[PeterParker]

Didn't see this posted anywhere on here...an interesting article. Ave Maria is the university founded by Billionaire Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza. He has since set-up the university in Naples Florida as part of the Town of Ave Maria which is being built on 5,000 acres of development with the University as a central growth point.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/aug ... aking_news

In the beginning: Ave Maria versus Liberty University

By Liam Dillon

Monday, August 20, 2007

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — LYNCHBURG, Va. – In the dead of July on Liberty University’s campus, 40 college-aged people gathered for weekly Summer Bible ...

...Nestled deep within Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains, Liberty University stands as an example of an American university built on charismatic, entrepreneurial leadership and polarizing religious belief that is anything but a prisoner of its success...

...Founded just 36 years ago by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, Liberty now has 9,600 undergraduates and another 17,250 students in its distance learning program. It can point to the opening of its new law school and nationally recognized debate teams as breakthroughs to mainstream American competitiveness, something that Ave Maria University founder Tom Monaghan is trying to achieve...

...One issue that Liberty and Ave Maria don’t have in common is the nature of their town-gown relationship....

...Ave Maria University and Ave Maria town were built at the same time. Lynchburg had a 200-year head start on Liberty, and its quaint downtown — six miles from the 4,400-acre school — is marked by a beacon of American secularism: converted courthouse on a hilltop that now serves as a city museum...

Throughout the school’s history, there has been some seepage between the university and town...

...Across the street from the university, a 20-year-old Liberty senior named Monica Bunts works as a waitress for a restaurant, serving alcoholic drinks with names like “Razzmanian Devil” and “Streaking Through the Jungle.” It’d be against The Liberty Way to have some herself.

Bunts also holds a second job as a clerk at Victoria’s Secret.

But in many ways she’s the prototypical Liberty....

The town development looks like it adheres to the New Urbanism school of architectural development which is cool...read more about the town here: [albeit a bit more authoritarian civically speaking for my more libertarian-leanings, but to each his own for those who wish to live in that style of a Roman Catholic-dogma dominated town.]


http://www.avemaria.com/


Ave Maria University http://www.avemaria.edu/

A quicklook at the University's student policy handbook reveals a reasonable approach to certain student life elements at a very distinctly religious university (orthodox/traditional Catholic.) I actually like the way they deal with many of the "issues" that have been brought up on this board regarding student life policies LU students bring up from time to time (namely specific threads on alcohol, residence halls common hours & Intervisitation.)

Ironically, while they are more permissive in their alcohol stance than LU (a reasonable one in my opinion sans the in-room clause...it preaches modesty, self-imposed self-control, temperance), they are a bit more stringent on the entertainment issue (music, movies, etc.) Except for LU's blanket policy on R movies, LU's student policy is pretty reasonable for the most part and I like the way the general clause of the code on entertainment is worded: (encourages vs. prohibits) and (foster discernment)

http://www.liberty.edu/studentaffairs/i ... m?pid=1345

Liberty University encourages students to abstain from any form of entertainment that would compromise their testimony to the world and their relationship to God....

[and]

...Philosophy, tastes and personal convictions concerning music vary greatly among our students. Liberty University endeavors to teach discernment in evaluating and selecting all music.

http://www.avemaria.edu/reslifepolicies Residence Life

http://www.avemaria.edu/uploads/pagesfiles/557.doc Substance Policy


**Non-Sequitur: It appears that proud-to-be LU students are not permitted at Ave Maria:

Open Flames

As a means of fire prevention, candles, potpourri, incense, or any open flames are not permitted in or outside the residences. Smoking is permitted outside away from the entrance/exit.

_____________________________________________

More About Tom Monaghan the businessman for those interested:

1. http://www.usdreams.com/Monaghan7677.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Monaghan

3. http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2000/ ... 13_21.html

Tom Monaghan hit the headlines in December 1998 when he sold his company, the international pizza giant Domino's, and raised over a billion dollars from the sale. His motivation: to give his money away to Catholic and pro-life charities. "I feel it's God's money and I want to use it for the highest possible purpose - to help as many people as possible get to Heaven..."

...All is revealed when he tells you about his Catholic faith. "I read C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity about 10 years ago. There was a chapter about pride, the great sin, which hit me between the eyes. I realised that I had a lot of pride."

4. http://members.aol.com/kq4ym/avemaria.html

Tom Monaghan pledged $240 million of his personal pizza and sports team fortune to begin the school and another $300 million to begin an endowment program for the future. Domino's Pizza, founded in 1960 is the world's largest privately-held restaurant chain. In 1998, he sold Domino's, reportedly for $1 billion...

...The school will not be associated with any church Diocese or church order but will claim to teach the "true Catholicism."

[Similar to how LU has been assimilating the Evangelical tag into its marketing...a good approach I think.]

[PAmedic]

post

way

too

complicated.



give me the cliff notes- preferably in 2 sentences or less.

[PeterParker]

post

way

too

complicated.



give me the cliff notes- preferably in 2 sentences or less.

Poor Kid starts pizza joint with a couple hundred bucks...becomes juggernaut Domino's Pizza...sells for a Billion Dollars...decides a new orthodox Catholic university is needed...foots the bill to start it...decides that a town founded on traditional orthodox Roman Catholic principles is a good idea...foots the initial start-up cost for that.

Article draws parallels between the two institutions conservative underpinnings and the differences between each one's relationship to the town/city it co-exists with.

Personal point drawn that some of the elements in the Ave Maria student policy code seem reasonable to me and IMHO would enhance some of the minor things that students have had reasonable issue with over the years.

Tomorrow's homework: please read up on String Theory and be prepared to discuss.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

[PAmedic]

MUCH better, thanks

now, are you a 10-stringer or an 11-stringer?

[PeterParker]

MUCH better, thanks

now, are you a 10-stringer or an 11-stringer?

I got my first real six-string. I bought it at the five-and-dime. I played it 'til my fingers bled. It was the summer of '69.

[PAmedic]

you rebel, you.

[4everfsu]

If Tom wants to help as many people get to Heaven then I hope his colleges preaches Jesus Christ as the way and not the virgin Mary, be born again, etc