Cornell has whored itself to donors

[Dr. Lawyer]

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Anyone notice the extreme extent to which Cornell's physical plant has been whored to the school's donors? Virtually every corner, doorjam, room, chair, and toilet in that hospital has a placard over it reading something like "The Jerome and Florence C. Schlottenstein Memorial Alcove of the Eugene A. Goldbaum Waiting Room."

Odd too, that the entire school is named after someone who would resort to some rather unbecoming tactics to get his child into an elite pre-school...

I think Joe Pesci sums it up well in Casino: "Always the dollars."

 

[DW]

yup, just call cornell a big ole donor whorehouse. haha, i noticed that too, almost as good as the "David Geffen School of Medicine (thats UCLA, right)? hey, i'll fit right in, i'm hoping a fair amount of whoring can get me an acceptance 😀

 

[indianboy]

I heart Cornell med.

P 'Not going to Cornell' ShankOut

 

[Gleevec]

Can you really blame a medical school for doing that? I cant. Money is limited and any donations are likely to be acknowledged greatly, not only for the donations themselves but the ability to entice others to donate by giving proper credit.

But I agree, its not fair, but its perfectly legal and I dont blame any med school for doing it.

 

[DW]

Originally posted by Gleevec
Can you really blame a medical school for doing that? I cant. Money is limited and any donations are likely to be acknowledged greatly, not only for the donations themselves but the ability to entice others to donate by giving proper credit.

But I agree, its not fair, but its perfectly legal and I dont blame any med school for doing it.

haha, i agree, i wasnt blaming them at least. hell i went to emory "coca cola" freaking university for undergrad, where every other building is named "woodruff" and pepsi is more or less illegal within a 5 mile radius of campus

 

[samenewme]

I think slapping some signs up is a pretty innocuous way of acknowledging donations. Changing the curriculum or suppressing research to get money would scare me. Signs don't bother me at all. I'll gladly sit on on the Fred Blumbaum toilet and wipe my behind with the Jim-bob Pruitt toilet paper if they'll give the school some money.

Actually, my library school did a fundraiser a few years back about endowing a chair. Not a chair, as in a position, but an actual chair in a newly remodeled classroom. For under $100, you could get your name on a chair. (Librarians don't have a whole lot of money). It was cute as heck and it got the classroom furnished.

 

[Dr. Lawyer]

Good points...

It's interesting though, that this is a tremendous departure from the manner in which things were named after people in the past. You actually had to achieve something, or do something noteworthy in medicine to have a plaque with your name on it in a medical school years ago.

Weill had $100 million, and Cornell wanted it = Weill Medical College of Cornell University. A much simplified process!!

 

[qweewq11]

I think that making 100 mil is rather noteworthy in itself 😀

 

[klp14]

Cornell med school takes the money and runs, but there's a story that Adolf Coors offered to build a brand new stadium and sports complex on the undergrad campus a few years ago. His only request - they be allowed to sell beer (Coors products, obviously) at the games. Cornell said no and the Crescent is still a crappy stadium with a crappy football team and no beer to make it look better.
🙄

 

[goredsox]

They should dedicate something to me for my application fee.

🙄

 

[gower]

Every college, university and professional school does that.

The only alternative is to downsize and to increase tuition to unacceptable levels for fewer students. At that point, only students from affluent families will afford an education, and their children will become "legacies", bringing back the good old days when a university education and a medical education were only for the elite. It did have the positive effect of keeping the rabble out and the Devil take the rest.

Economics, history and sociology ought to be a required courses for every college student everywhere, especially for premedical students.

So donors get their recognition, you get a subsidized medical education. Seems like a good tradeoff to me.

Of course, another way out is for all universities and medical schools , except a few for the elite and wealthy, to be public, supported entirely by governments--Federal, State and local-- from taxpayer money. This how most of the rest of the world supports education, from grade school to medical school.

How awful: socialism! Here's an idea: Why don't we get wealthy donors to contribute money in exchange for their names on doors, toilets, universities, et al?

After establishing your medical practices, why not give something back? Endow premedical and medical school scholarships which carry your names. Or if you prefer, make the scholarships anonymous.

Has anyone of you ever refused a scholarship because it carried the name of a donor who established the award? "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Familiar?

 

[klp14]

Originally posted by gower
So donors get their recognition, you get a subsidized medical education.

Since when is $40K/year subsidized?

 

[geneman]

Originally posted by DW
haha, i agree, i wasnt blaming them at least. hell i went to emory "coca cola" freaking university for undergrad, where every other building is named "woodruff" and pepsi is more or less illegal within a 5 mile radius of campus

So the future marketer in me is curious, having gone through Coke U., which do you like more, Coca Cola or Pepsi?

 

[Iron Horse]

Originally posted by gower

The only alternative is to downsize and to increase tuition to unacceptable levels for fewer students. At that point, only students from affluent families will afford an education, and their children will become "legacies", bringing back the good old days when a university education and a medical education were only for the elite. It did have the positive effect of keeping the rabble out and the Devil take the rest.

Economics, history and sociology ought to be a required courses for every college student everywhere, especially for premedical students.

Actually tuition increases are not a sound alternative. Tuition comprises anywhere from less than 1% to 6% of the total budget for medical schools. It's a dirty little fact that med schools don't want students and families to know since tuition hikes are routine and place a disproportionately unfair burden on students without translating into big impact on the overall budget. It's easy to do though since demand is great (for admission) and most are unaware of the hard budgetary numbers.

 

[Iffy premed]

I went to a university that whored itself to all Coke products possible
I think we were the first ones to drink Dasani, Coke's purified water. and I am still drinking it after graduating
the slow brainwashing is working...
after 4 years of drinking something, everything else tastes weird

 

[Random Access]

Originally posted by klp14
Since when is $40K/year subsidized?

$40K a year is subsidized. I'm pretty sure actual costs of educating a med student are much higher (at least $60-80K if not more). (N.B. CalTech spends about $64K per student for undergrad--that was the USNews figure a few years ago)