6 ms·

I'm not associated with UC Berkeley, but I have been involved in a lot of campus politics in the past. Because I see many alumni commenting here about the effec

I'm not associated with UC Berkeley, but I have been involved in a lot of campus politics in the past. Because I see many alumni commenting here about the effectiveness of this lecturer, I offer a suggestion: Give a restricted gift to the university. Earmark it for something like the salary or research of Dr. Coward. If they want to play politics, you can too and restrict that your donations are tied to his continued employment.

hugh4 11y ago
If he's really that great, and if everything he says about the rest of the department is true, then he shouldn't have to work there. Give the money to Stanford or something.
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  Why on earth would you advocate giving the administrators what they want and depriving Berkeley math students of their one exceptional professor--a professor that they clearly need more than better-supplied students elsewhere?
  - studentrob 11y ago
    Depends where the root of the problem lies. Does this story accurately reflect the environment? And if so, is it only this department's chair who's pushing out the innovative professors? Or is the university, at a higher level, pushing out innovative teachers? If the latter then I'd agree with the above, donate elsewhere: administrators are the ones making all the decisions. It's an uphill battle to change that. Giving them money in any form won't help solve this problem. There are plenty of other institutions to support. On the other hand, there's clearly more to this story, and the school and department should be given a chance to respond before we pass judgment.
crimsonalucard 11y ago
Correcting injustice by inserting more politics doesn't solve the root of the problem.
DanBC 11y ago
Do they accept earmarked donations?
- cycomachead 11y ago
  UC Berkeley does accept earmarked donations, but there is a limit to how specific they can be. I'm not sure what that particular level is, to be clear, but I've heard it's above the "it must go to this lab / group / person" level. Scott Shenker, a CS Prof actually has an unrelated campaign right now where he'll match his student donations 10:1, so a few friends and I have been discussing some rules lately.
studentrob 11y ago
I don't see the value in that. Funds are fungible, as Colbert so aptly pointed out in his exposé of state lotteries
- moron4hire 11y ago
  Not donations. The university will either have to accept the terms or refuse the gift. I've given restricted gifts specifically imposing that the money be used on pizza for the programming team.
  - studentrob 11y ago
    Right but presumably some of the money in the existing budget for said thing can be moved around. So, say you donate $10 to Professor X's classroom and his existing budget is $50. You bumped it to $60. They can just take $10 from the existing budget and put it elsewhere. Your $10 still goes to that class, and the total goes back to $50. What you really want to know is whether the budget has increased by the amount you and others earmarked, year over year. I doubt that level of reporting is given by schools or even requested by donors. We just trust or assume that "earmarked" means the budget increased.
    - moron4hire 11y ago
      That's a very good question. I will have to ask my mother, as that is literally her business, to know such things.
      - studentrob 11y ago
        Cool, let us know what she says! Even with more transparent reporting, it'd still be possible in some cases to hide where the money is really going. There could have already been a planned budget increase, for example. Ultimately it just comes down to trust. If I don't trust the wider institution, I will not donate to a subsidiary. And with more and more schools operating like businesses these days, it's hard to know who to trust.
j2kun 11y ago
Why not just send Coward a check directly?
- runholm 11y ago
  It's not about the money, it's about sending a message.
  - j2kun 11y ago
    So why not send a message that isn't open to loopholes? Like mail them a picture of you personally giving him a check with a letter explaining why, and then post it on the internet.
- chris_wot 11y ago
  That wouldn't prevent him from being fired. If they don't allow him on the campus, it doesn't matter if he was able to work for "free".
  - j2kun 11y ago
    I don't think sending the university a check would prevent him from being fired either, if the university really wanted to make a point of it.
zhte415 11y ago
This sounds like a terrible idea that can be easily abused. To distill, it amounts to 'get this donation because I'm happy with your work' which is great, until incentives get involved. A parent giving an incentive? A student from a wealthy family giving a kick-back as preferential treatment has been given to them to start a research career? Following a research interest and de-prioritising others? The conflicts of interests are clear and exist and impact today.
- retbull 11y ago
  It is already possible. Doing this doesn't make it more or less likely to be abused.

hugh4 11y ago

If he's really that great, and if everything he says about the rest of the department is true, then he shouldn't have to work there. Give the money to Stanford or something.

PhasmaFelis 11y ago
Why on earth would you advocate giving the administrators what they want and depriving Berkeley math students of their one exceptional professor--a professor that they clearly need more than better-supplied students elsewhere?
- studentrob 11y ago
  Depends where the root of the problem lies. Does this story accurately reflect the environment? And if so, is it only this department's chair who's pushing out the innovative professors? Or is the university, at a higher level, pushing out innovative teachers? If the latter then I'd agree with the above, donate elsewhere: administrators are the ones making all the decisions. It's an uphill battle to change that. Giving them money in any form won't help solve this problem. There are plenty of other institutions to support. On the other hand, there's clearly more to this story, and the school and department should be given a chance to respond before we pass judgment.

crimsonalucard 11y ago

Correcting injustice by inserting more politics doesn't solve the root of the problem.

DanBC 11y ago

Do they accept earmarked donations?

cycomachead 11y ago
UC Berkeley does accept earmarked donations, but there is a limit to how specific they can be. I'm not sure what that particular level is, to be clear, but I've heard it's above the "it must go to this lab / group / person" level. Scott Shenker, a CS Prof actually has an unrelated campaign right now where he'll match his student donations 10:1, so a few friends and I have been discussing some rules lately.

studentrob 11y ago

I don't see the value in that. Funds are fungible, as Colbert so aptly pointed out in his exposé of state lotteries

moron4hire 11y ago
Not donations. The university will either have to accept the terms or refuse the gift. I've given restricted gifts specifically imposing that the money be used on pizza for the programming team.
- studentrob 11y ago
  Right but presumably some of the money in the existing budget for said thing can be moved around. So, say you donate $10 to Professor X's classroom and his existing budget is $50. You bumped it to $60. They can just take $10 from the existing budget and put it elsewhere. Your $10 still goes to that class, and the total goes back to $50. What you really want to know is whether the budget has increased by the amount you and others earmarked, year over year. I doubt that level of reporting is given by schools or even requested by donors. We just trust or assume that "earmarked" means the budget increased.
  - moron4hire 11y ago
    That's a very good question. I will have to ask my mother, as that is literally her business, to know such things.
    - studentrob 11y ago
      Cool, let us know what she says! Even with more transparent reporting, it'd still be possible in some cases to hide where the money is really going. There could have already been a planned budget increase, for example. Ultimately it just comes down to trust. If I don't trust the wider institution, I will not donate to a subsidiary. And with more and more schools operating like businesses these days, it's hard to know who to trust.

j2kun 11y ago

Why not just send Coward a check directly?

runholm 11y ago
It's not about the money, it's about sending a message.
- j2kun 11y ago
  So why not send a message that isn't open to loopholes? Like mail them a picture of you personally giving him a check with a letter explaining why, and then post it on the internet.
chris_wot 11y ago
That wouldn't prevent him from being fired. If they don't allow him on the campus, it doesn't matter if he was able to work for "free".
- j2kun 11y ago
  I don't think sending the university a check would prevent him from being fired either, if the university really wanted to make a point of it.

zhte415 11y ago

This sounds like a terrible idea that can be easily abused. To distill, it amounts to 'get this donation because I'm happy with your work' which is great, until incentives get involved. A parent giving an incentive? A student from a wealthy family giving a kick-back as preferential treatment has been given to them to start a research career? Following a research interest and de-prioritising others? The conflicts of interests are clear and exist and impact today.

retbull 11y ago
It is already possible. Doing this doesn't make it more or less likely to be abused.