Public-private partnerships in honors colleges: Innovation or exclusivity?

Honors students at Murray State University can easily blend in with the rest of the student population. They eat the same Winslow food, live in the same residential colleges, and take most of their classes with non-honors students. 

In response to the pressure of performance-based funding, honors colleges across the country are turning to public-private partnerships to foster innovation and enhance their competitive advantage. 

According to an article by University Business, Arizona State University’s Honors College (named Barrett College) now has its own 9-acre, $140 million campus as a result of a public-private partnership with ikon.5 architects. In its seven buildings are classrooms and residence halls, as well as a gym, coffee shop and computer lab. 

The all-inclusive campus design allows Arizona State’s 5,400 honors students to find their niche among the 70,000-plus students on campus. Calling themselves a “Public College of Scholars,” Barrett College promotes itself as a “selective residential college that recruits outstanding undergraduates across the nation.” 

Boise State University employed a 50-year, $40 billion private-public partnership with Greystar for the construction of its honors college, according to The Idaho Statesman. 

Other honors colleges, such as Tarleton State University Honors College and Rutgers University Honors College are using public-private partnerships to fund their housing projects.

Dr. Warren Edminster, executive director of the Murray State Honors College, does not foresee the Honors College turning to a public-private partnership in the near future. 

“Maybe we would become a tighter community, but I think we would be too exclusive and separated from the rest of the campus,” Edminster said. “A lot of universities with exclusive Honors dorms face real resentment by the rest of the campus because the Honors community is perceived as prideful elitists.” 

To prevent this mentality at Murray State, Edminster says all honors activities, from post-graduate scholarship presentations to social functions, are open to the general student body. 

“We want the Honors College to have blurred, non-exclusive edges, where students can seamlessly move from their honors community to the university community,” Edminster said. 

These blurred edges are found at Hollis C. Franklin Residential College, home of the Murray State Honors Living Learning Community. While there are dedicated Honors wings each academic year, non-honors students can also live in the building. 

“While a highly-independent Honors College would probably not affect classroom interactions, it would definitely inhibit the assimilation of Honors College students into non-Honors clubs and activities,” Honors Student Council Treasurer Kyle Britton said. “Murray State’s Honors College is not large enough to function as a healthy independent college, so it needs to remain within such an organization.” 

Students in the Murray State Honors College take eight- to nine honors seminars and fulfill other required courses with the general student body. 

“I enjoy that the current structure of how the Honors College is connected to the main campus,” sophomore Honors student Presley Woodrum said. “It allows you to have smaller class sizes, intellectual group discussions and advanced curriculum while still being a part of the larger academic community.”

To learn more about public-private partnerships, visit these sources: 

• Investopedia
• Harvard Business Review
• McKinsey & Company

Should Murray State explore public-private partnerships? Tell us in the comments.