3 ms·

I feel like part of the story is missing because I have trouble imagining that UC couldn't easily find someone to head the institute. I would think that gettin

I feel like part of the story is missing because I have trouble imagining that UC couldn't easily find someone to head the institute. I would think that getting to head a well-endowed institute for a top-3 university would be one of the few steps up a Harvard professor could make--and then to have trouble even filling other tenured professorships? Are the Pearsons notoriously difficult people? Was there a perception or whisper campaign that the institute wouldn't be as academically free or rigorous as advertised? Was Diermeier maneuvering behind the scenes to torpedo the institute? I get the sense that a lot of the story is still hidden.

cstejerean 9y ago
dahdum said it best in another comment: “doesn't seem like UChicago was very interested in actually running the institute as much as sticking it with operating expenses and doing the bare minimum.”
dbcooper 9y ago
According to the article, this isn't the first time they've done this: >The Pearsons are no strangers to lawsuits regarding their philanthropic contributions. In 2011, Thomas Pearson sued Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, his father’s alma mater, alleging that a $1.2 million gift made in their name to the Methodist seminary had been misused. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ultimately ruled that the Seminary had respected the terms of the contract and dismissed all of the Pearsons’ claims. My hunch is that they grossly overestimated what a political science department could do to "reduce conflict around the globe".
- ataturk 9y ago
  I can't see how anyone with any shred of Protestant Christian values could successfully do business with today's higher education, especially given their favor for Islam and other destructive cults. They are diametrically opposed in worldview and what they aim to accomplish. It was an echo chamber when I was in grad school in the late '90s and early '00s. I can't even imagine what it must be like for anyone trying to think for themselves today. Campus Republicans have been run off or pushed into hiding by modern-day Brownshirts, all the while those Brownshirts denying that they are acting as violent thugs in order to silence ideas that have been around since Martin Luther bravely stood up to the Catholics.

cstejerean 9y ago

dahdum said it best in another comment: “doesn't seem like UChicago was very interested in actually running the institute as much as sticking it with operating expenses and doing the bare minimum.”

dbcooper 9y ago

According to the article, this isn't the first time they've done this: >The Pearsons are no strangers to lawsuits regarding their philanthropic contributions. In 2011, Thomas Pearson sued Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, his father’s alma mater, alleging that a $1.2 million gift made in their name to the Methodist seminary had been misused. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ultimately ruled that the Seminary had respected the terms of the contract and dismissed all of the Pearsons’ claims. My hunch is that they grossly overestimated what a political science department could do to "reduce conflict around the globe".

ataturk 9y ago
I can't see how anyone with any shred of Protestant Christian values could successfully do business with today's higher education, especially given their favor for Islam and other destructive cults. They are diametrically opposed in worldview and what they aim to accomplish. It was an echo chamber when I was in grad school in the late '90s and early '00s. I can't even imagine what it must be like for anyone trying to think for themselves today. Campus Republicans have been run off or pushed into hiding by modern-day Brownshirts, all the while those Brownshirts denying that they are acting as violent thugs in order to silence ideas that have been around since Martin Luther bravely stood up to the Catholics.