Reagan Salutes Neb. College for No Red Ink

President Reagan, heading back to the White House after a three-week California vacation, today saluted a privately supported communications school in a college that runs on a balanced budget as “a model for our society to follow.”

Dedicating the C. J. and Marie Gray Communications Arts Center at Hastings College, Reagan said, “I’m told that Hastings College operates on a balanced budget.”

“And the Gray Center itself has raised all its funds in the private sector, not looking toward the government for a special leg up or a free lunch,” he said. “That kind of self-reliance is inspiring and a model for our society to follow.”

“It’s a philosophy I hope the students who come here to learn will carry with them when they leave to ply their skills elsewhere in a profession that at times does not seem to appreciate the simpler virtues,” the President said.

The center was built with the help of a $1-million grant from former Reagan campaign official Bob Gray. A Hastings native, Gray is a Washington public relations executive who was director of communications for Reagan’s 1980 campaign for the White House.

The center is named for Gray’s parents, Marie Gray and the late Garold C. J. Gray. The elder Gray was an electrical engineer and his wife was a house mother at the college.

Reagan also attended a closed fund-raising reception at Grand Island for Nebraska’s appointed Republican Sen. David Karnes. Karnes is seeking election against Bob Kerrey, the state’s popular former Democratic governor.

Later in the day, the President was to speak to about 7,500 delegates at an American Legion convention in Louisville, Ky., on his way back to Washington for the first time since George Bush was nominated to succeed him.