Why the UW can not compete with other school’s private parts.
The UW is among the top 20 Universities in the world. That is a huge boon to our state. Staying on the rank for the long term is very hard to do unless state and federal polices change. If our state wants to keep this asset, it needs to rethink the way it suports the UW and focus more on buiding an endowment that will maintain our ability to compete.
We compete in the US with the elite “private” schools. Those schools are not really private. They all depend on federal funding for their huge research endeavors. Moreover, unlike the UW, Harvard and its peers do not bear the cost of educating huge numbers of undergraduates. Huge private endowments vastly make up for any deficit in the meagre annual State contributions to the UW’s budget. Moreover, those State funds are largely spent on educatin
g the many students in ways that while valid in their own ways ,do not contribute to this global stature.
The advantage of the elite schools is reinforced by the tax free standing of their donors. Where the UW alumna get their kicks spending tad free dollars ononey that subsidize our all too professional football efforts, alums at the elite schools add to the endowments that suport the school’s elite status. Look at these three recent gifts to my alma mater, Harvard:
Hansjörg Wyss Doubles his Gift
Hansjörg Wyss MBA ’65 has donated a second gift of $125 million to further advance the pioneering work of the the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. In 2009, Wyss donated $125 million when he founded the institute.
$50M Gift from the Blavatnik Family Foundation
The Blavatnik Family Foundation, headed by Len Blavatnik, MBA ’89, has donated $50 million to Harvard University. The gift will launch a major initiative to expedite the development of basic science discoveries into new breakthrough therapies for patients and cures for disease.
Radcliffe Gymnasium Renamed Knafel Center
At a celebratory event on Wednesday, the Radcliffe Gymnasium was renamed the Knafel Center in honor of Sidney R. Knafel ’52, MBA ’54, and in recognition of the center’s increasing role in promoting intellectual exchange across Harvard’s Schools and with the public.