<p>Zenkoan, you are an excellent spokesperson for and a credit to Stanford. Your mom has every reason to be very proud of you as well as her own educational attainments. The humanitarian projects you mention are extremely valuable as learning experiences and to serve the needs of the beneficiaries. The benefits to all are clear, unambiguous and readily accomplished by a university with such a substantial endowment. </p>
<p>What percentage of efforts do you suppose are humanitarian in nature versus for profit and of less substantial societal benefit? </p>
<p>I realize the close relationship between Stanford and SV is a longstanding one and therein lies the crucial point. The emergence of corporatism with its undesirable features has accelerated to a marked degree and level in the past decade or two. The gap between worker and CEO/executive compensation has risen exponentially, wealth has become increasingly concentrated among a smaller and smaller group whose wealth increase far outstrips all economic strata below. Profit at any cost including disregarding societal norms is becoming all too commonplace including tax evasion to the detriment of public education and health care: </p>
<p>“Apple Evades Billions in Corporate Taxes”
[Apple</a> Evades Billions in Corporate Taxes, NY Times… - Silobreaker](<a href=“http://www.silobreaker.com/apple-evades-billions-in-corporate-taxes-ny-times-reports-5_2265657155224862815]Apple”>http://www.silobreaker.com/apple-evades-billions-in-corporate-taxes-ny-times-reports-5_2265657155224862815)</p>
<p>and acts of dishonesty and extreme self-interest:
“CEO’s Gone Wild: What’s Wrong with Corporate America?”
[CEOs</a> Gone Wild: What’s Wrong With Corporate America? - TheStreet](<a href=“http://www.thestreet.com/story/11538703/1/ceos-gone-wild-whats-wrong-with-corporate-america.html]CEOs”>http://www.thestreet.com/story/11538703/1/ceos-gone-wild-whats-wrong-with-corporate-america.html) </p>
<p>The corporate ethic or lack thereof has become increasingly at odds with society and what represents the best of what our society offers, our great universities. I say with all sympathy that I believe Stanford confronted the fray and value clash of its experience base and the ethic of those involved in large scale development in the NYC venture.</p>
<p>If you can accept the premise that corporate America is not seen as serving the common good and functions with different assumptions and values than academic institutions such that even as dominant an institution as Stanford was unable to be successful in completing its vision, several concerns for corporate cooperative ventures in entrepreneurship follow: </p>
<p>It may be difficult to maintain the university’s values and objectives in the face of value clashes with the corporate culture. While it seems comforting to you that ongoing dialogue can keep corporate culture in check, evidence suggests otherwise. The combination of the SEC, Congress and the FBI have had little impact on the banking industry as witnessed by the 2008 debacle, more recently MFGlobal and currently the 2 billion dollars, soon to likely double, of bank depositor funds lost in a heartbeat by JPMorgan. I may be unaware, but I do not think there is any external oversight, certainly non with any power of the cooperative university/corporate entrepreneurial programs. At best, these partnerships, given the current status of tech bell weathers, seems a distraction to providing undergraduate education and at worst a recipe for tainting the university with some of the negative reputation developing for tech companies Stanford is partnering with. </p>
<p>Extremly useful educational objectives can be readily obtained for students with the humanitarian projects you outlined. Stanford doesn’t really need the money for its rich endowment. What then is the point of the university/corporate partnerships at this point in history and who is benefiting?</p>