As the class of ’08 prepares to turn in their APAs and split town, it has become amazingly (and sadly) obvious how little impact we’ve really made at GSPP. With control of everything from kitchen access to noise in the living room securely in the hands of faculty and staff, our creativity is being challenged to find a meaningful way to leave behind a legacy.
Apparently several “capital projects” suggested by our students were overruled as “administratively unfeasible.” I can understand this response to the idea of terracing the courtyard into a mini-amphitheater (one of my suggestions) but there are other good ideas that have been nixed in favor of 4 different scholarship options.
Don’t get me wrong – I would have given my left arm for a scholarship (heck, even $10 – boo on Mike Trevino and his broken promises) to attend GSPP. And I am way more in favor of investing in human capital (especially if that human capital is trained at GSPP) over a few leather couches or some compact flourescent light bulbs. However, suppose everybody donated $100 (above and beyond the $69 spent on cap and gown rental). That would net us $6,500 which – matched by Bardach, Brady, or Kirp – would mean a $13,000 gift. Having recently reviewed my student loan statements, it doesn’t seem that $13K is going to go that far, even if it were invested at a very agreeable rate for several years.
Now, if we all donated $500, that would be a different story ($65,000).
Bottom line – I’m bummed that my idea to install a slide off the living room loft didn’t make the cut.
Grizzly Dougams,
While 6500 or 13,000 is not much – it goes towards a scholarship ENDOWMENT. It may not seem like a lot – but isn’t it worth building something? If we waited until we had enough money to make a “big” impact – we’ll be waiting a long, long time. I don’t know about you, but my policy analytic skills ain’t netting a huge contract. Don’t hate on the scholarship idea – every little bit counts and, more importantly, it sends a signal to everyone that we think it matters. This is just our first gift – maybe we could commit to give at least 13,000 every year….now that would be something.
As for you’re other concern – faculty control at GSPP. Yeah, I agree that the whole “faculty won’t go for it” bit is getting old. Hopefully the new dean will kick the dust off this place a little bit!
Word?
Doug,
Kudos for voicing something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Well, not that much. But anyway:
Raising money for a scholarship is a horrible idea for a class gift.
Note, it’s not a horrible idea, just a horrible idea for a class gift. If you walk around Berkeley campus, there are numerous examples of small but significant gifts left by previous classes – a clock, some benches, a small, quiet landscaped clearing – the point of these is to leave some lasting physical manifestation that a class walked the same paths, learned in the same classrooms, and wanted to leave a symbolic mark.
Collecting money for a scholarship leaves no mark and, as Doug pointed out, it does not stand alone. The money is not going into a Class of 2008 endowment (it’s far too little for that), it is going to a larger scholarship fund where it will be completely lost and forgotten. In addition, while the fund may help select future students, it will not be shared by all students.
The purpose of a class gift isn’t to “make a big impact”, it’s to leave a lasting mark. It’s a shame someone ten years from now will walk around GSPP and see nothing of the legacy of the class of 2008 – even if they are getting scholarship money. But maybe that’s what our class deserves for choosing such a dumb idea.
I was personally hoping for a flatscreen tv, new couches/carpet … or a ladder to feed the rubber chicken in Rm 105. He’s starting to look a little scrawny up there by himself.
Lynn – apparently the old building is a landmark of some sort and there are rules against drilling holes or driving nails into the wood panel walls. That being said, I think the ugly white wall outside of 250 in the new building would be a prime spot for a plasma TV. Unfortunately the idea of flat screen TVs was nixed before we even got to vote on it. The $10K we did raise would sure buy a lot of chicken food…
I second Jonny’s idea . . .