What a waste!

[pegkerr]

There was an article in the Star Tribune today, a nice little feel good piece about grateful alum gives the University of Minnesota a huge gift. It's the largest gift in the University's 152 year history. $35 million dollars. He's so grateful because the University "turned his life around." Everyone at the U is gushing with gratitude.

And what is that $35 million going to be spent on?

A football stadium.

That's right. With state budget cuts hacking and slashing the University's budget, with the skyrocketing cost of tuition making the dream of going to college increasingly impossible to achieve for more and more families, this unbelievably generous gift is going to be devoted to building a temple of concrete so that people can sit on their duffs and watch a bunch of grown men kick an inflated bladder of pig skin around.

Comments

[eal.livejournal.com]

Did the donor designate the funds were to be used this way or did the university decide?

If the university decided this, then a letter writing campaign -- as suggested by someone else might be incredibly effective. It works particularly well if you can get the alums to write in.

If the donor decided, then you'd need to write to him to ask him to change his mind. The university cannot do anything else if the donor has placed conditions on his donation.

Oh and you might point out that 35 million won't buy you a parking deck let alone an entire stadium, so that money will have to be supplemented by money from somewhere.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

The donor designated the funds: Gift for new stadium would be largest in U of M history.

It's for a matching gift fund, which means that it will siphon off money that might have gone elsewhere.