Harvard Gets Biggest Financial Gift Ever From Wall Street Alum

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Harvard has received its biggest gift in school history - a $400 million donation from Wall Street hedge fund billionaire John Paulson - the university said Wednesday.

The endowment from Paulson will support the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which has led technology breakthroughs and is planning to expand, the university said. Paulson says it promises to become "the next major center of innovation."

Officials said the science school will be renamed the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

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Harvard received the gift amid a $6.5 billion fundraising campaign that started in 2013. Last year, the university's School of Public Health received a $350 million gift that was the largest in the school's 379-year history at the time.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/03/harvard-biggest-gift-ever_n_7503626.html

[LuckyLib]

1. Of course it will be renamed. I'm waiting to see a philanthropist step up with mega bucks

for a university, hospital wing, building, etc, and say, "No thanks. I don't want my name on this. The reward is in the giving." I won't hold my breath.

[CTyankee]

10. they are buying immortality...after they have all the houses and playthings they want

they realize that they're gonna die like everyone else. So here's the only way they can achieve some sort of immortality.

I would prefer it be a scholarship fund to support more working class and poor students' education. They could get the Fund named after them. Many, many students would be forever grateful and that would be the best immortalization possible...

[underpants]

2. WashPost headline "Finally, Harvard catches a break...."

[WheelWalker]

3. Oh, that's rich

[underpants]

4. Ooh

I see what you did there

[MBS]

5. yup, my thoughts, too. : ) n/t

[dbackjon]

6. Wasted money

Harvard has more money than it can spend.


If he wanted to do some real good, drop that money on some local colleges.

[Purveyor]

7. Oh a $32+ billion endowment fund is never enough...

[7962]

8. Good to see one of the poorer schools finally get a helping hand......

With their assets they could probably give free tuition to everyone. And not lose a thing

[Igel]

12. Harvard made the news for a number of years.

It has a very generous financial aid policy. It was one of the first colleges to do so. Even looking past its own PR, it's good. Pretty much if your family income is $60k or less you're covered by financial aid. As your family income goes up, from there, they expect you to start paying; the more your family income, the more you pay.

What they expect you to pay isn't completely out of bounds, either.

Oh, one more thing. No loans. Some form of grant. So that BS or BA is essentially debt free.

That was their policy when I was looking at grad schools in the '90s. They refused to admit students that they couldn't fund. If you qualified, they'd tell you you would have been admitted if they could have funded you--and then if you want to say, "Yes, please admit me without funding" that's fine ... But there's no expectation (and explicit waiver) of any funding request.

[7962]

16. Well, that sounds a lot better than I expected. Thanks for the info

[peecoolyour]

9. If any school needed it, it was Harvard.

And I hope their alumni finally catch a break, they are entirely underrepresented at the levers of power.

[Agony]

13. money stripped out of the pockets of working people

fuck Paulson. it wasn't his money.

[stuffmatters]

14. Hedge Fund Welfare King makes Taxfree Vanity Contrib to Elite funded by other 99%.

First he got the hedgefunder carried interest tax subsidy, then made gobs of millions off of interest free loans from the Fed and Wall Street transactions with no sales tax, probably put them in the Caymans until he could "repatriate" this money taxfree by buying this monument to himself at Harvard and calling it charity.

[Agony]

15. You speak the truth with more flair than I. succinct and clear and accurate. Nice!

I was being lazy. I am reading Nomi Prins "It takes a Pillage" and I think that everything you stated is discussed in her book. I am not organized enough to pull it together as you did.

Interestingly, after one time through the book and working on the second there is simply no way I can again cast a vote for a Clinton.

I am really not sure if it was Prins' intention to make me wonder if that is what her title is alluding to… Pillage…Village… …

[stuffmatters]

18. So kind. It's your remark that inspired mine.

[Recursion]

17. Dylan Matthews said it best

For the love of God, rich people, stop giving money to Ivy League schools.

The New York Times's Robin Pogrebin describes Schwarzman's contribution as an "act of philanthropy." It is not. Sure, it's not the absolute worst thing one could do with one's money. I suppose it's a bit better than literally piling $150 million in dollar bills together in one location and then setting them on fire, insofar as building a performing arts center employs more people than assembling a massive money pile would. It's definitely better than using the money to set up a private island upon which to hunt man for sport.

But it's hard to imagine a worse way to use the money that still entitles Schwarzman to a charitable tax deduction. Yale is not a charity. It is a finishing school that overwhelmingly serves children of wealth and privilege. Supporting its scientific and particularly biomedical research is worthwhile, but the school is already far richer than all but one of its peer institutions and has access to considerable federal funds in that area, as well. And, of course, Schwarzman isn't supporting Yale's biomedical research. He's giving its dancers a nicer stage upon which to pirouette.

Literally any other charity, save maybe Harvard, is a better choice. Schwarzman could give $150 million to distribute bednets in sub-Saharan Africa, a highly cost-effective way to save lives. He could give $150 million directly to poor people in Kenya and Uganda through GiveDirectly. He could give $150 million to deworming efforts that spare children ailments that can cause immense pain and poverty. He could give $150 million to the Open Philanthropy Project or the Gates Foundation or another group doing careful, rigorous work to determine the best ways to use charitable resources to make the world a better place. He could, in fact, do all of the above because he's crazy stupid rich.

Of course, even the most generous among the rich spend heavily on themselves. Bill Gates may hope to spend down his fortune by fighting HIV and malaria in the developing world, but he also found the money to buy his daughter a 228-acre horse farm with 121 stalls, a race track, and staff lodging for up to 32 people. And maybe that's how Schwarzman's profligacy is best interpreted. He's a Yale alum, and this donation clearly provides some kind of emotional benefit to him.