The following are questions and answers with DEAN SKIP RUTHERFORD –
Q. Will the Clinton School receive any stimulus funds?
A. None for construction. We don’t have any pending or planned building projects. Because our unique model is based on the concept of “Academics for the Real World,” our classrooms are all over the globe including a children’s home in Tanzania, at Oprah’s Leadership Academy in South Africa and in Arkansas’s Mississippi Delta region. We share and maximize existing community resources because our priorities are service and scholarship not infrastructure and overhead. Like some other organizations, we don’t have older buildings where maintenance has been deferred because dollars were used to build new buildings. Some of our students, however, may be eligible to receive additional funding for student loans which would be a good thing.
Q. You’ve said in the past that you would like to have an auditorium for your public programs? Is that still the case?
A. Yes. But it’s not an emergency need, and it would be wrong to call it a priority when others do have critical infrastructure demands. We’re working on an auditorium plan and just like our River Market Campus, and we’ll figure how to make it happen in a fiscally responsible manner.
Q. What do you think about the Arkansas legislature passing the 56 cent tobacco tax?
A. I favored it. It’s a great investment in Arkansas’s future health in the areas of prevention, treatment and intervention. It’s also a huge tribute to Governor Mike Beebe’s leadership and the confidence people have in him. Give much credit also to Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Johnson, House Speaker Robbie Wills and those in their respective legislative bodies who made it happen. Kudos also to those organizations like Arkansas Children’s Hospital and others who helped promote it.
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