15th Annual Brown Entrepreneurship Program Forum is this Saturday. Its surprising and not surprising that Brown has been at this for 15 years and its not unexpected that they recently hosted an event providing prizes for bad ideas.

BTW,

“The Brown University Entrepreneurship Program (EP) was founded in January 1998 by David Cohen and Evan Geller. These Brunonians wanted to provide students with an enriching entrepreneurial education and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit already alive at Brown, by harnessing the expertise of our alumni and faculty communities. EP is a student-run organization that acts as the extra-curricular side to entrepreneurial learning. EP provides students with lectures and panels from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country, access to our database of 900 entrepreneurs, one-on-one mentors, software for creating business plans, and Elevator Pitch and Business Plan Competitions for students interested in making their idea become reality.”

The impact of students on the evolution of higher education in the U.S. is one of the least discussed topics in current higher education discussions. Policy makers, administrators, and faculty often speak on behalf of the student body and their interests, but rarely if every let them lead the discussions or look at the actual behaviors and actions of students to see how they solve shortcomings.

That said, there are thousands  opportunities, organizations, classes, and institutions on U.S. campuses that were created by students as ‘official’ curriculum, policies and offerings did not meet their needs. (BTW, literary societies were the first extracurriculars as Harvard and other early colleges could not meet the needs or desires of the students)

Brown University Entrepreneurship Program.