FB: American Rivers Conference

[hazzben]

This is depressing.  I would rather talk about beer.  And now that I think about it, how come a town where a bunch of Dutchmen settled, doesn't have a better brewery than a town founded by Norwegians?  My theory is, the best Dutch brewers did just fine in Holland so they never left.

Nope, they just settled in Holland, MI. New Holland Brewing Co. makes some great beers, their Dragon's Milk is one of my all time faves.

[Mr. Ypsi]

This is depressing.  I would rather talk about beer.  And now that I think about it, how come a town where a bunch of Dutchmen settled, doesn't have a better brewery than a town founded by Norwegians?  My theory is, the best Dutch brewers did just fine in Holland so they never left.

Nope, they just settled in Holland, MI. New Holland Brewing Co. makes some great beers, their Dragon's Milk is one of my all time faves.

Yeah, at least ONE emigrated!  I've never been disappointed with any New Holland product, though my personal fave is Sundog.

[doolittledog]

5 weeks from today Luther travels to UW-Lacrosse to open the 2015 football season.

[judgetrainer]

My wife RAVES about Dragon's Milk.

[doolittledog]

Yesterday we were 5 weeks away from Luther opening up the 2015 season.

Today we are 5 weeks away from BVU, Central, Coe, Dubuque, Loras, Simpson, Wartburg opening up their 2015 seasons!

Dubuque reports to camp Aug. 13th.  I would think most other schools report right about the same time. 

[Outside the Crate]

Oh come on, folks, one ought not speculate about things one knows little about -- at least not in public!  Waldorf is doing fine.  They were recently re-accredited, and added an online master's degree that is already highly successful.  Their headcount is over 1200.  Ashford is closing the campus in Clinton, but the parent, Bridgewater still has a couple hundred thousand students.  Grand View is booming and has very, very strong leadership.  They are just completing a major construction project of a new campus center, and a new residence hall came on line a year ago.
     In fact, it's rare that colleges close despite dire warnings we've heard for decades.  It's very hard to kill a college, and my bet is that Iowa Wesleyan will be around for many years yet.  I'd be tempted to bet IW will last longer than most of the correspondents on this board!  Upper Iowa may have some issues, but I bet their finances are stronger than the article would suggest.
     I have to say that I'm not very impressed with most of the journalists writing about higher education finance.  They really don't seem to know much except how to grab a headline.
     Back to football, about which I know too little.

[AO]

Oh come on, folks, one ought not speculate about things one knows little about -- at least not in public!

I keep my college finance speculation to whispers in back alleys where it belongs!

[OzJohnnie]

Oh come on, folks, one ought not speculate about things one knows little about -- at least not in public!

The Internet would almost certainly cease to exist if people followed this good advice.  Or at least that's my guess. I don't have much knowledge about internet usage.

[doolittledog]

During the off season, there often isn't a ton of football related stuff to talk about.  Which will lead to an article getting posted on here related to schools in, or once in our conference regarding their financial position and the conversation begins.  Add to that a school getting added to our conference and the subsequent talk about other possible schools that could get added and there you go.  A lot of talk about non-football related stuff.

While difficult to kill a school off, in my life time just here in Iowa we have Parsons College closing in the 70's, Westmar closing in the 90's, Marycrest closed in the early 2000's, Ashford will close after this coming academic year, so it does happen.   

[Outside the Crate]

Sorry, but I'm protective of private colleges.  With all the pressures these vital institutions face, it isn't helpful to have folks randomly throwing potshots that are not really grounded in good information.  Someone, for example, suggests Grand View has problems, which isn't true, and then that gets spread through random conversation.
     Pardon my strong reaction, but the media environment for private colleges really is quite deadly of late.  Forty-five percent of all the bachelors degrees awarded in Iowa come from private colleges, but you'd think newspapers were charged by the state's constitution to focus all their space on the Regent universities.  Stop and think about it, the DSM Register gives 98% of its news inches to the Regents universities, and they have a major private university only a couple miles from their offices, to say nothing of Grand View, Central, and Simpson just down the road.
     In the last session of the legislature all we heard about was funding for the Regent universities and whether their tuition freeze could be sustained for a third year.  Meanwhile, in a rare moment of bipartisanship the Legislature completely removed the Governor's recommended $ 4M increase in the Iowa Tuition Grant.  So, after all the talk about the need to help Iowa students, they chop the ITG, which only goes to needy Iowa students. So, again, pardon me.

[5 Words or Less]

Thanks OTC. Post v8.3 redeems.

[5 Words or Less]

Back to football, about which I know too little.

We have something in common! 

[5 Words or Less]

During the off season, there often isn't a ton of football related stuff to talk about ...

Luther's atomic weight = 574.268
(ie, Lutetium (LU) @ 174.97 + Thorium (TH) @ 232.038 + Erbium (ER) @ 107.26)

[5 Words or Less]

5WOL's 2015 predicted IIAC Champion:Wartburg

• Buena Vista - Graduated most starters.  Newbies excited.
• Central - Never underestimate the Dutch
• Coe - Staker's stars stampede stats
• Dubuque - New DC.  Spartans seek revenge.
• Loras - Duhawks give 'em Helminiak v2.0
• Luther - New DC.  Norse expect improvement.
• Simpson - New OC's goal: win in IIAC
• Wartburg - Whitewater loss motivates offseason improvements

[5 Words or Less]

Clark Field gets a makeover
http://www.coeathletics.com/article/2331.php