Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day

Karen Gross 02/09/2019 6

Happy Labor Day, recognising that for many, this is not a holiday but a work day. Best wishes for you and yours on Labor Day when we honour all workers.

Everything you do contributes to our economic system. 

I just read an article on donations to colleges and universities and how they failed to vet the source of donations — namely from Jeffrey Epstein.

The Higher Education Times said anonymity was an approach although not fully protective.

Here are 3 thoughts:

1. How carefully ARE donations actually vetted in real life on campuses? Sure, smaller colleges can vet more, and big donations stand out everywhere as worthy of vetting. But how much money comes in from sources that, if we looked, would be deemed institutionally unacceptable?

2. Cozying up to donors is a big part of fundraising. So didn’t these institutions meet and stay in touch w/ Epstein? Harvard said it isn’t returning the $$ it got. Is that because it was received before convictions? Didn’t Harvard send updates/reports to him? Couldn’t Harvard show some grace and donate an identical amount to fund for his victims? Ok: just return it.

3. Wouldn’t it be easy to fool a college/university as to a donation’s source? Just create layers. Now ask: Is Sackler money being returned or just new $$ not bring taken by educational institutions?

I’d say we need to do more thinking about donor source. Honorary Degrees too.

Share this article

Leave your comments

Post comment as a guest

0
terms and condition.
  • Suzanne Williams

    Happy Labor Day !!!

  • Matthew Ratcliffe

    Dear universities, please focus more on education

  • Sarah Anderson

    Everything is rigged

  • Lee Gradwell

    Give me an honorary degree from Harvard

  • Tom Jackson

    Happy Labor Day everyone

  • Marie Baxter

    They don't care about the donor source, they just want the money :(

Share this article

Karen Gross

Higher Education Expert

Karen is an educator and an author. Prior to becoming a college president, she was a tenured law professor for two plus decades. Her academic areas of expertise include trauma, toxic stress, consumer finance, overindebtedness and asset building in low income communities. She currently serves as Senior Counsel at Finn Partners Company. From 2011 to 2013, She served (part and full time) as Senior Policy Advisor to the US Department of Education in Washington, DC. She was the Department's representative on the interagency task force charged with redesigning the transition assistance program for returning service members and their families. From 2006 to 2014, she was President of Southern Vermont College, a small, private, affordable, four-year college located in Bennington, VT. In Spring 2016, she was a visiting faculty member at Bennington College in VT. She also teaches part-time st Molly Stark Elementary School, also in Vt. She is also an Affiliate of the Penn Center for MSIs. She is the author of adult and children’s books, the most recent of which are titled Breakaway Learners (adult) and  Lucy’s Dragon Quest. Karen holds a bachelor degree in English and Spanish from Smith College and Juris Doctor degree (JD) in Law from Temple University - James E. Beasley School of Law.

   
Save
Cookies user prefences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Read more
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline