Harvard got a new president, Lawrence Bacow, on July 1, arriving as we are grapple with inequality as a nation. In the June issue of The Atlantic, Matthew Stewart wrote about the new aristocracy. They aren’t the plutocrats who control 0.1% of American wealth, but rather the aristocrats who control the next 9.9%. That would include me, and a lot of other financial types.
I have two proposals that might make a difference. First, Bacow should announce that Harvard is taking a sabbatical from fundraising. Second , if you went to a university with an endowment of, let’s say, $2 billion or more, you shouldn’t give money to that university.
I’m a happy alumna of two fancy schools, Northwestern University (endowment, $10 billion, according to the 2017 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments) and the University of Chicago (endowment, $7.5 billion). Northwestern gave me a tremendous education, and I am friends to this day with many of the amazing people I went there. I am still floored to have been accepted into Chicago’s community of scholars. Other than occasional token gifts, I don’t give money to either campus. Both schools have a strong place in my heart, but they don’t need a place in my wallet.
Instead, my husband and I direct our charitable contributions to the University of Illinois in Chicago (endowment, $318 million), where I teach as an adjunct. Many students there are juggling families and jobs in addition to college, and issues at the state level have reduced financial aid and funding. UIC students are talented and ambitious. They want to make a difference in the world, and yet we as a society seem hell-bent on denying them opportunity.
Northwestern and Chicago, rich are they are, have nowhere near the funds of Harvard University (endowment, $36 billion). Harvard may not have more money than God, but it does have more than all Catholic universities combined (Notre Dame, $9 billion; Boston College, $2 billion; Georgetown, $2 billion; Saint Louis University, $1 billion; Villanova, $646 million – and that running total is nowhere near Harvard’s account balance). The reality is that no university trustee will curtail fundraising until Harvard does.
I get the scorekeeping aspect of fundraising, so Harvard can lift its sabbatical when Yale University (endowment, $27 billion) within $5 billion of them.
While waiting for colleges to stop their arms race, you can make a difference with your wallet. Instead of giving money to your fancy alma mater, give it to another campus in the same spirit – to create opportunities and educational excellence. How about the public university where you grew up or where you live now?
Or, consider donating to organizations that provide scholarships and support to students from different backgrounds, such as the United Negro College Fund, the American Indian College Fund, or the Posse Foundation. Chicago’s One Million Degrees supports community college students, and Chicago Women in Trades helps people interested in apprenticeship programs. Any of these would take your money, gladly, as would similar organizations all over the country.
I admit that the decision to cut off my colleges was easy because my son had no interest in either – but if he had wanted to be a Wildcat or a Maroon, I would have increased my donations to give him a marginal advantage in admissions. Not everyone in the 9.9% has to consider legacy admissions, though. I won’t ask anyone to screw their own kid, but I will question a system that makes that an issue.
As they say, If you can’t pay it back, pay it forward. I can’t pay back the opportunities that I was given at either Northwestern or University of Chicago, but I can make sure that people in our society have greater opportunities than they have now. You can, too – and so can Lawrence Bacow.
