Good point.
But I also wonder how many Palestinian/Palestine supporting people there are in that county.
2 Likes
I didnât say the university wouldnât engage. I said there wonât be any consequences for the students refusal to pay tuition, such as being restricted from attending class or paying late fees.
It is the first story. Need to watch to the end to learn about the Dartmouth approach.
3 Likes
I was just in New Hampshire staying with friends who live not too far from Hanover. I got a whole lesson on New England politics as it relates to NH and Vt. (which I asked for). Relative to many other rural areas where Iâve been, including in the western US, New England has more progressive-leaning small rural communities. When you leave Seattle, youâre in another world and there are few places like Woodstock, Vt. around here. I donât know about Grafton county. But even with Dartmouth nearby, I would not expect many Palestinian supporters in that general neck of the woods.
Iâm not in a position to question the polls, but based on my travels youâre going to be hard pressed to find that many people who separate the Palestinian question from Islam; and Islamophobia is quite real and far reaching in the U.S.
2 Likes
Temporarily closing. Inappropriate posts deleted. Please refer to the moderator message from just yesterday.
1 Like
This topic was automatically opened after 6 hours.
Further proof that HYPMS are at the top of the Ivy League food chain?
1 Like
Very appropriate.
Donors are not buying controlling stock in a corporation, or seats on the board. At most they can ask for their name on a building.
They are showing their gratitude for the opportunities a university once offered them - by affording similar opportunities to todayâs students. Even if (and implicitly accepting that) todayâs students, issues, passions and priorities will always be different from those decades earlier.
If certain donors donât actually wish to be benefactors for another generation of young people, but just meant to buy yet another area of influence/spotlight, then itâs only right that they should reevaluate their own intentions.
9 Likes
In theory, you are right. But one of the most important jobs of a university president is to raise money, and these are going in the wrong direction.
I am not at all surprised by the Harvard boardâs decision given Claudine Gayâs errors were not as serious as Pennâs president. And they are loathe to be seen as giving in to the angry crowd.
But make no mistake that she is a weakened president that canât raise money. I expect her reign to be short.
3 Likes
Yes - thatâs why itâs particularly important for universities to draw the line, whether they are willing to abandon their independence and integrity for short-term financial gains - or whether they are taking a long-term view as academic institutions.
There was a Harvard long before Bill Ackman & cohorts - and there will still be long after no one remembers their names.
3 Likes
You can believe the Development office is working overtime to control the fallout. However at a $50B+ endowment, they can easily weather the threat of the loss of a couple hundred million in donations.
I just read the Harvard Crimsonâs take on the plagiarism charge. I think the charges are legitimate.
1 Like
Once schools start to respond to angry donors (even if their complaints have merit) they are setting a bad precedent. What about the next time? And the time after that? Should wealthy people be allowed to leverage their giving to control the direction of schools they support? Right now it may seem like a good idea but once the precedent has been set, it wonât be long until other vested interests (which you may not like) will try and do the same.
6 Likes
According to the New York Post, Ivy League schools are compensating for the loss of large donations by slashing the price of the donor side door into their schools from $20 million to $2 million. 
2 Likes
The types of schools we are talking about have a long history of âresponding to angry donorsâ, so I donât think thatâs a new development. The difference now is that these issues have a much greater chance of making the mainstream news.
2 Likes