4 ms·
I was at MIT over 50 years ago. I used to give them money, not a huge amount, but enough to create what has become a permanent endowment under my name. However
by todd8 4y ago
I was at MIT over 50 years ago. I used to give them money, not a huge amount, but enough to create what has become a permanent endowment under my name. However years ago, I had lunch with the then president of MIT and realized that MIT had changed. It was no longer the MIT I experienced. The student body was different, and clearly, they had tweaked the knobs and selected for a different profile of student.
It made me sad because I remember my fellow students, some rich, some poor, some from Philips Exeter, some like me from inner city Detroit schools, some from Asia some from Southern California. The thing was though, they weren't at all well rounded, the very trait that the president seemed so proud of in the current student body.
My classmates were eccentric, creative, nerdy, and most of all so intelligent. My math classes were full of genuses and savants. I still remember a fellow student in my second semester real analysis class (prerequisite chain was five semester long to get into the class: 1yr Calc -> 1 Semester DiffEq -> 1st semester real analysis -> 1 semester complex analysis); he was a Freshman and the best student in the class. Was he well rounded? I don't think so, but he was good at pinball and math.
Then the tragic Aaron Swartz affair.
They didn't sign the Chicago Letter [1].
I started meeting other MIT alumni that are disappointed with the direction MIT went as well.
Every year they still call me asking for more money.
Take back MIT. [2]
[1] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/29/u-chicago-letter-new-students-safe-spaces-sets-intense-debate https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/29/u-chicago-let...
[2] https://youtu.be/ZK5r9OZ73Xg https://youtu.be/ZK5r9OZ73Xg
- angrais 4y agoWhat do you gain by donating money to the university? Is there a tax break for such donations? What good came out of your donations? Is there traceability and accountability of each dollar donated? I ask as I simply cannot fathom donating money to a university where the overarching aim is often to make money.
- todd8 4y agoI understand what you are saying. Back then, I felt that donating money to a research University would indirectly provide benefits to the entire world by accelerating the advancement of science and technology. Like other charitable contributions in the US, it is tax deductible. What that means is donating $100,000 has an after tax cost of around $50,000 depending upon one's tax bracket. Yes there is accountability, and I usually receive a nice note from a couple of the undergraduates that have their undergraduate research projects funded by my modest endowment.