14:10 in the video
Chancellor also mentioned an investment of 30 million in creating 30 more chairs for distinguished faculty
https://giving.vanderbilt.edu/chair-challenge.php
Yes, it is philanthrophy driven because it is kind of tough to throw 30 mill outright to something like that. Hopefully, he has another capital campaign planned and funds yielded from it can just contribute and be matched by VU more easily (because they will have also increased the endowment). Now is a good time to do that because of the reason mentioned in the website. Better to get established faculty if possible (and maybe grant them tenure immediately) than recruit tenure track faculty that may struggle in the upcoming funding environment, which may be tough.
Honestly. That stuff and other things should be more important than the yield being 47% or whatever. Admissions should be irrelevant at this point. The changes he mentioned making for the students that yield and of course the faculty that instruct and mentor are the most important things to make the place more on par with some other peers (the higher tiered ones, not the near ranked ones) beyond admissions stats. I know students fall in love with admissions stats and it makes them feel good about themselves, but students should really pay attention to and participate in all of that other stuff as it is very important for the health of the university (and students paying attention is a bigger sign of health as well).
You would be surprised of the effect of simply strengthening the library special collections on something like undergraduate education of all things (more, usually social sciences and humanities instructors will incorporate their use into their undergraduate courses. And as a person lucky enough to experience it in a freshman English class, I must say it is really neat and makes a class richer than just reading the regular assigned books or textbooks, especially when you look at an original copy of the text).
BTW: Zeppos is an excellent, exciting speaker (usually many university presidents sound like boring robotic politicians).
I like Zeppos. He is a visionary and try leader.