Santorum defends Republican identity at NAICU meeting

Rick Santorum spoke at Tuesday's annual meeting of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. Largely, he was well-received by the crowd as he discussed the treatment of non-profit organizations, such as colleges and universities.

Additionally, Santorum was asked how higher education can absolve itself of the Republican mindset that colleges are merely "bastions for political liberalism." Santorum responded by asserting that higher education is by-and-large liberal, but that Republican politicians have been more supportive than usual, stating, "we understand that you’re the platform on which we have to build the future competitiveness of the country."

For the full article, click here. (via InsideHigherEd.com)

“I wasn’t going to sell my soul,” he said, “to get my name on a piece of legislation if the net effect to the nonprofit sector was negative,” Santorum said to boisterous cheers.

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After the Senate staff member’s warnings about continuing Congressional scrutiny, the NAICU group appreciated Santorum’s statement that he had helped to get rid of “90 percent of the bad stuff” in tax reconciliation bills that are moving their way through Congress and his promise to continue to try to ward off intrusive regulation.

But Santorum could not help himself when an administrator at Salve Regina College asked him how colleges could correct the impression of Republican political leaders that the institutions are bastions for political liberalism, which the questioner posited had undermined federal support for higher education.

Santorum took issue with the official’s thesis that Congress had been anything but fully supportive of higher education, at least from a financial standpoint. But “there is no question that the majority of Republicans believe that higher education is ‘left,’ “ Santorum said. “We do, and it is.”