Arkansas Blog

Me ol' alma mater, Lyon College is. Did a whole year there without getting arrested or tossed out. Used to be called AC - which stood for "Action City".
Congrats.
Go Scots!

Lyon is a great school. Not only is it at the foothills of the Ozarks, but its graduates have an incredible acceptance rate with medical and law schools. Go Scots!

How does the name "Liberal" get connected with Lyons College, a good conservative Republican school. I can see it connected to Hendrix.

Apparently, you missed out on either of these schools, as is evidenced by your misuse of the plural, Lyons. I believe there is only one, Lyon. These are great schools, and "liberal arts" does nothing to denote a political tendency. While the environment at Lyon College may be a bit more conservative than at Hendrix, Lyon gets tied to its ultra-conservative professor, Bradley Gitz, who writes for the DemGaz. The overall impression I sense there is more moderate.

Anon 10:21, Sometimes the terms "liberal" and "conservative" have nothing to do with politics (albeit rarely):

Definition of liberal arts from dictionary.com: Academic disciplines, such as languages, literature, history, philosophy, mathematics, and science, that provide information of general cultural concern:

Go Warriors!

Meanwhile, the UAF "flagship" has shortchanged its liberal arts undergraduates, most of whom are taught by graduate students, adjuncts, and part-time wage slaves. Still, the UAF sucks up more state tax dollars by pretending that it is a doctoral research institution but actually spends the state funds on hiring more administrators. It is truly an administrative centered institution serving John White, WalMart, and Jim Lindsey.

The liberal Arts are historic references to the seven sciences: the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and the quadrivium ( math, music, geometry, and astronomy) .

I remember when Hendrix used to be in the top ten of the "Best Value" category in US News. They've tripled their tuition in the last dozen or so years, and built a lot of new buildings. I personally think this whole ratings business is BS. Hendrix may be a good school for some, but it isn't for everybody. They same for Lyon College. I can say they private liberal arts schools are becoming increasingly more UNAFFORDABLE for a lot of people. In boosting its rankings, Hendrix is making itself more eletist because of the tuition hikes needed to obtain those higher rankings. I don't know about Lyon College though. As I recall, they had more realistic tuition fees.

Lyon College is neither a "conservative" nor "liberal" institution. There are faculty members that run the gamut from very right wing political views to the extreme left. In the classroom these faculty members do not push any particular political agenda. Indeed, they foster an environment of free thought and expression. Also just take a look at the board of trustees. The members have the same range from conservative to liberal political views. I am writing as an alumnus of the college - a proud alumnus.

"In boosting its rankings, Hendrix is making itself more eletist because of the tuition hikes needed to obtain those higher rankings. "

Well, Hendrix is generally elitist in the sense that they expect their students to use proper spelling.

Hey lance,
its' that kind of uppitee 'tude that makes us hate all yous hippis from hendrix. i want to UCA an' I got a rocking educatin; So what if i'm pumpin your gass. My frat bros will open up a can uv whoop up on you!

The real Captain would disagree with you "Capt. W. W. Martin"

And from a Ouachita graduate, a copy-paste from the Ouachita Baptist University Web site:

Ouachita Recognized for Quality and Value by U.S. News & World Report

Ouachita is among the top five regional comprehensive colleges and universities in the South, according to U.S. News & World Report. The university has ranked among the top five colleges and universities in its category for the sixth consecutive year.

Ouachita also ranked fourth in the "Great Schools, Great Prices" listing as one of the best values in regional comprehensive colleges and universities in the South.

The only face I put to Lyon College is Bradley RRRRRRR Gitz...

Good point, rosso. For a lot of people, Gitz is the public face (and philosophy) of Lyon College. I've often wondered if everyone at Lyon is comfortable with that.

It seems like everybody scores points in these US News rankings. Every school in the state can claim a top position in something. It's like the kids' triathlons where everyone is a winner.

Really folks, like the above poster said, these ratings are BS. They exist only to sell a lot of magazines, which apparently seems to be a quite successful tactic. This ratings business has created a whole industry that feeds off itself because everyone ends up with something to crow about. These schools that play this game should be aware that they are in danger of homogenizing their particular institutions by playing this game. Eventually, they will all end up looking like each other; or some version of what US News thinks the "perfect" college should look like.

I noticed that the Hendrix endowment is now at $149M, that tuition is now $22,916 and room and board is now $6,358. While it isn't really fair to compare Hendrix to other Arkansas schools, I thought it was interesting that Harding's endowment was $78M, University of Ozarks was $58M, Ouachita Baptist was $49M, John Brown was $49M, Lyon College was $43M.

Both my sons attended University of the Ozarks on presidential scholarships, loved it, and did very well there. one is in law school @ Tulane and the other is getting ready to go to medical school @ UAMS.

UofO does so much more for our students than they could ever report in their catalogs. The small class size is such a great advantage. for the last two years, my older son went to group meetings at his favorite political science professor's home once a week, and the entire department went out to dinner at someplace fancy in Altus (hey, its fancy to us here) once a month or so. it sounds corny, but UofO truly does provide a wonderful nurturing atmosphere with individual attention.
son #1 initially planned to go to UAF but he was persuaded that he would be much happier starting grad school with zero student loan debt, and he was. I doubt he would have lasted in fayetteville very long anyway, coming out of a small high school and not being a partier. Thank God.
UofO has truly been a great blessing for all of us. I'd recommend it to anyone. I dont know anything at all about Lyon College. Hendrix just wasnt a good fit for either one of my offspring.

Hey RY1998, meet Sarcasm. Sarcasm, meet RY1998. Now that you two are friends, maybe you'll recognize each other in the future.

Oh wait, you must've lived in Hardin...sorry man, I understand now.

...see you in the drunk trap.

Hendrix used to have an endowment of over $200 million in the mid 90's. What did they get for the 25% shrinkage? My guess, a whole lotta new buildings and a 300% tuition increase.

Something tells me no one at the US News ever actually *attended* Lyon College, a purely overwrought and opportunistic "institution."

Lyon, Ozarks and Hendrix are good schools. All have strong faculty and alumni. Nikolai Dipippa graduaed from Hendrix. So did Senator Jim Argue.

I graduated from U of O in Clarksville and have nothing but great things to say about it.

Great faculty interaction and a great atmosphere.

Loved my education at Ozarks. Couldn't have made a better choice. President Niece and al lthe staff and faculty are first rate.

"Lyons. A small christian college for small Christians."
--Anon

Lyon faculty include Skip Rutherford as well as Brad Gitz. It's about how to think, not what to think.

Terrific recognition for Lyon! My nephew attends: he loves the place. Great education and truly caring faculty and staff.

Terrific recognition for Lyon! My nephew attends: he loves the place. Great education and truly caring faculty and staff.

The Rutherford-Gitz poster raises an excellent point. As a Lyon staff member I can tell you that the majority thinking around here is more toward Skip's direction than Brad's (unfortunately, I think, but that is another issue). When it comes to students, though, it doesn't matter. Last year's SGA president (a conservative) gave Skip much of the credit for helping him into grad school at Harvard. Brad would do the same for a liberal student.

Congrats to Lyon. My son did wonderfully there. He had several medical schools from which to choose because of the great education he received. Now he's a resident and I truly thank President Roettger, the science faculty, english faculty, etc. I recommend Lyon to everyone with whom I come in contact. Let's remember, folks, this is a Nationally ranked liberal arts college in our own state.

kudos to all and thanks.

Hey I attend Lyon. This is the place where 12 or so faculty members have been selected professors of the year in arkansas. The campus is great; lots of stuff to do. Glad I made the decision to come here.

a junior

I don't know why the ArkTimes decided to ignore John Brown University, which ranked 6th in its category for the second year in a row. Here is the Morning News link for the story:

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/08/18/news/0819szjburanking.txt

I traveled from New Jersey to attend Lyon (Arkansas College) in the 70's. It has always been a a great institution of learning with a very caring faculty. I received an excellent education at AC. Go Scots!

Hendrix, Lyon, Ozarks, Jonesboro Tech, UCA, UALR--all second fiddle to the UAF flagship. None have the endowed chairs in engineering and business that make UAF almost as good as Georgia Tech or the vast cadre of adjuncts and graduate students to teach the liberal arts core courses.

That's BS...if that were so, UAF would be screaming from the mountaintops that it had the 95% medical school acceptance rate of Lyon, the nearly 100% law school acceptance rate, among other statistics UAF would love to cite. And adjuncts and grad students teaching liberal arts courses? Not at Lyon...you get Ph.D.s from Day One and in almost every class in almost every discipline. Given that 95% of the faculty have the terminal degree in their field, that's about the only kind of instruction a student can get...the best. Oh yeah...talk to me about the personal attention afforded to the bright students--uh, the minority of the student body--by the UAF faculty. If you think it's even in the same ballpark as institutions such as Lyon, then it is clear you've never visited there. Your loss.

That's BS...if that were so, UAF would be screaming from the mountaintops that it had the 95% medical school acceptance rate of Lyon, the nearly 100% law school acceptance rate, among other statistics UAF would love to cite. And adjuncts and grad students teaching liberal arts courses? Not at Lyon...you get Ph.D.s from Day One and in almost every class in almost every discipline. Given that 95% of the faculty have the terminal degree in their field, that's about the only kind of instruction a student can get...the best. Oh yeah...talk to me about the personal attention afforded to the bright students--uh, the minority of the student body--by the UAF faculty. If you think it's even in the same ballpark as institutions such as Lyon, then it is clear you've never visited there. Your loss.

As a very recent alum, the one Skip Rutherford helped to get into the Kennedy School at Harvard, I can tell you that 1) Brad Gitz isn't at all indicative of the political mood of the campus (though I think he's the best humanities professor there, and as a fellow conservative I wouldn't mind if he did set the political mood on campus); and 2) even if you don't take the USN&W numbers seriously, you can't ignore Lyon's acceptance rates to med and law school. Also worth noting: if you're a Lyon student, your chances of passing the bar exam on your first attempt are three times greater than the average student. Pretty good stuff happing in Batesville these days!

I graduated in the late 1970's from Arkansas College (Lyon). The financial aid awared to me was fantastic and the education "top shelf". I'll put Lyon up there with the best liberal arts schools from anywhere in the USA

I graduated from Lyon and have since accepted a position on one of their advisory boards. Lyon is an incredible institution for almost any student. The professors are highly educated, and very open-minded. I was taught by ultra-liberals and ultra-conservatives and everyone in between, and I felt that I was free to make my own political decisions. Their medical, law, and graduate school acceptance rates speak for themselves. I also highly respect Hendrix, University of the Ozarks, and every other institution in this state that has been honored. I think this shouldn't be a time to argue over the merits of your own school, but rather to appreciate all the great schools we have in this great state - both public and private.

I too am a recent graduate of Lyon College, and as much as I complained about the various tuition increases and petty politics in student affairs, if I had to do it all over again I would choose Lyon hands down. I had offers to go to big state schools and well known schools up north, but I chose to stay in Arkansas and I chose what I felt was the best. I paid for my education and I believe I made a good investment. As mentioned by another Recent Alum, Lyon has wonderful acceptance rates when it comes to Medical and Law School. I currently work for UAMS, and it didn't surprise me to see so many Lyon graduates walking the halls of the hospital or sitting next to me on the shuttle bus. When I tell people that I graduated from Lyon College, they seem impressed and tend to take me a bit more seriously. Lyon is making a name for itself by providing a good education to a diverse group of people. The sense of community and family that a student gets when attending Lyon is something you won't find at a big state university or at a strict private college. Some professors see each of the students as one of their own and they take an interest in that student's life and future. Others encourage students to do what they want with their life and not what their parents want them to do with their life. They teach us to think outside of the box and to see things from all perspectives. I was one of many Conservatives that attended Lyon College, but more often than not I found myself looking at issues from both sides. If it hadn't been for my experience at Lyon, I doubt I would have taken the time to listen to the other side. In short (because this rant has been anything but...), Lyon is one of the best schools in the South for sure. Given som time and money, I believe it could rival many schools up north. I have no doubt that when I begin applying to Law school in the spring, and when I start my OCS packet for the Navy, the fact that I attended Lyon will be very handy when it comes to brokering scholarship and bonus agreements.