleges can handle it when profs speak their mind in the classroom, but not so much when political biases can be proven online.
“And the dust settles,” by Odgie is the best wrap up of the whole Elrodgate scandal. He pulls together all of the relevant information and asks some interesting questions. Definitely worth the read.
I’m feeling the need to stand up a bit for our beloved institution of higher learning. Yes, I abhor the way the administration is dealing with this situation, and it’s a crying shame that freedom of speech does not seem to extend to an academic institution. I certainly would have handled the situation differently, and I sincerely hope that in the future Harding changes its rather partisan stance and focuses more on academics.
However, I firmly believe that Harding University has provided me with an excellent education, thanks to the many fantastic professors it employs such as Dr. Elrod. I think the very fact that we are all here, having open conversations with intelligent people around the world on this rather liberal blog, proves that Harding is doing something right, even if the product was not necessarily its intent.
I have grown tremendously in my time at Harding– spiritually, mentally, emotionally– I’m not sure whether this is because of or in spite of Harding, but I have grown nonetheless, and so I am thankful. I will be proud to graduate with my bachelors degrees as an HU Bison.
I rejoice that such issues are at last being raised at Harding, and from within Harding. I am a graduate of Harding, l957, and it is little short of staggering to know that, more or less, the attitudes obtaining then have officially continued to prevail: an absence of toleration of academci freedom on the part of faculty, with the result that students left/leave Harding in many respect simply indoctrnated, not educated in any real traditional sense. Fortunately, for my graduate work I went to a state university and breathed a new ether, one of mental freedom and a passionate respect for intellectual inquiry. I have never supported Harding financially because of its seeing itself as a bastion promoting a right-wing political ideology. And I don’t have much respect for a religious faith that is founded in and protected by progaganda. I hope that you and other blogs like you reflecting this new spirit will continue and REFUSE to be intimidated by the old guard. I feel a great appreciation of your couratge.
Interesting arguement but are you saying that because Harding has stood up for what we know is righteous then they are wrong simply for this? It sounds to me like you are saying that because Harding has chosen to defend our Christian doctrine found in the Word of God that they are bigoted and wrong? This in and of itself is hypocritical and clear proof that the liberal agenda has had some success in brainwashing our young. Mr. Horn, unlike most others you have chosen to properly identify yourself as I have. Only the shameful hide their full names from this blog. Further evidence that those who claim Harding should be ashamed are in fact the ones who are already truly ashamed. I laugh at their hypocritical complaints.
What Harding thinks is righteous and what you think is righteous may not be what others think is righteous or even moral for that matter. Harding stands as an impediment to personal freedom in White County, many fear the reactions of Harding and its Alumni and therefore refuse to speak up throughout the county. They fear that Harding will ruin their businesses, their personal lives and their standing in the community.
To go against Harding is to be shuned by your very family in this county.
Oh, the “old guard,” like the new guard is highly repulsive to us.
Read this late, but Kolby, there are amazing domestic beers that you should try. For example Three Floyds brewery out of Indiana and Dogfish Head brewery out of Delaware make some amazing beers. If you like IPA, go for Dogfish Head’s 90 minute IPA. Imported can be good, but they usually keep the good stuff for themselves and send us the crap.
JH said, “Burks is slowly but surely running the place into the ground, and when he goes (he’s already stayed longer than the rules state that a president may stay)”
What rules state he may only stay president a certain amount of time??
Interesting discussion. I knew many gay students at HU in the 1980′s. It has changed a great deal since then-not sure it has evolved or just more expensive. I will be back for more insight.
Please properly identify yourself as I have or are you people too cowardly to do so?
I’m definitely entering the ‘situation’ late…but better late than never.
I do not know if anyone has considered this, but I’d like to point to scripture to clear things up.
I believe, that either way you look at it–Elrod & Harding are both doing the right thing–and at the same time, but understand that believe this you must make a comparative analogy between the scripture below and the ‘situation’
Rom 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. Rom 14:14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. Rom 14:15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Rom 14:16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
I believe Mr. Elrod upheld his duty as a Christian man to make the blog private and acceptable to those whom “choose” to engage in dialogue, and Harding acted in the same Spirit by censoring (if in fact it really did) what may appear to the church and the world* as divisive…{the latter argument I point to scripture aswell}*
*2Ti 2:23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 2Ti 2:24 And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 2Ti 2:25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 2Ti 2:26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
In Harding’s defense, the blog ‘could appear’ or be used to create “quarrel” or divisive debate in and among the brethren, and (with regards to the context of this particular scripture) cause some who hear the dialogue–who are “weak”(read all of 2Tim2)–to become disillusioned or perhaps discouraged with respect to the church.
~what say you?
@Tyler, I don’t think your comment helps shed any light on the question at hand. The question isn’t about whether either party was/was not acting Christianly. It certainly wasn’t about trying to resolve whether Christians who supported Obama were more held “captive by the devil” than Christians who supported McCain. Talk about a can of worms.
This was a long time ago, but the core issue here is whether an institution labeling itself a university should intrude into its students’ and employees’ political views. You really don’t need to consult the bible for this one because it is about the very nature of a university.
Now, even if we accept your premise, why should one political view be deemed to be divisive and quarrelsome while the opposite view (which is making the quarrels) is protected and enshrined? That absurd economics professor Don Diffine pumps out piles of his arch-conservative propaganda pamphlets and distributes them all over. To my knowledge, none of the vocal political conservatives on campus have ever been confronted by the administration purely because of their political opinions and the fact that they were expressing them. This has happened countless times to liberals, though.
So you might be tempted to enforce the anti-political speech rule universally, but that would also be a mistake. The point is that a university should allow dialog between parties that disagree. Learning results from the interaction of ideas; indoctrination results from ideas presented in a vacuum. An institution calling itself a university should not be in the business of categorizing what opinions are acceptable (or non-divisive, or whatever phrase you want to use). That was the point of all this.
As a side note, Paul would be embarrassed to see his line about idol meat being taken out of context and applied to any situation where one person wanted to control another’s activity but couldn’t find any substantive scriptural basis for it. I am embarrassed when I see it happening, and I don’t really care that much.
Censorship and intimidation? There have been bigger problems at Harding, than professors not being allowed their free speech.
When I attended Harding in the 1980s, the student body was told to NOT go to the police about anything. In fact, this was put in writing, in our student information. I received it in my student information packet as a freshman at Harding in 1984. We were told to deal with school officials instead. Can you imagine a student who has been raped, or been the victim of some other crime, believing they can’t go to the police? This is not just intimidation and censorship – it is obstruction of justice, which is a crime. Sure, you could always buck the Harding system, but then you had to worry about retaliation: that is, being kicked out of school and having expulsion from a university on your permanent academic record. Many students who were raped or assaulted, simply kept quiet about it.
However, they had to change their policy about 15 years ago. They HAD to, you see. The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) is a federal mandate requiring all institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in the federal student financial aid program to disclose information about crime on their campuses and in the surrounding communities. The Clery Act affects virtually all public and private IHEs and is enforced by the U.S. Department of Education.
There are other things I could say, but I am afraid to.
I also want to say that although I agreed with many – actually, most – of Dr. Elrod’s viewpoints (I took one of his classes), I often disagreed with the disrespect shown towards students who had opposing viewpoints. I am quite liberal myself, I support gay marriage, I am concerned about global warming, etc. But believing in free speech means that everyone has the right to discuss their viewpoints. A lot of hard core conservative ideology really turns my stomach, but part of being an adult means respectfully listening to these viewpoints – even if you don’t agree with them. A professor lashing out at someone in the classroom is not demonstrating mature behavior. I do believe Harding needs a liberal voice on campus, but I am not sure if Dr. Elrod is the person for this role.
These are simply my opinions, and nothing more.
While you are entitled to your opinion you did in fact choose Harding over others that you looked at. If you liberals are unhappy at Harding; please leave and give us our school back. This is the way life is young lady. I was debating this when you were still in diapers. We will never conform to your ways period. We will never back down and with us defending the true LIVING JESUS, we have already won but your sinful worldy pride refuses to show you this TRUTH.
Are there still a slew of professors there that cause one’s GAYDAR to go off?
I Corinthians 5:1-13; I Corinthians 6:9-11; I Timothy 1:10; I Corinthians 6: 12-20 (as it relates directly to the expression of homosexuality); I Corinthians 7:1-16 (as it relates to the fact that marriage is between a man and a woman in the sight of God, or from His opinion, law, decree, lawful order; and that marriage is designed to prevent us from indulging in the SIN of homosexual acts); 1 Timothy 1-3-11 (as it relates to the way we are to approach and deal with the false teachers, prophets and modern day Pharisees of the 21st century);
I have several friends that are or have attended Harding University. I am just now hearing about this but I have been informed that the online posts and unauthorized online newsletter were presented in an underhanded manner and in clear violation of school policy regarding the method required for univerisity approval which is clearly not reported by such a group. This includes placing physical copies throughout the dormitories in violation of university policy and an obvious, cowardly and undeniable attempt to anomously deceive our students without giving us the opportunity to respond to such hypocrisy. Second everyone is made well aware that Harding is a true Christian university and the expression of homesexuality is expressively forbidden at Harding and in the Word of God along with lying and infedelity among others. The fact is Harding University is and should always be more concerned about biblical integrity and staying true to the Word of Almighty God than about stepping on some toes. Our Heavenly Father is in charge period. Our Heavenly Father establishes the laws and enforces them as He sees fit period. Every soul is required to follow them or face judgement from Our Heavenly Father period. God is NOT bound by our American Constitution and answers to NO ONE. PERIOD. It simply does not matter what you think as God has firmly established what He considers sin. The true Chrisians found throughtout the churches of Christ in America will never stand by and allow lying and hateful bloggers to vainly attempt to degrade a very biblical university that we hold dear in our hearts. When hypocrites come and attempt to brainwash our communities and our young college students into believing that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality then we are duty bound by our love for the Word to stand tall and defend our faith in the one and true Living God. We are tired of being bullied by those who think they will change us into accepting homosexuality as an accepted form of sexual expression. Our eternal salvation is on the line and that of our children and we will never cave in to your slick attempts to captivate the hearts and minds of our children in order to serve Satan. Homosexual, that is the word, NOT gay, but homosexual. As long as you who support such condensending and hypocritical measures continue to falsly accuse our fellow brethern we will always stand ready to give an answer to our faith. I support the efforts of our students at my congregation to stand up to the tactics of Satan’s servants as we have chosen to be servants of Almighty God. I, without fear tell you who I am because I serve THE GOD OF ALL TIME and therefore do not fear discrimination, bigotry, name calling or threats. We in the churches of Christ will NEVER accept this sin and we will NEVER back down. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
I Corinthians 5:1-13; I Corinthians 6:9-11; I Timothy 1:10; I Corinthians 6: 12-20 (as it relates directly to the expression of homosexuality); I Corinthians 7:1-16 (as it relates to the fact that marriage is between a man and a woman in the sight of God, or from His opinion, law, decree, lawful order; and that marriage is designed to prevent us from indulging in the SIN of homosexual acts); 1 Timothy 1-3-11 (as it relates to the way we are to approach and deal with the false teachers, prophets and modern day Pharisees of the 21st century);
You seem to be very personally invested in this issue, Adam. If you are counting on getting married to “prevent [you] from indulging in the sin of homosexual acts,” I think you are destined to make some poor woman very unsatisfied.
By the way, this article is almost three years old, so don’t expect anyone else to come talk to you here.
If it is any consolation Adam Overly, I think you are fairly accurate insofar as your interpretation of the Bible. This is exactly why your religion is a poison.
I accept the banal, conflicting, and hedonistic thought in the Bible. As such, I rational person would begin to realize the entire book is a myth and should be treated with no greater reverence than materials used in its production. The true shame is that Christian schools still exist as it is strikingly a contradiction by terms.
Ditto!
Do people really go through 3 year old comment threads demanding to be answered? I didn’t think the internet could surprise me anymore.
The internet doesn’t forget and a search for one thing sometimes yields a tidbit that must be followed up on. An online discussion never really dies until the link is severed.
Can there be a “true Christian university” by definition?
Would love to have taken the millions HU spent on buildings (and administrative salaries and perks) and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc.
The Jesus in my Bible doesn’t ask, in Heaven, “Did you have The Instrument?”; He asks, “Did you feed/clothe me?”
And there are other instances of other faculty members besides ME being called into DDB’s office regarding political or even perceived political stands. One that comes to mind relates to the invitation of Sean Hannity to come speak at HU. All one professor had to ask was, “What are his bona fides?” and that was enough to get him brought in and threatened by DDB.
They have a great deal for which to answer.
The hungry and the naked would still be hungry and naked if Harding or any other institution spent the money on them instead of infrastructure. A better act would be to give many of those underpriviledged a free education and then send them back to their homes with knowledge to prosper with and I don’t mean a degree in religious doctrine either.