To Boldly Spend: Lawmaker Wants $1.7 Million for Starfleet Academy at NC A&T

A Piedmont lawmaker wants to beam Star Trek's popularity into warp drive (insert your own Treknobabble here) at North Carolina A&T State University.

Rep. Earl Jones (D – Guilford Co.) has introduced House Bill 1623 (pdf file). The bill asks the state for $1.7 million to research and develop a plan to build a Star Fleet Academy Complex at the A&T McNair Center.

The center is named for A&T graduate and astronaut Ronald McNair, who died in the Shuttle Challenger explosion on Jan. 28, 1986.

In the bill, Jones claims establishing a Star Fleet Academy could create more than 1,000 jobs.

CBS, which owns the rights to the original Star Trek series and virtually anything related to the series, would have to approve the concept and use of the Star Trek brand to market Star Fleet Academy. In the series, the academy is where future Star Fleet members receive their training.

The bill's first reading has been approved and has been referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

Despite Star Trek's popularity, the bill has been skewered by critics such as the Civitas Institute.

http://www.myfox8.com/wghp-ncat-star-fleet-academy-bill-090729,0,3164180.story