Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who left Marquette University in the spring of his senior year in 1990, says he left because, like a lot of Americans, he jumped at the offer of a job opportunity.
“The bottom line is — like a lot of Americans — my senior year, I was working at IBM, they moved their office to Chicago, one of my clients was the American Red Cross, they offered me a job, and like a lot of people out there today, I jumped at that opportunity,” he told Fox News’ Bret Baier.
“I was going to college not only to get an education, but ultimately, ideally, to get a job — they offered me one,” Mr. Walker said.
The Washington Post ran a story this week on the college years of the potential presidential candidate, raising interest among some about why exactly he left. The issue has been examined in the past, with the university telling politifact.com that he was a senior in “good standing” when he “voluntarily withdrew.”
Mr. Walker said that in the back of his mind, he thought he might go back in a couple years to take a course here or there, but a couple years later, he met his wife, Tonette, got married, and soon after that had two boys, Matt and Alex.
“Next thing all your time and your money’s spent on your family,” Mr. Walker said. “Today, I hope that people look and they say, hey, don’t have a degree, don’t have a Ph.D. or a law degree like some presidents have had in the past from Harvard or other places, but I hope they’ve seen that my results, I think, show I got a graduate degree in taking on the big government special interests.”
He said he’d “absolutely” encourage kids to go to college, noting that both his sons are in college.
“We wouldn’t have the founders of Microsoft and Facebook and plenty of other places out there if they weren’t [in] similar circumstances — each of those folks left to start those companies about the same time I did my senior year,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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