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To: Gunslingr3; SierraWasp
Embarrassed? Schwarzenegger's degree is in economics, and he's more attuned to Mises than Marx.

More Schwarzenegger Myth!

He was in a "distance learning" program (i.e. by mail) that gave him credit for "life experience" and being an actor. He basically got a degree for agreeing to give lectures on fitness. He was enrolled for one year... showed up a couple times on campus during the year... his curriculum included swimming, archery, and bodybuilding. Quite the Scholar that Dr. Schwarzenegger! (NOT). The only one that seems to refer to this seriously as an "Economics Degree" was Arnold in his state filings. This is certainly not the traditional economics education, nor would it qualify at any reputable institution of learning, except those willing to prostitute themselves for a celebrity.

Per Schwarzenegger candidate filings (Calif state website):

B.A. in business and international economics, University of Wisconsin-Superior, 1980

Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2003

“The career he was aiming for needed some kind of credibility,” said Rhea S. Das, a Wisconsin-Superior psychology professor who was largely responsible for recruiting Schwarzenegger. “He realized the lack of a degree would be a hole in the fabric.”

Today, as Schwarzenegger campaigns to become California’s governor, that bachelor’s in international business and international economics, obtained mostly through correspondence classes, has provided more heft to a résumé weighted heavily toward big-bang action movies. No matter that the college is largely unknown outside the forested region and is smaller than Santa Monica High, the sheepskin has given Schwarzenegger’s supporters the ability to say he has brawn and brains.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug. 8, 2003

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger earned a bachelor's degree in 1979 through a University of Wisconsin-Superior distance education program.

The degree was in an individualized major emphasizing international marketing of fitness and business administration, said Beth George, spokeswoman for the university. Although it was largely a degree earned through correspondence, the movie star did have to do some work on campus, including giving some lectures.

News Tribune duluthnews.com, Aug. 16, 2003

Not enough is being made of Arnold Schwarzenegger's close association with the University of Wisconsin-Superior now that he is running for governor of California.

You see biographical data on the actor/bodybuilder/candidate saying he was graduated from the University of Wisconsin. It conjures images of the main campus in Madison, in the shadow of the state capitol, on the shores of Lake Mendota, Corinthian columns almost as large as Arnold's arms, ivy-covered facades.

Nope. Not quite. Move a few hundred miles to the north, to a smaller University of Wisconsin campus just off Belknap Street in Superior, not too far from the shores of Lake Superior. That's where Arnold received his bachelor's degree in 1980, but not exactly as a book-hitting, pub-crawling ordinary student. He was able to trade on his life experience and count credits he'd taken at a couple of colleges in California, said Rhea S. Das, who brought Schwarzenegger to the Superior campus in the first place.

(snip)

Schwarzenegger was enrolled in the standard extended degree program in which students are expected to come to the campus and meet with faculty, plan their course, get instructions and return for evaluation and other events. Assignments are given and fulfilled by mail, meaning the student doesn't have to sit through classroom lectures. Schwarzenegger was considered a senior when he entered the program, and he completed it in one year, visiting the campus several times to conduct workshops on bodybuilding and success.

He tested for credit (taking the final exam but not the course) in swimming and archery, and was given a waiver in bodybuilding. Smooth move.

Madison.com (Capital Newspapers), August 11, 2003

"Basically, he was in his weightlifting days," Beth Sundin, a university spokeswoman, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 1996. "And one of our professors, Rhea Das, convinced him to lecture here on the philosophy and psychology of sports."

Schwarzenegger was interested but mentioned he had begun a business education in Europe. Further discussion resulted in a plan for Arnold to teach five workshops on campus and, later, finish an undergraduate business degree by correspondence.

He did, in 1979, and then in 1996, when he'd become truly famous, Schwarzenegger was invited back to Superior to get an honorary doctorate in letters. Arnold picked it up in person and was quoted saying: "I tell you, this is absolutely fantastic." ...

Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2003

The school first came to Schwarzenegger’s attention when Das, at the urging of her children, invited him to campus as a guest lecturer. They were fans of Schwarzenegger’s since seeing him in the 1977 documentary “Pumping Iron” and after reading his autobiography, “Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder.”

But Schwarzenegger also wanted a degree. He was within striking distance because of a hodgepodge of college credits accumulated in the early 1970s, mostly at Santa Monica College and in UCLA’s extension program.

After Schwarzenegger accepted a position as “cooperating faculty member,” administrators could then waive residency requirements so he could participate in the university’s fledgling “extended degree” program while specializing in fitness marketing and business administration. He paid in-state tuition fees, even though he was largely completing classwork from Los Angeles, Das said.

Schwarzenegger received some credits for his “life experience” as a fitness expert. He failed, however, to convince the school’s communications arts department to give him credits in acting for his pre-blockbuster film career, which included the B-movie “Hercules in New York,” in which his accented voice was dubbed. But it did grant him credits for film production.

(snip)

Schwarzenegger finished his remaining degree requirements in less than a year, earning the bachelor’s in November 1979 that was formally awarded to him at a May 1980 commencement.


35 posted on 07/14/2004 12:36:36 PM PDT by calcowgirl
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To: calcowgirl; lewislynn
Now calcowgurl... Don'tchew be diggin alla that nasty truthful stuff outta the danged woodwurk!!! The man has an image ta purteckt an here yew goes an pulls his danged cuvers!!! Whatsa matta wif yew, anaways???

Alla that there formul edyewkayshun ain't nessessary fur sumwun hoo nos how ta wurkout an make moovies wif Jesse "da body" Ventura! Long live da WWF an Meester Yoonivurse... Da dynamic duo of Guvernators!!!

How 'bout dat, lewislynn? Kin ya unnerstan anya dat???

45 posted on 07/14/2004 4:31:10 PM PDT by SierraWasp (Keep whores out of the Whitehouse! Don't elect a couple of "Johns"!!!)
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