In an otherwise dour study released this week, Concordia University, Nebraska was identified by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute as one of the better universities in the country for improving the civic literacy of its students, topping many Ivy League and large state schools.
The report was picked up by Fox News' Brit Hume, who mentioned Concordia by name in his nationally televised "Political Grapevine" segment on Sept. 18.
The study of more than 14,000 randomly selected college freshmen and seniors at 50 U.S. colleges and universities was based on a 60 multiple-choice question civic literacy test about America's history, government, international relations and market economy.
"In contrast to the performance of students from high profile, elite schools, smaller regional institutions such as Concordia University in Nebraska scored among the highest for civic-knowledge gained," reports the ISI, "At the bottom of the civic-knowledge gain rankings are Cornell, Yale, Duke and Princeton-four prestigious colleges that cost more than $30,000 per year."
Concordia, the only Nebraska school included in this year's report, was also ranked at the top of the list for civic course quality.
"We are pleased but not surprised by the ISI findings," said Concordia's President Brian Friedrich. "It further proves the value of a well-rounded education and as our mission statement so clearly outlines, our desire to prepare our students to serve in both the church and the world. Part of that ability to serve and lead is knowledge of the country we are blessed to call home."
See also: Fox News Political Grapevine report for Sept. 18 - video and Web transcript; ISI report on civic literacy