Benjamin Rush and George Washington both proposed that a national university be founded in Washington, D.C., and many early presidents supported the idea. More than two centuries later, the U.S. higher education sector is one of the most successful in the world, but there is still no national university. On January 9, Chris Myers Asch presented his plan for a new national university of public service, which is currently gaining traction in Congress, and several prominent critics and proponents responded.

Asch is one of the cofounders of the proposed U.S. Public Service Academy (PSA), a "civilian counterpart to the military academies" designed to change attitudes about public service and train public service workers. Like the military academies, it would offer a tuition-free education in exchange for five years of postgraduate service. The PSA would respond to a looming personnel crisis in public service, Asch said, and it would also attract the "best and brightest" to public service. He argued that the PSA is needed because it would foster stronger bonds among students, set a higher standard for public service, and meet national needs.

AEI's Philip I. Levy responded that public service's problem is "not a failure of the higher education system" but rather the hierarchy and inertia of government service, and that a PSA cannot change that larger culture. John Bridgeland of Civic Enterprises praised the PSA as a "uniting force" but urged a consortium of universities to promote public service instead of a single PSA.

Former George Washington University president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg called the PSA a "bad idea," arguing that there are plenty of universities offering public service education for less than the PSA would cost. "The Academy is an answer in search of a problem," he said. Robert Tobias of American University replied that the true public service need is in "designing systems to implement public policy" and argued that future PSA grads can provide this because their esprit de corps will "distinguish this effort from every other university."

For a video and podcast of this event, visit www.aei.org/event1624/.