I’d guess that just about every generation of alumni has bemoaned the values of current students, but in some cases schools are feeling the pinch. Princeton is always a leader in alumni contributions, but, the article notes, “At Princeton, where protesters unsuccessfully demanded the removal of Woodrow Wilson’s name from university buildings and programs, undergraduate alumni donations dropped 6.6 percent from a record high the year before, and participation dropped 1.9 percentage points.”
While the article doesn’t demonstrate a connection between the activism and reduction in donations, they do cite some examples at other schools. They don’t really present enough data to connect the dots, IMO.
I also wonder about whether the enormous donations from the super-rich discourage smaller donors. These days, multi-billion dollar fundraising goals are common. And when a hedge fund billionaire kicks in a few hundred million, do alums of mosdest means decide their $100 or even $1,000 is just a rounding error and not worth bothering with? That hundred bucks won’t mean much to the school, but keeping that alum engaged as an annual donor could pay off in a much bigger way when he/she sells a company or leaves a bequest.
To be fair, Yale’s alumni also see the astronomical endowment performance (a bad problem, right?) and figure – what’s my donation going to do? This (and some of the controversies mentioned in the article) certainly hasn’t made Yale appeals for alumni money very compelling.
I think college IS the place to challenge…and every decade of students has selected their particular social interactions to challenge, however, I cannot tolerate the inability of administrations and students and some extent society today that will not and cannot tolerate dissent without requisite shaming, blaming and name calling or worse administrations that turn the cheek for fear of offending just about anyone. It’s abit like the pot calling the kettle black and shows a shocklngly low ability to exercise critical thinking skills not to mention a scary intolerance to anything that makes one uncomfortable.
These colleges and universities sought diversity, they sought and perpetuated gender equality, they combed the country looking for students to mix it up. They created their own somewhat benign dystopia. Not a bad thing necessarily, but fertile ground for what is happening on primarily elite campuses.
I have frequently wondered about this as well. I think the answer is probably no. At the same time, it seems like if a school is lucky enough to get such a super-donation, that donor should borrow a page from other fund-raising campaigns and make it contingent on matching contributions (in sum, obviously) from the hoi polloi. Then the school could paint a fantastic picture of a giant leap forward, etc.
To address the topic itself, I think it probably does have an effect, although I agree that being down a few percent from a record year proves nothing. But if I were a Columbia grad, for example, I think I would have had to seriously rethink donating after the way they handled that whole mattress incident. But I also think it would have to be a pattern. One thing probably wouldn’t be enough.
Re: “Students are too wrapped up in racial and identity politics.”
How is that different from a generation ago?
Indeed, racial and identity politics seems to have grown greatly in prominence over the last year among the overall population (not just college students or minorities).
I would argue that a lot of these kids don’t really understand what they are protesting, nor do they understand the ramifications of their protests. Many, I would imagine, are protesting because it’s the cool thing to do these days, and they can get some sweet selfies/status updates to post on facebook and instagram.
There are some things worth protesting for, and then there are some things that are just flat out ridiculous.
It strikes me as grumpy old people who’ve forgotten what it was like to be young themselves. Oh our protests and issues were important but these kids are spoiled, don’t understand, aren’t as serious…whatever. We see it every generation, it seems.
On August 1st a letter by Cullen Murphy, chair of the College’s board of trustees, appeared on Amherst’s web site and it accurately reflects what my D told me about the events as she experienced them.
Plenty of colleges survived and thrived after the protests of the 70’s. There may be many reasons for an apparent drop numbers giving. It;s too soon to even know the fiscal 2016 final results. But Golly!, some guy cut his alma mater out of his will…
I don’t agree, OHMom. Some of the protests now are about the very people who provided the buildings and scholarships the current students are using. They aren’t protesting policies or causes, they are protesting people, and often dead people whose history can’t be changed. Do we see big protests by those receiving the Jefferson scholarships that Old Tom was a slave owner and had many children with slave women, and so therefore the students awarded the scholarships don’t want the money because it is tainted?
The alums are protesting back with their pocketbooks. That’s their right.
It is not just college campuses where politics in general is getting angrier, nor has the increase in racial and identity politics in the last year been confined to college campuses and minorities.