Phil Knight gives $400 million to a university...and it's not Oregon

Whatever he does, he will always be best remembered for being pissed on by Bowerman.

We very proud help American university teach rich smart kids more way to exploit those less fortunate.

Good for him. That's 1.8% of the Stanford endowment. Giving that money to a less rich school would totally transform the school and its students. Giving it to Stanford won't change much of anything. So nice of him to not want to disturb anyone.

Is another Twitter tirade coming from Malcolm Gladwell?

The government should tax all donations to Ivy League and private universities with an endowment over a certain $ threshold. Tax and break up the aristocracy!

Feel free to give YOUR money to a school like that...

Explain please?

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

Is another Twitter tirade coming from Malcolm Gladwell?

Thanks. Hadn't seen that.

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

http://www.businessinsider.com/malcolm-gladwell-goes-nuts-on-john-paulsons-harvard-donation-2015-6

He could have done better things with this money....like bribe with a little more sweet moulah to get them to fund the Eugene World Champs.

Think about what it could have done in places where his factories are located. Stanford needs the money to add to their $20B endowment.

Great giving Uncle Phil...way to get the most out of your donation.

Now about a free NFL stadium and team for Portland OR. Only $3 Billion donation needed.

Good for him. That's 1.8% of the Stanford endowment. Giving that money to a less rich school would totally transform the school and its students. Giving it to Stanford won't change much of anything. So nice of him to not want to disturb anyone.

I think you're missing the point. The intent is to create programs to draw students from all over the world, to a central place. Yes, technically that's giving the money to Stanford, but it's not an unrestricted gift. If it were a matter of saying "Hey, Stanford, here's $400 million for you," I'd agree with your complaint. But it's not.

Also, although I'll probably get flamed for saying this -- I have a BA from Stanford and a PhD from Harvard, and I spent 35 years teaching at a 4 year state school, and if you think that it's only endowment that separates the elites from the sub-elites and the ordinary, you're wrong. There is a difference. A few hundred million dollars could not possibly transform my old school into a first-rate, or even third-rate institution.

The kind of thing Knight wants to do can pick up the amazing students from the not-amazing institutions and put them where their talents can shine.

In all honestly it's Chinese prisoners and child laborers who we should thank.

elite vs non elite

A few hundred million dollars could not possibly transform my old school into a first-rate, or even third-rate institution.

Why not? What is the difference?

Ugh hard to get excited. Stanford is a great school, for sure, and the land use and other terms arranged by Leland Stanford are also prudent, and giving scholarships to low income and worthy recipients is good, but the flip side is that this could exacerbate, at least at Stanford, the general ethos of butt kissing, brown nosing and conformity commonplace in academia and corporate America, which discourages the unorthodox and unconformist methods (imperfect grades, trial and error, harmless failure) so integral to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Oh and this money did not come from Nike's great works in track and field and running. It came from cost cutting, overseas labor abuses, shoddier quality products mass marketed via hype and repugnant general mainstream team sports culture to endless low income and middle class dupes.

Hey maybe he's getting a nice tax deduction for this too!

20% racist quota on Oriental undergrad admissions makes Stanford a sucky choice for a gift like that.

It doesn't matter which school you go to for a bachelors, it's all the same in the USA.

Wouldn't this partially fund Bernie Sanders free college tuition pledge? And here I thought Knight was a socialist.

It's his money. Stanford can use more money like the USA and Russia need more nukes.

History/tradition of excellence, faculty, administration, student culture, expectations . . . and more.

All those things take time to evolve. Money alone won't do it.

Please don't misunderstand me. There's a place for all sorts of institutions -- important places. And that includes colleges like the one I taught at, and it includes community colleges, too. I had students (not very many, maybe 10-15 in all my years there) who could have done well anywhere, including the top schools. They were a joy to teach; among the faculty, we all knew who they were. They were a diverse lot. But they were a very small percentage of the students.

At an elite university, the percentage of students like that is very high and at the graduate level, higher still.

If Knight's money could pluck our first-rate students and set them down at an institution that had everything going for it, where they would join other young scholars from around the world . . . wow. Just wow. Anything could happen.