STEVEN HAYWARD: In The Matter Of Sweetbriar College. I think he’s right that this offers a real opportunity for a right-leaning educational entrepreneur who’d like to emulate Hillsdale. “Meanwhile, the Sweet Briar campus is spectacular, and raises the obvious idea: why not form a consortium of conservative philanthropists to buy Sweet Briar and reopen it as a self-consciously conservative college—possibly coed? I’m sure there’s room for another Hillsdale. There are plenty of excellent conservative faculty available. In fact, there’s a buyers market for good conservative faculty: ask any of the few conservative deans scattered here and there, and they’ll tell you that the ideological discrimination against conservatives in higher ed has enabled them to get first rate people at market rates.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “From the What Could Have Been Department: if only the Koch donation of $25-million to the United Negro College Fund which was so churlishly disdained had been used for good instead….”