Public University Goes Private

[Lanval]

Well, sort of; read the link:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/b ... es/1168680

Rich people buying the right to dictate who gets to teach, what they get to teach, and whether or not they taught it well. This is a troubling sign if you believe that public universities (or schooling of any sort) ought to be beyond the reach/control of the wealthy.

Lanval

[BellePlaine]

Who do you blame?

[airkooledchris]

if your not going to read it, it should be noted that these donations come from the 'Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation'

yes, those Koch's

if you have the money, you can inject your political wants into any system you feel like changing. nothing is off limit$

[Lanval]

Who do you blame?

The university system as a whole is to blame: admin and faculty alike. I won't detail what has been said better and in more detail elsewhere, but the bottom line is that it's not hard to see how the management and workers have brought this on themselves.

The U is a business; the admins actively work on this principle. The faculty say it isn't, until it's their paycheck on the line, then it is.

Both are to blame. Both together can fix it, but they won't. There's too much money involved.

Lanval

[ruckman101]

That's right, FSU is proud to announce funding for their newly named Koch Industries Sports Arena! Hey, it could have been KFC or Coca-Cola, but Koch Industries has such a steel boot finality that really means business.

Never mind the displacement of the folks from their homes so the arena construction can begin. They're just poor folk who need to get a job for Christ sakes. Lazy welfare bums.

So many levels. I can see laying the blame entirely on the university system as a whole, but I would stop short of scapegoating management and workers and laying the blame for the problems at their feet.

There's a larger systemic problem at play, and this is but one more symptom. Educational institutions, especially public ones, are under the same level of concentrated, orchestrated attack as efforts at union busting are.


neal

[steve74baywin]

This is nothing new.

Here is an interview with Normam Dodd who came across a plan to hijack the education system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8cC21jB9EE

[BellePlaine]

Who do you blame?

The university system as a whole is to blame: admin and faculty alike. I won't detail what has been said better and in more detail elsewhere, but the bottom line is that it's not hard to see how the management and workers have brought this on themselves.

The U is a business; the admins actively work on this principle. The faculty say it isn't, until it's their paycheck on the line, then it is.

Both are to blame. Both together can fix it, but they won't. There's too much money involved.

Lanval

But Yale gave back $20M to a donor that wanted to exert "unheard of" influence. So how's this going to pay out in the market? Will the students that care if their school sells-out choose a school like Yale over FSC? I think that there will always be a choice.

[ruckman101]

The choice of which university to attend shouldn't be based on which corporate friendly message being passed off as "education" is being "taught".


neal

[yondermtn]

[Lanval]

Who do you blame?

The university system as a whole is to blame: admin and faculty alike. I won't detail what has been said better and in more detail elsewhere, but the bottom line is that it's not hard to see how the management and workers have brought this on themselves.

The U is a business; the admins actively work on this principle. The faculty say it isn't, until it's their paycheck on the line, then it is.

Both are to blame. Both together can fix it, but they won't. There's too much money involved.

Lanval

But Yale gave back $20M to a donor that wanted to exert "unheard of" influence. So how's this going to pay out in the market? Will the students that care if their school sells-out choose a school like Yale over FSC? I think that there will always be a choice.

20 million is meaningless to Yale; you can buy Yale just like anybody else, you just need more money. Here's some info from the NYT on Yale's endowment:

"The latest return, for the fiscal year ended June 30, retraces a little of that lost ground. Over all, Yale’s endowment rose to $16.5 billion, including $1.4 billion in investment gains, $136 million in gifts and a payout of $1.1 billion to the university."

link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/business/25yale.html

Here's the thing ~ you think they "earned" that money? Somebody's name is on ever new building they start.

L.

Oh, BTW, Harvard's endowment is MUCH bigger.

L.