Kathleen Richardson, who teaches journalism and media law at Drake University, told attendees at a recent Business Record breakfast event that it’s impossible to get today’s college students outraged about anything. Somebody lied to them? Well, sure, that’s what they expect. Somebody’s cheating the public? Come on, that’s how the system works.

If they were wise beyond their years but determined to clean up the mess, that would be reassuring. But if they’re just wise guys who can’t wait to unpack their cynicism in a corner office, well, that’s not going to help at all.

For now, we can assume that the students are not shocked by the scandals and disappointments that have oozed across Central Iowa this year.

Revelations of unchecked greed and questionable bookkeeping skills are a surprise only to people who still think of Iowa as a place where lost wallets always return. Either these folks are hopelessly naïve, or they’re just now grasping the difference between a wallet and a government grant.

The money in a wallet belongs to some poor guy who’s trying to make a living. Government money falls from the sky, so you might as well keep a bucket handy.

The Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium scandal torpedoed a few careers. Then people started looking around and realized that nobody is playing by the rules anymore.

It’s interesting, all right. But it’s all penny-ante stuff, even the CIETC fiasco.

They’re Iowa-sized scandals. They cast long shadows only because the sun is setting on our naïve phase.

Maybe someday we’ll wake up and smell the freshly minted currency. Finally as up-to-date as the college students, we’ll start playing in the major leagues of money grubbing with serious connivers like Bernie Ebbers, Dennis Kozlowski and the late Ken Lay. Guys who know that when you’re playing in the bigs, there’s no such thing as overdoing it.

But even then, some will retain the ability to picture themselves waking up in prison. They’ll still think the best way to beat the system is to embrace it, not try to wrestle it to the ground.

It’s true, great results are possible on this side of the law. For example, The Wall Street Journal ran an article last week about E. Gordon Gee, the president of Vanderbilt University. He has made his reputation as a guy who comes in as a college president, improves the school’s reputation, raises gobs and wads of money and moves on.

The University of Colorado built him a $780,000 house. Then Ohio State spent something close to that on renovations to his house in Columbus. At Brown University, where they have real money and want more of it, the cost of renovations to the president’s home hit $3 million while Gee lived in it.

At Vanderbilt, renovations added 3,700 square feet to his home, bringing the total to 19,700, or just enough space for a donor to stretch out and really feel appreciated. The budget was $2 million; the price is reported to have topped $6 million. And his salary – there’s more to the good life than a great house — stands at a cool $1.4 million.

Now that’s the intelligent, sophisticated way to live large. Perfectly legitimate. Nobody scammed anybody. Vandy got a big return on its investment, because Gee does, indeed, know how to raise funds.

So there’s your role model. Climb to the top of a nice, safe ladder like Gee’s, and you’ll notice that the horizon is wider than you ever imagined. Also, the people down below, grubbing for a weekly paycheck, look kind of small. Which is nice, too.