Harding President David Burks’ statement on the lottery

Statement on the Lottery

President David B. Burks

Presented in Chapel Services Oct. 16, 2009

The newly implemented Arkansas State Lottery has been in the news in recent weeks, and Harding’s position on the Lottery has been the subject of several media reports.  The way this issue has unfolded recently is why I am making this statement today.

I want to begin by saying, “I made a mistake, and I’m sorry.”  As I know my own heart, I know it was not a mistake of intention, but it was a mistake of judgment.  My intention was to express in our policy the reality that it will be very difficult to enforce any prohibition against the lottery.  In an attempt to avoid one appearance of hypocrisy, I made a decision that has itself come to be viewed as hypocritical.

Much to my regret, the announcement that we were “not seeking to discipline students” for participation in the lottery was perceived in two ways that I did not intend.  Some saw this as an indication that we did not view the lottery to be gambling.  Everyone, including every proponent of the lottery, knows that playing the lottery is a form of gambling.  Another misconception—and this one has been especially painful for me—is that Harding has “sold out” in exchange for scholarship money.  Some have thought that we were actually endorsing the lottery, because Arkansas college students stand to receive scholarship money from the State of Arkansas, which has been generated by the lottery.

So today I need to make things clear about this issue.  First, I have always believed that gambling is wrong; it is wrong to try to get something for nothing.  I have taught this many times and in many ways through the years.  The Bible is clear that every Christian should work for his or her living.  Work, not luck, is the appropriate basis for one’s wealth.  The stewardship of the blessings God provides us ought to be a core value for each Christian.  I believe that honest, hard work fits into what the Book of Proverbs calls “the way of wisdom” and that gambling fits into what Proverbs regards as the way of “folly.”  I also believe that gambling promotes social injustice because the negative consequences of gambling fall disproportionately on the poor and the desperate—the people who can least afford to lose their money.

So you can see that my decision with respect to the enforcement protocol relative to the lottery has sent the wrong message.  Therefore, after a lot of prayer and discussion with key leaders on campus, I am today announcing that we are returning to the simple, straightforward policy on gambling that is stated on page 10 of the Student Handbook:  “Gambling or wagering on or off campus” is “prohibited.”  This includes playing the lottery.

The university’s response to students found to be participating in the lottery is the same as it has been in the past: that is, a sequential progression of sanctions beginning with a written and/or verbal reprimand.

It is important to me that all people, both here and away from campus, know that Harding University stands firmly against gambling.  Our goal is to graduate students of deep faith who have the skills and values to work hard, to make a good living, to be solid citizens, to strengthen their communities, and to be very generous with the blessings that God places in their hands.

I know that some people will not agree with this decision.  However, I feel this is the right decision based on what Harding stands for.

Task force hears proposal for lottery-funded scholarships

Published Jan. 15, 2003
BC-TN–Lottery Scholarships, Bjt,0820<

Task force hears proposal for lottery-funded scholarships<

By BOBBY ROSS JR.=

Associated Press Writer=

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Lottery-funded scholarships for Tennessee students would be based on a combination of grades and family income under a plan discussed Wednesday.

A task force of lawmakers, college presidents and other education leaders reviewed the draft proposal _ the first detailed plan for spending lottery funds since Tennesseans voted overwhelmingly in November to allow a lottery.

Under the proposal, high school students who graduate with 3.0, or B, grade-point averages would receive scholarships if their family income was below $100,000.

The poorest students _ those with family incomes below $36,000 _ would receive $6,000 a year scholarships designed to cover not only tuition and fees but also other expenses. Those scholarships would be reserved for students attending Tennessee public colleges.

For students with family incomes between $36,000 and $100,000, the scholarship amount would be $4,000 a year to any Tennessee public college. The same students would get half that amount _ $2,000 a year _ if they chose a Tennessee private university.

That disparity drew criticism from task force member Steve Flatt, president of Church of Christ-affiliated Lipscomb University in Nashville.

Flatt, chairman of the 35-member Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, called the proposal “grossly unfair … and unwise.”

Flatt said the proposal would hurt state taxpayers _ who pay about $6,000 a year for each public college student _ by increasing demand for public institutions.

“Right now, if the 27,840 Tennesseans who are students at our independent colleges were enrolled at our Tennessee state universities, it would put an extra tax burden on our state of $168.5 million,” he said.

State Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, chairman of the joint House-Senate lottery implementation committee, defended the proposal, saying the state wasn’t obligated to give private schools any money.

“I don’t know if I’d necessarily look a gift horse in the mouth,” Cohen said.

Task force member William Ford, an economics professor at Middle Tennessee State University, agreed with Flatt’s concern. Ford said his university already deals with crowded classrooms and parking lots.

“If you structure this to favor public institutions when THEC is already talking about enrollment caps, you’re just going to blow us out of the water with just too much success,” Ford said.

Cohen said MTSU’s situation may be unusual. He said creative measures, such as summer courses or early morning and late-night classes, could accommodate any enrollment spike.

The proposal was presented by Brian Noland, director of academic affairs for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Noland’s boss is Rich Rhoda, THEC’s executive director and the task force’s chairman.

While most of the scholarships would have a family need component, the state’s top students could win scholarships regardless of family income.

Students with 3.75 grade-point averages and scores of at least 29 on the ACT college-entrance exam would qualify for $6,000 a year PLUS scholarships.

Home-schooled students also could receive scholarships if they scored at least 23 on the ACT and met the family income requirements.

Other questions raised by task force members ranged from whether the 3.0 grade-point requirement was too high to whether older, nontraditional students should be able to win scholarships.

James Catanzaro, president of Chattanooga State Community College, said students who enter college in their late 20s or early 30s may be the best and brightest, despite their high school grades.

“I would certainly like to see a provision here that after one semester of work with a 3.0 or better that a student could apply for a scholarship,” Catanzaro said.

Douglas Wood, the state Board of Education’s executive director, voiced concern that the plan _ which could cost up to $222 million a year _ might not leave much money for preschool programs.

But other task force members stressed the importance of keeping the proposal simple _ and easy for high school guidance counselors to explain.

“I definitely want to echo the principle of keep it simple, stupid,” quipped Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, sponsor of the House’s lottery bill.

Also Wednesday, Cohen said he expects speedy implementation of a lottery once the General Assembly approves the legislation. Within three months, he said, scratch-off games could be available, followed three months later by online games.

“Hopefully, we’ll get these bills passed in March or at the latest the beginning of April,” he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Amber McDowell contributed to this report.

 

Education task force splits on lottery proposals

Published Feb. 27, 2003

BC-TN–Lottery Scholarships, 1st Ld-Writethru,0800

Education task force splits on lottery proposals

With BC-TN–Lottery Scholarships-Glance

By BOBBY ROSS JR.

Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ The Education Lottery Task Force deadlocked Thursday on a plan to give equal lottery-funded scholarships to public and private university students and lift a $100,000 limit on recipients’ annual family income.

The advisory committee of educators and lawmakers split 7-7 on the proposal by Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland. The motion failed because it did not receive a majority.

Newton, sponsor of the House’s lottery legislation, argued that Tennesseans will put a “voluntary tax” on themselves when they buy lottery tickets.

“It’s their money per se and it should follow the student, whether they go to public or private,” he said. “With no income cap, it means you are rewarding the student who has achieved. You’re rewarding them not based on socio-economic factors as far as how much mom or daddy makes, but it’s fair.”

When Newton’s motion failed, the task force passed an earlier proposal by Senate Speaker Pro Tem Jo Ann Graves, D-Gallatin, that contains the $100,000 family income cap.

Graves’ plan, endorsed two weeks ago by a task force subcommittee, would give qualifying students $4,000 a year to attend a public university and $2,000 if they chose a private college.

“I wish it were Christmas, but it’s not,” Graves said in opposing Newton’s proposal. “The worst thing that could happen to us is to promise all things to all people and find out we don’t have enough money.”

Graves’ motion passed on a voice vote with some members dissenting. No roll call was taken.

Thursday’s meeting marked the end of three months of work by the task force, which legislative leaders appointed after Tennesseans overwhelmingly passed the Nov. 5 lottery referendum.

But the debate will continue as the proposal moves next week to the joint House-Senate lottery implementation committee. From there, it will head to House and Senate committees.

“There’s a whole bunch of members who believe in equality,” Newton said, indicating his proposal may be revived.

Voting with Newton on Thursday were Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge; Rep. Les Winningham, D-Huntsville; William Ford, Middle Tennessee State University economics and finance professor; Leonard Bradley, Vanderbilt University lecturer and public policy expert; Bill Stacy, president of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; and Steve Flatt, Lipscomb University president and Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association chairman.

Opposing Newton’s proposal were Graves; task force Chairman Rich Rhoda, Tennessee Higher Education Commission executive director; Charles Manning, Tennessee Board of Regents chancellor; Angelo Volpe, Tennessee Tech University president emeritus; Shirley Raines, University of Memphis president; James Catanzaro, Chattanooga State Community College president; and Russell Shelton, Tennessee Technology Center at Memphis director.

State Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, the Legislature’s primary lottery proponent, was not a voting member of the task force.

However, Cohen backed Graves’ plan as “fiscally conservative” and said lawmakers could expand the program later to include more students, as Georgia did.

Newton said his plan would cost less than $200 million a year _ below the target amount Cohen had set _ compared to an estimated $163 million for Graves’ proposal.

“While we may not have the exact numbers, I think Representative Newton’s proposal is fiscally sound based upon the parameters we’ve been hearing all along,” Flatt said.

That comment drew a chuckle from Cohen, who noted that Flatt and other conservative Christian leaders had opposed the state’s Nov. 5 lottery referendum.

“We’ve come a long way … to where my friend Dr. Flatt has more confidence in the lottery proceeds than me,” Cohen joked.

Both Newton and Graves called for scholarship recipients to graduate with a 3.0, or “B,” high school grade-point average and make at least a 19 on the ACT college-entrance exam or an 890 on the SAT.

Under both proposals, the poorest students _ those would family incomes below $36,000 _ would get an additional $1,000 per year.

Both plans also would reward the brightest students, regardless of family income, with $5,000 a year scholarships. The “General Assembly Merit Scholarships” would require minimum 3.75 high school grade-point averages and 29 ACT scores or 1280 SAT scores.

Both plans would require a 2.75 grade-point average after two college semesters for students to keep the scholarship. The maintenance grade-point average would jump to 3.0 after the freshman year.

___

On the Net:

Tennessee General Assembly: www.legislature.state.tn.us

Religious opponents face tricky question on lottery scholarships

Published March 16, 2003

Religious opponents face tricky question on lottery scholarships

(AP Photo planned)

By BOBBY ROSS JR.

Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Don’t bet on Alan Rosenhauer to help make Tennessee’s proposed lottery a success.

If the state moves ahead with plans to join 38 others in the lottery business, the Franklin computer consultant won’t buy scratch tickets or wager on megastate jackpots.

Rosenhauer, a Southern Baptist, believes state-sponsored gambling preys on those least able to afford long odds.

But despite his concerns, he says there’s one prize he probably wouldn’t turn down: lottery-sponsored scholarships for his children.

“Just like I don’t agree with many of the taxes, but I still drive on the road,” said Rosenhauer, who has three sons and a daughter, ages 14 to 22.

There is, it seems, a fine line between principle and practicality.

Religious opponents waged an unsuccessful war to defeat the November referendum that removed Tennessee’s constitutional ban on a lottery. Now, Christians and religious schools struggle with the moral dilemma on whether to take a share of lottery proceeds.

“I think a person who is morally opposed to the lottery … should refuse the lottery scholarships,” said Lonnie Wilkey, editor of the Baptist and Reflector, the newspaper of the 1-million-member Tennessee Baptist Convention. “Some people, however, may be forced to choose between their moral convictions and whether or not their child attends college.”

Rubel Shelly, minister of the Woodmont Hills Church of Christ in Nashville, said he wouldn’t take lottery money “just as a matter of conscience.”

“But I also understand the dollar-driven nature of decisions that otherwise principled people feel compelled to make,” said Shelly, who served on the board of the anti-lottery Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance.

Shelly also wishes the state’s religious colleges would unite against the lottery _ not fight to benefit from it.

But Bob Agee, executive director of the Nashville-based Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools, said the issue isn’t morality but fairness.

Giving public university students twice as much lottery-funded scholarship money as private college students who meet the same academic criteria _ 3.0 grade-point averages and 19 ACT scores _ would be discriminatory, Agee said.

Two competing scholarship proposals have emerged in the Legislature. An Education Lottery Task Force plan would offer public university students $4,000 a year and private college students $2,000. But the joint House-Senate Lottery Information and Recommendation Committee has endorsed equal scholarship amounts for all students.

Even the scholarship bill’s sponsors, Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, and Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, disagree on equalization _ an omen perhaps of the intense debate that could occur in the General Assembly.

Cohen advocates a “fiscally conservative” approach and points out that Georgia’s lottery _ Tennessee’s model _ only gave private college students $500 in its first year.

But Newton says Tennesseans expected the dollars to follow students, not institutions, when they approved a lottery. He pushes for a “G.I. Bill-style” scholarship redeemable at any Tennessee university.

A dozen students from Freed-Hardeman University, a Church of Christ college in Henderson, drove to Nashville recently to lobby lawmakers to treat students equally.

“I’m not sure I could take the money, to be honest with you,” said Murray Butler, 20, a sophomore from Huntingdon. “But there are a lot of students who need that money.”

Leading the fight for equalization has been the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association. It’s not a religious organization, but 29 of its 35 member schools have ties to Christian denominations.

The association’s chairman, Steve Flatt, is president of the Church of Christ-affiliated Lipscomb University in Nashville.

At a recent Education Lottery Task Force meeting, Flatt argued that raising the private college scholarship amount to $4,000 would be “fiscally sound” and fit within a $200 million annual scholarship target.

“We’ve come a long way … to where my friend Dr. Flatt has more confidence in the lottery proceeds than me,” joked Cohen, who has often clashed with religious conservatives during his 19-year push for a lottery.

Flatt said he still views a lottery as a poor method of raising state income.

But when the state enacts a financial aid program, it should benefit all students the same regardless of whether the funding source is the lottery or “sin taxes” on liquor and cigarettes, he said.

Rosenhauer agreed.

“Part of me is a practical person and says, ‘A majority of people voted for the lottery and if my children are eligible for it, I’m going to take it.’”

___

On the Net:

Tennessee General Assembly: www.legislature.state.tn.us

Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association: www.ticua.org