> Yes -- that big donation was exactly the thumb GP is talking about. :) It came from / was organized by Bloomberg, who seems to have had a strong preference f

> Yes -- that big donation was exactly the thumb GP is talking about. :) It came from / was organized by Bloomberg, who seems to have had a strong preference for a NY school. First, Bloomberg himself didn't choose the winner; he was detached from the competitive process. Bloomberg launched the competition and also later donated money to the winner (Cornell), but those were separate events. Second, Bloomberg himself appeared in a promotional video that was campaigning for Stanford. I don't know where the idea that Bloomberg had a strong preference for an upstate NY school comes from (especially since the other finalist - Columbia University - was already based in New York City).