patrick henry college

Patrick Henry College, or PHC is a private Christian college that focuses on teaching from a classical liberal arts/apprenticeship tradition in the spirit of the American founding, located in Purcellville, Virginia.

History

The school was started in 1999 by Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association. The school has been a magnet for media attention from the start, attracting reports from every major network and cable news organization, and being the subject of articles in Time Magazine, The Economist, the New York Times, and others. Initially the interest seemed to stem from the fact that the college, which was founded by the Homescool Legal Defense Association and deliberately sought students with homeschooled backgrounds, represented a "coming-of-age" for the homeschooling movement at large. As time went on, it also attracted notice because of a percieved closeness with the Bush administration, which had given its students a number of White House internships and opportunities. Howerver, considering the extremely high proportion of politically active students, their proximity to the DC area, and ability to take non-paying internships during the schoolyear, many students would argue that their opportunities have been more earned than given.

Academics

Students at the school can specialize within one of two tracks of study: Government or Classical Liberal Arts. The Government department offers majors in Public Policy, Strategic Intelligence, and Journalism, while Classical Liberal Arts department offers degrees in Classical Liberal Arts Education, History, and Literature. The Government department's Public Policy degree was the first one offered by the college, and is still largely seen as its "flagship" program, with good connections to the Bush administration, DC Republicans, and conservative think-tanks and organizations. Nevertheless, it represents at the most a plurality of the students at the college, as the other degrees gain scope, depth, and begin to attract new applicants.

Debate

The college is active in the National Educational Debate Association and the National Parliamentary Debate Association.

Student Life

The Student Life Department is presided over by Dean of Students Paul Wilson. The college has many rules of behavior typical of conservative, religous colleges, although it differentiates itself by the advocation of "courtship," as oppossed to dating, in romantic relationships.