Thursday, February 21, 2008
The UniCorp Goes Ka-Ching
Karen Arenson in the Times reports that rich colleges are getting even richer.
...even as Congress presses wealthy colleges and universities to spend more of their endowments, they continue on a fund-raising streak that will widen the wealth gap in higher education.
...Stanford University had an exceptional year for fund-raising in 2007, collecting $832 million in private donations. Harvard, too, reaped a bounty, with $614 million in gifts.
Stanford pulled in $220 million more than Harvard. That's interesting, isn't it?
The numbers are sure to fuel the unease of those who argue that universities are turning into fund-raising machines, with university presidents spending more and more of their time cultivating donors, aided by development teams, consultants and marketers who scour alumni lists.
...John Longbrake, a Harvard spokesman, defended the way the university uses its financial resources. “Harvard and many other universities make enormous contributions to our nation in research, scholarship, medicine and the arts due in large part to the resources we raise and invest,” he said.
A tough spot for Longbrake to be in: What he says is, of course, true. But it's not going to satisfy those who look at those numbers and see only a growing inequity, or see that the university is becoming something else—the UniCorp. Or maybe the corpiversity. I'm not sure which. ¶ 5:15 PM
...even as Congress presses wealthy colleges and universities to spend more of their endowments, they continue on a fund-raising streak that will widen the wealth gap in higher education.
...Stanford University had an exceptional year for fund-raising in 2007, collecting $832 million in private donations. Harvard, too, reaped a bounty, with $614 million in gifts.
Stanford pulled in $220 million more than Harvard. That's interesting, isn't it?
The numbers are sure to fuel the unease of those who argue that universities are turning into fund-raising machines, with university presidents spending more and more of their time cultivating donors, aided by development teams, consultants and marketers who scour alumni lists.
...John Longbrake, a Harvard spokesman, defended the way the university uses its financial resources. “Harvard and many other universities make enormous contributions to our nation in research, scholarship, medicine and the arts due in large part to the resources we raise and invest,” he said.
A tough spot for Longbrake to be in: What he says is, of course, true. But it's not going to satisfy those who look at those numbers and see only a growing inequity, or see that the university is becoming something else—the UniCorp. Or maybe the corpiversity. I'm not sure which. ¶ 5:15 PM
