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<p>I am an “old alumni,” as are many of my friends. I see dozens of Brown alums every year. Never once, ever, in decades, have we discussed Brown’s ranking with concern. The “old” Brown alums I know couldn’t care less that Brown’s rank, according to one source, is 15. And the dozens of “young” alumni I know also couldn’t care less.</p>
<p>I don’t know which “old alums” you hang out with. And given how you write, I am not convinced that you are an “old Brown alum.” And if you aren’t, how can you speak for us?</p>
<p>However, I do believe there is room for improvement – there always is. I was the one who brought up fundraising to begin with – of course Brown needs to boost its endowment. Simmons and Gregorian were expert fundraisers, and I sure hope Paxson is too. TPTB at Brown are aware of the resource issues – it’s been a problem for decades. Is the only way to boost endowment to create an MBA program? I really can’t engage you in that discussion since higher education fundraising is not my field of knowledge.</p>
<p>Brown’s strength has always been its university-college model – where the emphasis is on the undergrad. As an alum, I would be very disappointed if that model were abandoned to create graduate programs for the sole purpose of getting money from Wall Street fat cats to increase endowment. I can assure you that while “old alums” don’t complain about Brown’s ranking, we DO complain about the increased emphasis on graduate programs.</p>