OT: Well, this may explain some of the unruly costs...

[orangecuse]

Why obtaining a higher education at many of our finer institutions today is so out of whack...decisions like these are hardly economical, not to mention practical. FWIW, I love trees and find many to be quite majestic, but, come on man!

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/university-of-michigan-will-spend-dollar400000-to-move-a-tree-about-100-yards-—-and-it-might-not-even-survive/ar-BB9qixP

 

[texascpa]

I laugh when I read comments like "it can't cost the company that much to do <insert idea here>", "A competitor should come in and undercut company X", or "their prices are outrageous, they could make a killing pricing their product at X dollar amount". Most people can't manage their own money yet they believe they have deep understanding of business economics.

Now, that may have nothing to do with Michigan's decision, but most companies make costly decisions behind the scenes all the time, and that affects product cost, even if it doesn't directly impact the product. Companies do it for a myriad of reasons.

 

[SU2NASA]

Why obtaining a higher education at many of our finer institutions today is so out of whack...decisions like these are hardly economical, not to mention practical. FWIW, I love trees and find many to be quite majestic, but, come on man!

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/university-of-michigan-will-spend-dollar400000-to-move-a-tree-about-100-yards-—-and-it-might-not-even-survive/ar-BB9qixP

Michigan has the money, it's without question.

The tree is also 250 years old. You have no idea the treehugger protests they're saving themselves from.

 

[orangecuse]

Michigan has the money, it's without question.

The tree is also 250 years old. You have no idea the treehugger protests they're saving themselves from.

Michigan, without question, is a public institution...having the money is not the point, even though, interestingly, its largest city is literally bankrupt. The treehuggers can protest all they want, it's not money well spent imo, but just another example of decision makers making suspect decisions on someone else's dime.

 

[dollarbill44]

Did anyone read the article? Moving the tree is part of a larger, donor-funded project to expand the school of business and the cost of moving the tree was priced into the project budget. Donor-funded means that it is private money, not public money.

 

[qdawgg]

Did anyone read the article? Moving the tree is part of a larger, donor-funded project to expand the school of business and the cost of moving the tree was priced into the project budget. Donor-funded means that it is private money, not public money.

What!!!! Someone posted an article and created an argument based on not actually reading the article. Impossible.

Must be the work of tree huggers.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

291 out of 65,000 students and staff signed the Petition, That, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with this country.

 

[SU2NASA]

Michigan, without question, is a public institution...having the money is not the point, even though, interestingly, its largest city is literally bankrupt. The treehuggers can protest all they want, it's not money well spent imo, but just another example of decision makers making suspect decisions on someone else's dime.

um, the project is being privately funded by a major donor.

If you have an issue, call Stephen Ross and tell him how he should spend the $300 million he's donated to UofM, particularly how he should spend it on a project expanding the business school that is named after him.

 

[orangecuse]

um, the project is being privately funded by a major donor.

If you have an issue, call Stephen Ross and tell him how he should spend the $300 million he's donated to UofM, particularly how he should spend it on a project expanding the business school that is named after him.

I had skimmed through the article, and, in my haste, initially missed where the donor funded project included the cost of moving the tree, so my bad. I still opine that spending $400k to move a tree a football field's length is somewhat asinine, and money not well spent, again, just my opinion. Moreover, the tree apparently also has a 30% chance of not surviving the transplant.

 

[SU2NASA]

I had skimmed through the article, and, in my haste, initially missed where the donor funded project included the cost of moving the tree, so my bad. I still opine that spending $400k to move a tree a football field's length is somewhat asinine, and money not well spent, again, just my opinion. Moreover, the tree apparently also has a 30% chance of not surviving the transplant.

If you think that's bad, imagine the things I'd have SU spend money on if I become insanely rich to that point...

 

[supp]

I had skimmed through the article, and, in my haste, initially missed where the donor funded project included the cost of moving the tree, so my bad. I still opine that spending $400k to move a tree a football field's length is somewhat asinine, and money not well spent, again, just my opinion. Moreover, the tree apparently also has a 30% chance of not surviving the transplant.

Heck, some people might say spending $135 million on expanding the footprint of the business school is money not well spent. The business degree is the new law degree. People talk all the time about the utility of a humanities degree but they should check out the metrics for b-school grads nationwide.