javadoc
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He is indeed free to spend his money the wrong way.
Kansas receives largest gift in College Athletics History
- Thread starter wiseman3
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I am not sure I have ever read a more inaccurate take on this message board in the 20 or so years I have been here...which is saying something. Academic gifts don't do anything constructive? They just sit there and create more money? So you think Universities collect gifts, put them in the endowment, and then don't use them? Only creating more money for them to sit on and not pay out?
JRHEETER
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Binghamton University just got a nice donation of 33 million. 22 million from an anonymous donor and 11 million from New York State.
This will allow them to have the max or near max amount allowed scholarships for all of their D1 athletic programs.
This will allow them to have the max or near max amount allowed scholarships for all of their D1 athletic programs.
Agreed. Insanely stupid and shortsighted. Especially as we have the fed cutting science funding left and right in the name of anti-wokism on campus. They're doing nothing but destroying our global competitive edge. If the universities are to survive dumb government crackdowns, donors need to prioritize the academic side and especially the hard sciences. $300 million for a sports stadium and entertainment complex? It's late imperial decadence. Bread and circuses.
capeorange
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I think his point was that guy also gives major money to multiple universities and the arts not just to athletics.
He's one of the billionaires that signed the Buffett pledge to give away most of his fortune before dying. But still this is a doofus move.
The vast majority of endowment funds for every university are marked for a specific purpose. Very little in the way of discretionary funds. People who give the large amounts that make up the bulk of university endowments almost always have a goal in mind and the university can only use that cash for that goal. The endowment is not a savings account.
Hoo's That
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Plus, all non-profits are required to spend X% of their funds each year or its taxed.
capeorange
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I'm aware that he signed the Buffett pledge but I don't agree with your last sentence.
javadoc
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Yeah, it's the amount that galls me. It just seems excessive. An argument could be made that donating to athletics is silly no matter the amount, but for me it's a matter of degree, not kind. If he'd donated maybe 5 or 10 million, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.
What's more is that in 20 years' time whatever university gets that kind of money for a facilities reno will demand another reno at twice the cost. It never ends.
Rich societies throughout history have impoverished themselves both culturally and economically through this kind of decadence and waste.