10/22/2011: Want to know how much the Oregon State University Foundation gets in donations for athletics? No problem, check page 16 of the the Council for Aid to Education’s “Voluntary Support of Education” survey for OSU, 2011:
Want to know how much the UO Foundation gets? Too bad, they leave that part of their survey totally blank. I asked their CEO Paul Weinhold if they would agree to start reporting this. His answer? “No.”
What are they hiding? They do release data on the subset of giving that is for current operations (i.e. not endowments or buildings). No surprise, more and more of that goes to athletics:
This is part of the scandal of private giving at UO (and most other universities) — huge annual donations, much of it to athletics, but of the rest, little goes to actual operations or directly academic activities.
Tuition increases are coming under increasing attack, part of the answer is to reorient the mindset of private donors (to support operations).
Another thing that has to change: the constant erection of new buildings, often of dubious usefulness. Examples: the jock box, the alumni center.
My latest favorite: the proposed performance center, for which the very generous Bach Festival patrons, the Berwicks, donated $10 million, which I believe is only seed money.
But look what this will buy: a center that may not be used that much, right in the heart of campus (taking up prime academic space, which is rapdily running out), and in the area of the student center to boot (the students aren’t exactly known for their patronage of Bach after the end of ths school year).
When that $10 million could go to guarantee the future of the Bach Festival (via endowmnet), at a time when said future is open to serious doubt (the world economy, the graying of the classical music audience, of which I am most definitely part).