Hogue Hall

Hogue Hall is falling apart, badly. That's bad news for Greenville College and for Greenville.

Apparently, renovating Hogue Hall will cost $9 million, and building an entirely new building will cost $8 million. For cost reasons, a new building will most likely be built. Greenville College President James Mannoia wants to receive state funding to rebuild Hogue. You've got to be kidding me.

Greenville College is a PRIVATE college. If it's going to start taking taxpayer money, it needs to return the favor to those hardworking taxpayers and allow them to attend at reduced tuition rates. People who work hard to make a living and pay their taxes are apparently going to pay for Hogue Hall, but most of them wouldn't be able to afford an education there. In fact, some of them wouldn't even be allowed to get an education there: as a Christian college, students must sign affidavits that they are Christians and must adhere to an honor code. It's a great school for those who want to attend-- but it's not a school for atheists or non-Christians, and therefore it shouldn't be relying on the taxpayers (many of whom are atheist, Jews, non-believers, Buddhists, what have you) to pay for its beloved Hogue Hall.

I may not speak for all Greenville College graduates, but I believe that if GC starts accepting taxpayer funding, it should reduce costs for Illinois residents to a tuition more comparable to state schools and it should get rid of the requirement that its students must be Christian. It's not requiring that the taxpayers who will fund Hogue Hall are Christian, so it's not really living up to its core values as a Christian school, is it?

What do I think should be done about Hogue Hall? A capital campaign should be created, just as any college or university does, which will alums to donate money for the cause. If alums will donate for anything, they'll donate to rebuild Hogue Hall. GC has proven in the past that it has some alumni with deep, deep pockets. It's time for those alums to open their own pockets and not expect every tax-paying citizen in the state to do right by their alma mater.

Because he loves to waste taxpayer dollars without their consent, Governor Rod Blagojevich (AKA Blago) has promised Mannoia that state funding for GC will be included in a capital bill. Why not, indeed? Blago himself has no concept of money and spends nearly these promised millions in just a couple weeks of flying back and forth to Chicago from Springfield every day. He has no concept of stewardship over the taxpayers' accounts-- rather, he just reaches in for what he can get for himself and what he can promise to those lucky enough to get to chat with him.