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False dilemma. They could make the first floor have food courts and gyms, while having windows or simply not having a 97 year old billionaire donor dictate tast

False dilemma. They could make the first floor have food courts and gyms, while having windows or simply not having a 97 year old billionaire donor dictate taste with zero input just because money. You are assuming a lot about whether the safety designs exist, or are adequate.

yaacov 5y ago
> just because money Money is really important, probably the single most important constraint for state universities.
- vmception 5y ago
  yes, I understand the perverse incentives that led to greenlighting this. its also not an excuse. they should reject the $200 million donation and hope Munger sends another with no restrictions. that's where we are at.
  - indymike 5y ago
    Maybe build the $200M dorm instead of the $2B dorm?
- falcolas 5y ago
  His money represents less than 10% of the final cost of the dorm, while retaining 100% of the design rights. Something's happening here that's more than just the money.
  - throwaway75787 5y ago
    No, it's just the money. It's just the perverse disconnect between the wealthy, and those just trying to get by. It's Mr. Burns hanging a "you're here forever" sign, or Kanye West ranting about his napkin design for the iPlane in the Oval Office while dropping a few "motherfucker"s.
ajross 5y ago
> You are assuming a lot about whether the safety designs exist, or are adequate. Uh, yes. Because there are laws governing how we can construct buildings in a safe way, and on the whole (c.f. the number of deaths in building fires over time) they work well. So I trust them. As far as the putative logic flaw, I don't see it. Everything is a tradeoff, even "because money". Saving money on the dorm means lower tuition, more scholarships, more facilities elsewhere, maybe a few new endowed professorships, etc...
- lazide 5y ago
  Lol - I have yet to see any cost savings passed through as lower tuition. More budget for sports, more administrator salaries, MAYBE an endowment but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. This is just squeezing the undergrads to feed the rest of the machine more efficiently.
- vmception 5y ago
  You're assuming those laws are adequate. I wrote that the first time. It's a bad idea, you trust them just because the catastrophes haven't happened. For the next few weeks in your day to day, look at how many emergency exits are disarmed or blocked or locked, look at how many other inspectable things just aren't inspected, like when the last elevator inspection occurred on the ones you use. We're trying to save people that trust the system too much. Let me know if you know any people like that.
  - ajross 5y ago
    > You're assuming those laws are adequate. This is getting toward conspiracy theory territory. It's... a building code. Yes. Yes, I tend to trust building codes that have been keeping all of us safe in our homes and offices for the better part of a century. If building codes don't work, then where are the disasters in all the other buildings? You're saying that every other building in the USA in the 20th century "just happened" to be built safely, despite a thousand year history of terrible urban fires, and that regulation had nothing to do with it?
    - 5y ago

yaacov 5y ago

> just because money Money is really important, probably the single most important constraint for state universities.

vmception 5y ago
yes, I understand the perverse incentives that led to greenlighting this. its also not an excuse. they should reject the $200 million donation and hope Munger sends another with no restrictions. that's where we are at.
- indymike 5y ago
  Maybe build the $200M dorm instead of the $2B dorm?
falcolas 5y ago
His money represents less than 10% of the final cost of the dorm, while retaining 100% of the design rights. Something's happening here that's more than just the money.
- throwaway75787 5y ago
  No, it's just the money. It's just the perverse disconnect between the wealthy, and those just trying to get by. It's Mr. Burns hanging a "you're here forever" sign, or Kanye West ranting about his napkin design for the iPlane in the Oval Office while dropping a few "motherfucker"s.

ajross 5y ago

> You are assuming a lot about whether the safety designs exist, or are adequate. Uh, yes. Because there are laws governing how we can construct buildings in a safe way, and on the whole (c.f. the number of deaths in building fires over time) they work well. So I trust them. As far as the putative logic flaw, I don't see it. Everything is a tradeoff, even "because money". Saving money on the dorm means lower tuition, more scholarships, more facilities elsewhere, maybe a few new endowed professorships, etc...

lazide 5y ago
Lol - I have yet to see any cost savings passed through as lower tuition. More budget for sports, more administrator salaries, MAYBE an endowment but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. This is just squeezing the undergrads to feed the rest of the machine more efficiently.
vmception 5y ago
You're assuming those laws are adequate. I wrote that the first time. It's a bad idea, you trust them just because the catastrophes haven't happened. For the next few weeks in your day to day, look at how many emergency exits are disarmed or blocked or locked, look at how many other inspectable things just aren't inspected, like when the last elevator inspection occurred on the ones you use. We're trying to save people that trust the system too much. Let me know if you know any people like that.
- ajross 5y ago
  > You're assuming those laws are adequate. This is getting toward conspiracy theory territory. It's... a building code. Yes. Yes, I tend to trust building codes that have been keeping all of us safe in our homes and offices for the better part of a century. If building codes don't work, then where are the disasters in all the other buildings? You're saying that every other building in the USA in the 20th century "just happened" to be built safely, despite a thousand year history of terrible urban fires, and that regulation had nothing to do with it?
  - 5y ago