A surprise winner in Virginia: Randolph-Macon College
Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Ever heard of it?
If you hadn’t before, it’s likely you did on Wednesday. David Brat, an economics professor who just big-footed Eric Cantor and his Democratic challenger, Jack Trammell, are both on the faculty of this one small school outside of Richmond.
“While this may be short-lived, I think if you were to look at the placement of the ‘Randolph Macon College’ name in the media it would be a very high number,” says Dan Hurley, Associate Vice President for government relations and state policy with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. He says this kind of marketing is worth millions.
Typically a school would have to have a winning football or basketball team to get this kind of press. Like a few years ago, when Butler University in Indiana, made it to the NCAA Final Four.
“That impacted them in terms of inquiries, applicants and enrollments, for a number of years,” says Jim Paskill, president of Paskill, Stapleton & Lord, a higher education marketing firm. Paskill says he agrees having two congressional candidates come out of one college sure can make a school look good, but he says he’s a wary. An eight-month campaign season can be a long time under the microscope.
“You know, if this becomes a very divisive campaign and it’s seen as a mud-slinging between two candidates, I don’t think it’s going to reflect very positively on the college,” he says.
No chance of that, says Randolph Macon’s president Robert Lindgren.
“These are two very principled honest, folks who will debate the issues and not do, some of the typically political things that you might in a congressional campaign,” he says.
We’ll find out if his prediction holds up in November.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
