Right-wing columnist and commentator Dennis Prager insists that his media enterprise PragerU is a legitimate university, as long as you’re open to lying to yourself about what a university is.
During a PragerU “Fireside Chat” broadcast yesterday, Prager took issue with an August Los Angeles Times article that accurately noted that PragerU is not actually a university. Prager questioned what it truly means to be a university and contended that his communications shop, which publishes highly trafficked videos loaded with right-wing talking points presented as educational materials, was in fact a type of university.
“Now if ‘university’ means by definition you grant degrees and you are accredited by whoever accredits universities to be a degree-granting place, then we’re not a university,” Prager said.
That is exactly what the word university means.
“But is that the only definition? My contention is that it is a university, but it doesn’t grant degrees and it’s not accredited, and that’s absolutely accurate. We don’t portray ourselves as what we’re not. But if a university is a place to learn and learn and learn, and study and study and study, and gain wisdom, then why aren’t we a university?” Prager rhetorically asked.
To further strengthen his case, Prager compared his operation to something called “Donut University,” where people learn how to make doughy treats.
