3 ms·

I don't agree. Both of these things are bribery. You are using money to buy an advantage. The only difference is who gets paid. Donations are currently conside

by ohazi 7y ago

I don't agree. Both of these things are bribery. You are using money to buy an advantage. The only difference is who gets paid. Donations are currently considered an acceptable form of bribery because the universities have spent decades crafting the narrative that a donation doesn't actually affect an applicant's prospects. But this is plainly not true. If you want to have a moral leg to stand on with your distinction, we should require universities to be transparent about which donations are buying spots for which students.

briandear 7y ago
> You are using money to buy an advantage. In a state school, it's obvious that this is wrong since this would be a violation of equal protection. However, I'm not sure I understand what is wrong about buying an advantage at a private school. Does a private school have some statutory responsibility to be "fair?" Does anyone have an inherent right to go to a private school? Sure, we're supposed to be outraged and pretend we are angry about a rich person getting accepted to Harvard because their mom donated $10 million towards a new medical library -- but is that really unfair or unjust? Is the rich kid going to Harvard preventing the poor kid from going to UMass? If you donate millions to a school, shouldn't that earn you the right to go there? You're literally paying for the school to exist. We could make this more fair though by ending tax exemptions for universities (specifically their endowments.) If they are to benefit from public subsidization, then there is at least some moral obligation to serve society a bit more fairly than they do now. It is quite unfair that one can donate $10 million to Harvard, enjoy the tax deduction from the charitable donation and, at the same time, receive a financially valuable benefit of your child's admission into the school. It would be like me donating a tax-deductible $10 million to an airport and my child getting free Gulfstream flights for four years as an untaxed benefit. If we eliminate the tax exemption, then there's no conflict of interest -- now, it's just a business transaction rather than a business transaction masquerading as philanthropy.
egdod 7y ago
This is a bit tautological, but the definition of bribery includes doing something that’s illegal. If donations to a school—along with the expectation of advantage—aren’t illegal, then it isn’t bribery.

by ohazi 7y ago

briandear 7y ago

> You are using money to buy an advantage. In a state school, it's obvious that this is wrong since this would be a violation of equal protection. However, I'm not sure I understand what is wrong about buying an advantage at a private school. Does a private school have some statutory responsibility to be "fair?" Does anyone have an inherent right to go to a private school? Sure, we're supposed to be outraged and pretend we are angry about a rich person getting accepted to Harvard because their mom donated $10 million towards a new medical library -- but is that really unfair or unjust? Is the rich kid going to Harvard preventing the poor kid from going to UMass? If you donate millions to a school, shouldn't that earn you the right to go there? You're literally paying for the school to exist. We could make this more fair though by ending tax exemptions for universities (specifically their endowments.) If they are to benefit from public subsidization, then there is at least some moral obligation to serve society a bit more fairly than they do now. It is quite unfair that one can donate $10 million to Harvard, enjoy the tax deduction from the charitable donation and, at the same time, receive a financially valuable benefit of your child's admission into the school. It would be like me donating a tax-deductible $10 million to an airport and my child getting free Gulfstream flights for four years as an untaxed benefit. If we eliminate the tax exemption, then there's no conflict of interest -- now, it's just a business transaction rather than a business transaction masquerading as philanthropy.

egdod 7y ago

This is a bit tautological, but the definition of bribery includes doing something that’s illegal. If donations to a school—along with the expectation of advantage—aren’t illegal, then it isn’t bribery.