Arkansas Blog

How does one measure the value of the sour note? How does one place value on lessons leaned years ago that were taught by Francis McBeth, Homer Brown, Feltcher and Rosen? In the medals that were won and quietly put away in a draw for others to discover? The value of the short term deal often never meets the depth of the love that was imparted by people and parents of the musicians. How and with what accuracy can a public institutioin that is supported by revenues and tutions from both a private and public sector, advance the quality(s) of performance and leanring experiences for the occasion. Perhaps leanring to experience the rhythm and the tempo whlle tuning up to a Wallich or Bean Music Store threough countelss lessons can be factored into the story, but when all is said, one might be able to rest at night with just a bit of little note and memory about some state music festivals and opportunties afforded others by people that strove to give more to life through gifts of the spirit!

Could life be a musical pagent? Even Junior Parker knew when he composed Train, Train, Train in Mystery Train.

I'm no UCA/Lu Hardin supporter, but I've run camps. The food service is the highest expense for a camp and likely accounts for the gap you've pointed out. I can tell you that the camp leadership is not making money. And the residual benefit to UCA in recruiting students is significant. These kids come to camp 1, 2, 3 or more years and they're much more likely to choose UCA for college. It's a fundamental way to improve the caliber of student that comes to UCA.

If you're going to investigate camps, go find out why the Governor's School is in Conway every single summer. I know that they have some of it at Hendrix. Does UCA also host parts of Governor's School? Why is it that no other colleges in the state are deemed worthy of hosting that event?

You could spend the rest of your life investigating summer camps hosted by colleges.

How does one measure the value of the sour note? How does one place value on lessons leaned years ago that were taught by Francis McBeth, Homer Brown, Feltcher and Rosen? In the medals that were won and quietly put away in a draw for others to discover? The value of the short term deal often never meets the depth of the love that was imparted by people and parents of the musicians. How and with what accuracy can a public institutioin that is supported by revenues and tutions from both a private and public sector, advance the quality(s) of performance and leanring experiences for the occasion. Perhaps leanring to experience the rhythm and the tempo whlle tuning up to a Wallich or Bean Music Store threough countelss lessons can be factored into the story, but when all is said, one might be able to rest at night with just a bit of little note and memory about some state music festivals and opportunties afforded others by people that strove to give more to life through gifts of the spirit!

Could life be a musical pagent? Even Junior Parker knew when he composed Train, Train, Train in Mystery Train.

Perplexed,

Governor's School is entirely hosted on the Hendrix campus. I went to GS back in high school and I never set foot on the UCA campus.
As for why it isn't anywhere else, I couldn't tell you.

witwdik: "Governor's School is entirely hosted on the Hendrix campus."

Thanks. Then the question for me is, "Why is Hendrix the only college in the state allowed to host the Governor's School?" Maybe if we exposed these outstanding scholars to other schools in the state, more of them would stay in-state for college.

Perplexed,

The location for Governor's School is bid out and no other school bid this last time. One requirement is that you can't have other youth activities going on at the same time and UCA has baseball, softball, band, cheer-leading, soccer, and tennis camps going on all summer. If they wanted to forgo these, they could and should bid. It does make sense to have it in the central part of the state to cut down on parental travel.

As I understand it, the contract is bid in 3 year increments.

You would have "set foot" on the UCA campus this year if you were at GS and took advantage of the opportunity to attend the Shakesphere Festival last week-end.

Thanks, CBB. That's helpful info.

Perplexed,

Can you even imagine what some of the curriculum would amount to if the Governor's School was held at Ouachita, Williams Baptist, John Brown, or Harding Universities? Be grateful for what we've got and for what we don't have as well.

I'd say that at 13 bucks a day per camper, UCA's housing department is making a killing. 2 per room, so 26 dollars per room per night (except singles, which UCA housing is probably keen on preventing except for the odd one out). I doubt UCA is providing linen services, so basically you get a mattress and share a shower down the hall. I'd assume the rooms have to be somewhat clean or the camps get billed on checkout (unlike a hotel). So given you can rent a room at the Motel 6 for 39.99 a night (or less) over on Oak, they take care of linens and cleaning, and probably have higher capital costs (they have TVs, must keep the place desirable since they are not a monopoly like UCA housing for students, most of UCAs dorms are old and paid for so most of the costs are ongoing expenses, except the two new ones that probably see limited camp duty), you've got your 26 bucks a night. Additionally, lots of UCAs housing staff (excluding janitors) that work in the buildings are students who they are probably paying peanuts, and would have to be there anyway to keep the place from burning down.

Not that I'm defending UCA in any fashion: I love nothing more than to see Lu get his due, but the numbers are pretty favorable for the housing department's budget. Having had some housing experience in the past, those numbers sound about right for what a university charges a camp for limited-service housing (some universities like UAF have full service options for conferences, which are much more expensive as they cover linens and the like, you just show up with clothes and boom).

I'm thinking the new name for UCA could be "Kickback College."

.

"... I've run camps. The food service is the highest expense for a camp and likely accounts for the gap you've pointed out. I can tell you that the camp leadership is not making money." Perplexed

Gee, Perplexed, you must have been feeding those camp students caviar! Having served as treasurer of a youth camp for more than a dozen years, food expenses are not even close to the largest expense unless maybe you are running a cooking school. Unless the staff/instructors volunteer their time and talent, that is typically the biggest expense. The cost of both facilities and food is way down there compared to staff.

The $13 paid to UCA may be 3 times the daily cost of feeding those band camp students and staff.

And "the camp leadership is not making money"? With the info we have at hand, there is no way for you or me to reach such a conclusion. Maybe Mr. Nix would be willing to open his books for an independent review so we can answer that question. I'd say don't hold your breath on that happening.

The tentacles of Lu Hardin continue to have a firm grip on certain aspects of life at LuCA. Lu's operation almost fits the description of a continuing criminal enterprise.

I'm curious- are you related to Robin Nix?

Didn't Nix write a termination clause in the contract? Any basic contract written for a public agency should allow for the termination for no cause or for cause, with provisions for any reasonable expenses created by the termination. At the endi of this summer, UCA should be able to terminate the contract with no money due to Nix, as he has a year to "wind down" the Johnny Rebel Stars and Bars I Wish I Was in Dixie Band Camp.

Excuzay Mwoi...that should be Courtway, not Nix, as the one who should have writ the termination clause.

SP, I'm not related to any of the principals in this or anyone associated with the band camp. And I've never worked with a band camp. The camps I've worked with didn't pay their staff. When I said they weren't making any money, I was making a generalization. You're correct, of course, that we can't know for sure without seeing their records. My original post was made before reading the D-G article, which raises, it seems to me, a different set of issues that go beyond whether the camp is a source of graft. I may be wrong, but it looks like they're funneling any excess to the UCA band program through the foundation - which is one of the ways you get a staff to work for free. They could be, in effect, donating their time to the band program. But, as you say, we can't know any of this without the records.

bluerthanblue,

GS is run by the Department of Education's GT program and the instructors and staffing are selected, paid, and directed by them. Hendrix is contracted for dorm space and cafeteria service and probably access to their vehuicles and facilities. Some of the instructors may be Hendrix staff but they come from a variety of other colleges and high schools in the area.

Sound Policy: it is likely that the food service payments are made directly to Aramark or Chartwell's or whoever UCA's food service vendor is, and is likely not part of the agreement that Max has referenced. If it is, then yeah, he's getting a sweet deal, but I doubt it because there is no way in hell that 13 bucks is covering the cost of food, even the crummy food the campers are getting.

anoncow- I beg to differ re your statement " ... there is no way in hell that 13 bucks is covering the cost of food, even the crummy food the campers are getting." Maybe you've never worked in restaurant management, but the cost of the food being served is only 40-45% of the retail price. The balance is due to staff costs, building/utility expenses, a hoped for profit, etc. A $10 restaurant meal at retail costs the operator only $4-4.50 or so for the food being served. I worked in restaurant management for a number of years and speak from experience.

I'm involved with a youth camp that has been held for 30 years, serve nutritious meals that the kids say they love and it costs far less than $13/day per camper. I suggest you do some more homework before you make such statements in the future. I can't personally speak to the food quality at UCA during this or any other function, but it may not be as 'crummy' as you claim.

Dixie also has expenses for guest directors & clinicians, some of the best in the country. It's a powerful recruitment tool for UCA, & it's for music - not sports (perhaps a rarity, certainly something I would expect people here to cheer). Dixie is also the oldest continuous music camp in the South, & it hasn't always been at UCA. There are plenty of other sites, in other states even, that would snatch it up given the opportunity. The UCA bands provide quite alot of volunteer (or low wage) hours to make this camp successful every year. I'm not a proponent of someone making money through ill-gotten means, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Dixie is important to UCA & alot of it's alumni, but it seems reporters on the subject are spouting off coclusions that threaten to harm the camp's overall reputation. There more to Dixie than whatever scandal of the week someone manages to notice while sifting through endless stacks of budget reports (or that someone else notices by simply linking to said persons "discovery").

Sound Policy,

You may want to do you own research. Aramark is known for the extremely high prices. $13.00 a day does NOT include meals, that is just housing and is cheaper than other camps get charged. I have planned a camp with UCA and Aramark before and meals were an additional cost. I want to say between 10 and 15 for lunch and dinner. And, their food and service is crummy.