SANTA PAULA, CA — Young America's Foundation, a principal outreach organization of the conservative movement with offices in Herndon, Virginia, and at the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara, California, has recently launched its first annual list of “Top Ten Conservative Colleges” that offer “a holistic conservative educational experience for students.”
Not only did Thomas Aquinas College make the list, it was the only college in the western US to do so. The 10 institutions chosen “proclaim, through their mission and programs, a dedication to discovering, maintaining and strengthening the conservative values of their students.”
Nine of the top ten colleges have a Christian affiliation, and three, including Thomas Aquinas College, are Catholic. Seven of the colleges focus on studying the liberal arts, though Thomas Aquinas College is the only one of these that has a curriculum comprised exclusively of the Great Books. Works read in the four-year integrated program include the founding documents of the US, some of the original writings of the American founding fathers, and works on ethics and political life by authors from ancient to modern times.
While the mission statements of several of the colleges on the list include explicitly political goals, Thomas Aquinas College's does not. Instead, its founding document describes an essentially Catholic institution devoted to the pursuit of wisdom — human and divine. Graduates nevertheless tend to espouse conservative principles and go on to pursue a wide variety of careers and professions including education, law, religious life, business, journalism and medicine.
Moreover, many work in public policy or are actively engaged in government and military service. Founded in 1971, Thomas Aquinas College has built a solid national reputation for its rigorous academic program, and it is widely recognized for helping to cultivate intellectual and moral virtue in its students. It has consistently ranked among the top colleges and universities in the nation for the past 16 years. This year it was again highly ranked in the leading college guides, including America's Best Colleges, published by US News & World Report, and Choosing the Right College, a publication of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The college was also featured in a recent cover story in Insight magazine.
While most college rankings base their scores on factors such as peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources and student selectivity, Young America's Foundation goes even further, taking into account the “overall experience that colleges offer” with its list of the “Top Ten Conservative Colleges.” The mission of Young America's Foundation is to ensure that American youths “understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional values.” The Foundation provides conferences, seminars, educational materials, internships and speakers to young people across the country.
(This update courtesy of Thomas Aquinas College.)
