Glenn Beck University? Yes. Glenn Beck University.

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: In The News

(Credit: glennbeck.com)

Conservative Fox News television host, author, and radio host Glenn Beck has started a university.

Sort of.

According to an announcement on Beck's Web site, "Beck University is a unique academic experience bringing together experts in the fields of religion, American history and economics." In July, August and September, interested parties can participate in "captivating lectures and interactive online discussions" in which "experts will explore the concepts of Faith, Hope and Charity and show you how they influence America's past, her present and most importantly her future."

At left is the actual insignia of Beck University. (Note the buffalo, feather and Latin words.) To be clear, calling it a university is more than a stretch: It is actually simply an opportunity to watch online classes taught by three men, among them the controversial David Barton.

Barton is described on Beck's site as "the founder and president of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that presents America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage." He is an evangelical minister and GOP political activist who has pushed hard against the separation of church and state and been embraced by conservative Republican politicians.

He has been criticized repeatedly for bad scholarship. According to People for the American Way, then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter wrote in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy in 1995 that Barton's arguments "range from the technical to the absurd" and "proceed from flawed and highly selective readings of both text and history."

The other two teachers have more traditional backgrounds: Louisiana State University professor James R. Stoner, Jr. and former Columbia Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology and Education David L. Buckner. Available classes are "Faith," "Hope" and "Charity" 101, 102 and 103.

So how do you enroll at Beck University? By joining his "Insider Extreme" website at a cost of $9.95 per month or $74.95 for the year. A promotional page for the "Insider Extreme" subscription lays out what it offers beyond the normal "Insider" membership and features a variety of pictures of Beck mugging for the camera.

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by xanthicles December 10, 2010 11:52 PM EST: The biggest issue I have with Glenn Beck is called crendentials. Most of us want to see that people who do every day work for us have the necessary credentials and certifications, diplomas, etc., that tell us that this person has official knowledge of what they're doing. For example, if you see a mechanic for your car, you want to know he is a certified mechanic before he starts working on it. Likewise, before you see a doctor you want to know that they have gone to medical school, graduated from there, and have all the other necessary credentials and certifications before they see you, esp. if they are going to operate on you or anyone you care about. Now news is a little bit more complicated, but if somebody is going to be on a network that touts itself as being a news network I personally would like to see that they have some journalistic credentials, so that I know the person giving the news knows how to give an objective nonbiased reporting of it, and I don't care if it's someone on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN or any other news network. People also need to know that when objective and fair news reporting is being done the ones reporting it do not offer their own opinions and or biases on any news event. It is quite alright for them to have their own personal opinions, but they should express these when they're off the job, and not on, otherwise it becomes a show where people are talking about the news in part or whole and giving their own opinions on this, and that is not objective and fair reporting, no matter where their political, religious or other preferences may lie. Here is my problem with Glenn Beck, he has absolutely no news ceredentials. He has no degree in journalism, nor does he have one of any kind in economics, government, history, law or any of the other areas that he claims to be an expert on. So to me it's fine that he has a talk show, but that's all it is, a talk show where he gives his own opinions and thoughts on whatever he wants, and where he has guests on that, like him, also give their own biased opinions about a varying number of issues. His past credentials lie in having been a talk show host both for radio and television, and that's it. He has no college degree in any subject, much less journalism, as previously mentioned before. Also, another sign that he is not fair and objective is that for the most of the week all he talks about is about how evil the democrats and liberals are, never has anything positive to say about them, and during those times watching him is pretty much conspiracy television, because whether you believe him or not, he's constantly showing various conspiracies on his show. And on the one week day that he does not, Founders Friday, he has on conservative right wing guests who are often touting their own books and whatnot, who offer their own biased opinions on a number of subjects, which are often not even correct in their information. For example, he had one author of a history book that he was promoting that was titled, "FDR: New Deal or Raw Deal." Ok, fair historical reporting is much like fair journalism, in that the historians do not interject their own opinions in the matter. So, if you're going to have a book about the New Deal, you can talk about when it occurred, who initiated it, how many jobs and job programs it created, etc., because these are the historic statistics that we have on this. I have a bachelors in history and never once heard any professor talk about the New Deal and interject or mention the term "raw deal" into it anywhere. So at best this book is just a speculative book promoting the author's personal feelings about what the author and other people may feel about the New Deal. It is not fair historically because you can find other authors and people who do not think it was a "raw deal." That said, in historical reporting personal opinions and interjections should be left out of it. In conclusion I do not think that Glenn Beck's show should even be on a network that touts itself as being a news network. If he wants to put it on another network, that's fine, but even then there should be a personal disclaimer shown before the start of every episode that says that the show reflects the personal beliefs and opinions of Glenn Beck and his guests and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the network. Fox News itself, for liablity reasons I'm sure, has listed Glenn Beck's shows, among others on their network, as being entertainment and not news. I'm sure that this is because if some unstable extremist element out there hears him saying, "America we're under attack," takes it literally and ends up doing some illegal violent act to a person or persons, Fox News will be able to write itself off of any responsibility by saying that it was just entertainment, and not news, though personally if they say it's just entertainment, they should at least have a brief disclaimer at the start of every one of his shows saying so.; Reply to this comment


by LarryRossdale September 28, 2010 9:28 AM EDT: While I don't agree with everything Glen Beck says, I do believe that religion is a critical component in the development of college students. I decided to go to a <a href="http://www.liberty.edu">Christian college</a>, and it was the best decision I ever made. I would check out http://www.liberty.edu.; Reply to this comment


by Consrvatv July 26, 2010 5:43 PM EDT: Most of you really over think what Glenn is doing. If his facts were the least bit wrong, CBSh!t, NBCrap and ABCrap would be all over him and prove him wrong, but they can't.
His opinions are like anyone's, just what he believes. They jump all over those opinions but they can't discredit them. Believe who you want to believe.; Reply to this comment


by jcboston69 July 19, 2010 11:50 AM EDT: Oh my God! You mean Glenn is getting paid for the work he does? How is this evil capitalism allowed to exist? Can't we make laws that all websites must be FREE? What gree that he wants a whole $10 per month for a service he provides! If only CBS would write similar smears about the federal government, because they charge me a LOT more than $10 a month, and it's not my choice as to whether or not to subscribe.; Reply to this comment

by spoonalicious July 13, 2010 4:08 AM EDT

I hope when everyone talks about this country going down the tubes because of this regime that they're talking about the previous administration. It's the policies and "executive orders" of bailouts, globalization, and corporate deregulation made between 2000-2008 that are sending us on a spiraling dissent to marxism.

Think about it. The people who make clothes for Walmart get paid $0.64 an hour. Walmart moves into your neighborhood selling $3 toothpaste for $1 dollar (which they can afford to do because of slave wages in China). Where are people in a struggling economy going to shop? Not at mom and pop's small business. They go out of business; you lose your job; you get a crappy job at Walmart; the value of our dollar plummets. These types of practices force our economy to compete with a socialist economy. Obama is trying to change that.

These things don't happen overnight. The previous administration set it up to cliff dive in 2008 so they could blame it on a Democratic President and take back the house this fall. You people are all feeding into it. Our President only has as much power as you give him. But if you look at his policies he's done some great things. Let's look at what he has done and be positive! If you see something that needs to be changed change it. Don't depend on this corporate sponsored dribble to tell you what to think. I AM NOT A DEMOCRAT I AM AN UNENROLLED REGISTERED VOTER. Republican citizens are good people. But Republican politicians use 'pro-life' and 'the sanctity of marraige' solely to win votes and cause division. As long as we are Democrats against Republicans and Republicans against Democrats nothing will ever get anything done. STOP BLAMING!! Blame yourselves. This government is FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE. But we're all too busy sitting on our a&*es watching Faux News, yelling at the tv, and collecting our unemployment checks.

Listen to 88.1 in Boston "The Real News" every Wednesday on MIT's radio station at 10pm Eastern time. --We don't get paid

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by spoonalicious July 13, 2010 4:22 AM EDT: I'm also a Catholic. I love Jesus. That doesn't mean I have the right to tell a woman what to do with her body. It doesn't mean I have the right to tell two gay men they can't commit to a lifelong monogomus partnership. Everyone is different but there is common ground for the greater good that we can ALL agree on. We need to focus on those points. We can't allow ourselves to be defined by labels or the accusations of others. We have to approach every situation with an open mind and evaluate each individually. But most importantly we can't get caught up in blaming or name calling. In politics, as in life, you can't force people to change. But what you can do is take a cold hard look at yourself and ask what you can do for your country.

"As one person you say 'I can't do anything'. But you expect one person to fix all your problems" -Andrea Romig on the current trend of Obama bashing in the corporate media.

by jerry185 July 12, 2010 5:50 PM EDT

bladimz
You are seriously misinformed. Get your head out of the sand. Glenn Beck backs up what he says with audio and video clips of whom he speaks in their own words. Of course you will say they are taken out of context which is a typical retort. Our country is going down the tubes and people like you choose to ignore the signs and the facts.
My friends who are former Soviet citizens are appaled at the policies of this regime. They see what happened in the USSR happening here. If we lose freedom here, there's no p[ace left to escape to.(Ronald Reagan) People like you are out to destroy our freedom and our country. George Soros, Saul Alinsky, and Cloward and Piven are probably your disciples. All want to bring down this country. Again, I say, PROVE where Beck is wrong. rather than just calling him a liar. If you can't, who, then, is the liar?

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by spoonalicious July 13, 2010 4:39 AM EDT: MSNBC does the same thing in backing up what they're saying with video and audio clips. Glenn Beck's audio clips of Obama are totally bogus btw. But my point is BOTH sides are saying the same thing! Both sides are blaming each other! But it works! Because as long as we're fighting about Glenn Beck and Rachel Maddow then the corporate giants (who really run this country) get to continue dipping into our pockets in the background. WAKE UP!

It's not even so much what Glenn Beck says as it is how he says it. For example I saw one show where he compared Armadinajad and Kim Jong Il (sp.?) to Saddam Hussien, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin. He said because the president is willing to talk to the first two he'd probably want to sit down and have a chat with mass murderers. That is crazy! But it works for the people who want to hear it and are looking for someone to blame. I'd rather have a diplomatic president than a president who starts wars for no reason without so much as a telephone call.

Companies like Haliburton and AIG have literally stolen over a trillion dollars from the tax payers! Oil companies get 100's of billions of dollars in subsidies from our government! Obama is pushing for regulation to stop it. But big oil and other big corporations are literally holding us hostage by threatening to move operations overseas. Even though they have a knack for avoiding taxation and getting subsidies they still fill a need in our society. In effect our millions in subsidies every year are a bribe to keep them in America. Meanwhile we're too busy watching this crap to revive the ingenuity of the Wright Brothers etc. that made this country great.

by PastorJennifer July 12, 2010 4:17 AM EDT

If Glenn Beck represents a threat to American Democracy... and I think he does, I don't think it lies in his creation of a Glenn Beck University. Anyone willing to pony-up the money for his web site is already one of the converted to the neo-con mythologies and lies he promotes. No serious academic would give it the time of day. And there will always be diligent people who are willing to spend their time exposing the fallacies of his arguments - God bless them, although how they have the stomach to go through all the drivel being fobbed off onto the American public I do not know.
For anyone interested in following a blow by blow account of what the extremists in the Christian Right are up to the website www.talk2action is a great resource.
For the rebuttal by Chris Rodda that exposes all the lies and misinformation in Dick Barton's revisionist history you can see it here at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/7/9/112836/3332
Now she is a real historian. I have followed much of her material and can say she checks and double checks her resources, identifies the fallacies and distortions of the people who want to rewrite our history books. It puts them to shame. What a disgrace to America that this is what Republicans have become ... conservatives without conscience. And yes, they are dangerous, and we should be concerned.

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by jerry185 July 12, 2010 9:41 PM EDT: So, Pastor Jennifer,
Are you saying that as Dick Barton says, that there were no African -American founders nor women participating in the Revolution? What happened to those facts in our history books? So far as the Texas book panel is concerned, the majority of the panel were left wing, anti Christian,liberals. Thank God Dick Barton was there or everything regarding the Founders would have been written out. You talk about misinformation, You should take a closer look at yourself and your buddy, Chris, the anti- Christian and anti- Jesus freak. Also, the Founders were deeply religious and included prayer and deference to God in all of their proceedings. The separation of church and state is very clear. Neither the people nor the state shall establish a "state church or religion. We are a Christian nation whether you like it or not.People like you,the ACLU, and all the politically "correct" idiots are bringing this country down. If you don't like it here and don't like America,do us all a favor and go somewhere else. By the way, are you a pastor of the whacky Universal Life Church? To encourage people to listen to the loon, Chris Rodda, especially when endorsed by the moron Olberman on the discredited MSNBC, is nothing short of ludicrous. WE THE PEOPLE will take this country back. If you consider that "dangerous"," then you should be concerned, because we won't permit you and your cronies to make this a Marxist country.
',


by elks0603 July 10, 2010 4:31 AM EDT: you wonder why no one takes the mainstream media seriously anymore; Reply to this comment


by jkbe1 July 9, 2010 3:49 PM EDT: A few things that everyone needs to remember. First, Glenn has a point of view that whether you like him or not, he is free to express and as a free society we are free to choose to listen to him or not.

Secondly, name calling and accusations without facts from sources that are not simply one-sided need to stop. If you are going to make an accusation that a person lied, you need to produce supporting documentation, otherwise, you are committing the crime of slander.

Lastly, we as a country need to drop the notion that the media whether it be CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN or Fox is objective in their reporting. Our newpapers in this country have always been partisan going back to the founding of this country. The federalist had their newpapers supporting the Federalists, newspapers in NYC in the 1800's were partisan for first the Whig party and then the Democrats; every political party had their own newspaper. How can we forget that the Spainish-American War was fought because one man Hearst wanted to go to war and inflamed his readers by claiming that the Spainish blew-up the battleship Maine.

We need to raise the level of discourse in the country and stop the name calling, it leads us no where!; Reply to this comment

by jerry185 July 7, 2010 8:25 PM EDT

Hasn't enough time been wasted with this silly attack on Glenn Beck? How about a more important issue like the DOJ dismissing their case against the New Black Panthers and mandating that cases against Blacks should not be pursued when the plaintiff is white? Why are cases of violent voter intimidation being ignored by the Main stream media and the DOJ? Where are the tears from Pelosi when the New Black Panthers call for the death of all white people and their babies? Does she only shed her fake tears when peaceful tea partiers show their displeasure with the direction this regime is taking us?

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by bladimz July 9, 2010 12:53 PM EDT: "asn't enough time been wasted with this silly attack on Glenn Beck?"

No, actually not. Beck puts himself out there and reaps his "rewards". Deflecting to other topics is a typical and tired response when one cannot support the topic at hand.