<p>My recollection is that Lee Bass wanted Yale to establish a course in Western Civ, which Yale was happy to do, but that he wanted to have more say in what would be in it and who would teach it. Normally, universities balk at having donors dictate academic decisions (such as hiring a particaly prof), and Yale decided that it would be better to return the money than having Mr. Bass intervene in academic decisions.</p>
<p>I think this may depend on the school. The prof I work with at JHU was recently honored as chaired professor for a newly endowed chair funded by the children of an alumnus (son was also an alum). The family was not "told" who would be the recipient, they were included in the decision.</p>
<p>Of course mechanical engineering isn't particularly prone to controversial interpretations of the material, unlike the teaching of Western Civ at Yale, which has been critiqued by a much superior mind to mine...;)</p>
<p>Wyogal:</p>
<p>It's easier to give a chair to a prof who is already at the university. Controversies usually arise when a chair is created in a new field and profs need to be hired from outside. I know of universities that turned down big money because donors wanted particular profs or profs with particular political views to be hired. </p>
<p>And now, for something current:</p>
<p>Three BC professors under fire
A conservative Catholic watchdog group wants three academics removed from the Boston College campus for perpetuating "a culture of death." (AP)</p>
<p>Lee Bass shared Donald Kagan's concern that Western Civ was being given short shrift at Yale compared to new multicultural and victimization courses of study. And who would know that situation better than Kagan? So he donated money to Yale to reinforce Western Civ studies. Three years later, with faculty members still dithering over how to reconcile traditional western civ with victimization studies, he took his money back. It overstates things considerably to say he demanded veto power over curricula or specific faculty members, but he did expect that someone like Kagan would be allowed to bolster the discipline as he (Kagan) saw fit, and that Kagan would largely agree with the Bass POV.</p>
<p>From the article cited by Driver:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Mr. Lee Bass of Fort Worth does not give out information, but one gathers that he then advised Yale that he should be consulted on whom the money was going to be spent on. For instance, feeling as he did on the question, he would not want to learn that a Marxist had been hired to teach the experiences of Greece and Rome or, for that matter, those of Elizabethan England and the Continent.</p>
<p>A couple of hectic months went by and finally Yale announced that it was returning the gift to Mr. Bass -- on the grounds that a university can't demean itself by agreeing to consult an outsider on the qualifications of its faculty.</p>
<p>But of course, the donor had no intention of passing on the academic qualifications of the Bass professors. He wasn't about to suggest that Yale hire a couple of people from the National Association of Manufacturers. But he did want professors who would acknowledge the achievements of Western Civ.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Suppose a donor came forward to fund a chair in Islamic studies (much needed in this country) but demanded that the prof "largely agree with the [donor's] POV", should the university accept it? I would not have had any problem with a Western Civ course devised by Kagan; indeed, had I been a student at Yale and it was offered, I would have leapt at the opportunity to take such a course. But the principles at stake go beyond Western Civ or Donald Kagan.</p>
<p>When I hear of kids who basicallly, and we have to admit it, bought their way into college, through daddy's dollars, and being just average students, with medicore scores, graduating with honors, call me a cynic, but I wonder...I often hear of grade inflation...happpens with athletes, why not with development admits...maybe she earned everything she got, honors and grades, but, I would wonder.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Suppose a donor came forward to fund a chair in Islamic studies (much needed in this country) but demanded that the prof "largely agree with the [donor's] POV", should the university accept it?
[/quote]
An excellent question. When we were visiting Yale in 2002-2003, much was being made of all that Yale was going to be able to do with a $500 million bequest from the Saudi royal family. Were there any strings? I don't know. But I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there were a few new courses that presented a particular POV re Islam and Middle-Eastern politics.</p>
<p>On a somewhat humorous (from a historical perspective) note, it's worth commenting on the number of colleges that have swimming requirements due to bereaved parents of drowned alumni who donated money contingent on the requirement (not the same thing, I realize).</p>
<p>Just because most of the people who are admitted to a school like Stanford have stellar records/grades/test scores does not mean that only students with those credentials can do the work. It's 'just' a way of differentiating when you have 10 applicants for every seat. </p>
<p>It sounds like Ms. Bass received preferential treatment in admissions, but I would think that anyone who had the advantage of a Groton education is capable of doing the work of some Stanford major. I'm guessing she did something English language based, not bio-chem or math. There's no claim or evidence that she didn't earn the grades she got at Stanford and maybe this is naieve, but it would surprise me if professors are grading development cases differentially. The only things I've read in the popular press about grade inflation apply to everyone - no single group is being written about as benefiting.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there were a few new courses that presented a particular POV re Islam and Middle-Eastern politics.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I expect that every prof has a particular POV. My S's astronomy prof did not believe in dark matter, though much has been written about it. That's okay. You don't want Prof. Milquetoast teaching your kids. What is important is that donors not seek to interject themselves into the academic process. So I hope that the Saudi money came with no string s except that it be focused on Islam and the Middle East.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So I hope that the Saudi money came with no string s except that it be focused on Islam and the Middle East.
[/quote]
I would agree, and simply point out that Kagan's POV (and that of Bass, as I understand it) was that the new program would be focused on Western Civilization studies, which Kagan felt were being neglected.</p>
<p>Well, not exactly, according to the article you cited.</p>
<p>From my cite:
[quote]
But he did want professors who would acknowledge the achievements of Western Civ.
[/quote]
From your post:
[quote]
So I hope that the Saudi money came with no string s except that it be focused on Islam and the Middle East.
[/quote]
Pretty much a distinction without a difference, assuming that the Saudis would expect that the focus on Islam would "acknowledge the achievements" thereof, and not simply focus on the negatives, which was part of Kagan's problem with the multicultural/victimization studies re Western Civ.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Mr. Lee Bass of Fort Worth does not give out information, but one gathers that he then advised Yale that he should be consulted on whom the money was going to be spent on. For instance, feeling as he did on the question, he would not want to learn that a Marxist had been hired to teach the experiences of Greece and Rome or, for that matter, those of Elizabethan England and the Continent.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There is probably more than that. Not that I think a Marxist should be in charge of such a course but it's a bit more than simply focusing on "the achievements of Western Civ." And anyway, Marx has been critiqued for idealizing Europe's feudal past.</p>
<p>"t sounds like Ms. Bass received preferential treatment in admissions, but I would think that anyone who had the advantage of a Groton education is capable of doing the work of some Stanford major"</p>
<p>I agree. At the same time, I think that her father's wealth probably opened doors for her at Groton, too, and his wealth may have also influenced the grades she received there. </p>
<p>I imagine that there probably are plenty of lower income students with stronger qualifications who weren't admitted to Groton.</p>
<p>I can only imagine how much, for instance, an extremely smart poor kid from an uneducated background who's stuck in a weak inner city or rural school would be able to accellerate their learning and truly achieve if s/he had the advantage of a place like Groton.</p>
<p>Marite, Mr. Buckley is entitled to speculate, as are we all. To borrow from him, "one would expect that Prince Fahd would not want to learn that the very distinguished scholar Daniel Pipes had been hired to teach the Palestine conflict, or that Bat Ye'Or had been hired to teach about life under Islamic rule for Christians and Jews." I think all Kagan wanted was a fair shake for our own culture--and I say "our own" deliberately.
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0838632629/qid=1124243268/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2245853-1376960?v=glance&s=books&n=507846%5B/url%5D">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0838632629/qid=1124243268/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2245853-1376960?v=glance&s=books&n=507846</a></p>
<p>I don't know what transpires in prep schools, but for colleges, frankly, I am appalled by the argument that wealth buys good grades. It's impugning prof's professional ethics to suggest that they give higher grades to either donors' kids or URMS. </p>
<p>But think of the practicalities for a minute: A college student needs to take something like 32 courses in 4 years if the college functions on a semester system. The development office would need to alert 32 different profs (and their TFs) to the identity of a student and secure their willingness to give good grades to that particular student.<br>
If you've followed the exchange between Driver and me, you'll see how unlikely profs are to play along with Development Offices. I'll bet that the development staff who worked so hard to court Lee Bass were deeply chagrined when the faculty decided they did not want to accede to his terms. Could you imagine 32 different profs being willing to give high grades to a mediocre student? </p>
<p>
[quote]
According to the article, Margaret Bass did more than hold her own at Stanford, graduating in 2002 with honors.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I have every faith that Margaret Bass earned these honors farily, without resorting to special pleading.</p>
<p>What a skillful anti-hijacking segue! I nominate Marite for CC Sky Marshall.</p>
<p>Driver:</p>
<p>I know enough about donors that some demand a much larger say in academic decisions than colleges are willing to give them. I believe the Yale faculty grappled with the issue at great length before it decided that the terms of the gift were too onerous.<br>
Not only was there the issue of content and of teaching personnel (Kagan could not be expected to teach the course forever on a yearly basis), but there was as well discussion of the appropriate place of a Westen Civ course in the curriculum. These discussions showed that the Yale faculty was far from unanimous. </p>
<p>
[quote]
"one would expect that Prince Fahd would not want to learn that the very distinguished scholar Daniel Pipes had been hired to teach the Palestine conflict, or that Bat Ye'Or had been hired to teach about life under Islamic rule for Christians and Jews."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Indeed, one would expect Prince Fahd not to like either of these scholars; and one would expect a college that was establishing Islamic studies to refuse his money if he demanded that they be eliminated from consideration, or demanded that particular scholars be appointed. I know of several cases where money was turned down precisely for reasons such as this.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I believe the Yale faculty grappled with the issue at great length before it decided that the terms of the gift were too onerous.
[/quote]
OK, hijack resumed. :) The "grappling" took nearly 4 years to complete, and the point card of the bout hasn't been made public. The fact that Bass's gift was prompted by the very famous address in defense of Western Civ by one of its most prominent scholars (Kagan) suggests to me that the bequest was made in response to the perceived attack on the wisdom of "dead white male Europeans." That a donor of such a large gift would expect sanity in the teaching of the achievements of Western Civilization seems unsurprising, but that was apparently counter to the academic zeitgeist of the late 80s/early 90s. In the early 80s, Kagan famously remarked that while he supported the idea of returning Yale to a core curriculum, in practice he would have to oppose it because of the core he felt the faculty there would enact.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.yale.edu/lt/bass/bassbrief.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/lt/bass/bassbrief.htm</a>
(I realize that the above link is to the-[gasp]-conservative student paper at Yale.) And I agree with Marite about the academic bona fides of that poor Bass girl.</p>
<p>Driver:</p>
<p>LOL. Responding to posts serially leads to some strange detours.</p>