

Gift from Ballmer Will Expand Computer Science Faculty at Harvard - dnetesn
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/gift-from-ballmer-will-expand-computer-science-faculty-at-harvard/?ref=technology

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skywhopper
Good for Harvard, but unfortunately the same money could go a lot farther and
help a lot more students at lower tier universities. University of Southern
Maine recently cut its CS faculty in half, from six to three right in the
middle of the academic year in a desperate bid to save money. Public
universities across the country are suffering from 15 years of near-annual
cuts to state subsidies.

Harvard would survive and even thrive without donations like Ballmer's, but
I'm not sure about the tier of higher education that serves the vast majority
of college students.

~~~
melling
Then raise some money for Maine and quit telling other people what to do with
their money. If the United States requires a few benevolent rich people to
give money to keep the public system working then something is seriously
wrong. Everyone here pays fewer taxes than their European counterparts, for
example. Raise taxes in Maine.

~~~
geebee
Harvard (and other private colleges) enjoy a tax exempt status where it comes
to endowment growth, and private colleges are recipients of massive amounts of
government research funds. Harvard enrolls a tiny undergraduate class, with an
even tinier percentage of low income students (UC Berkeley enrolls more low
income students than the entire ivy league combined). Interestingly, numbers
of grad students are roughly the same at the two institutions.

I'm pleased that Ballmer is giving money to support more research, but I don't
have a problem with asking what society is getting in return for that massive
tax break and colossal infusion of public funding.

The answer, to me, is: quite a lot. Harvard's contributions to research are
remarkable, and the world is better for it. But I think it's reasonable to
question such a favored tax status and high level of public funding for a
university that keeps its undergraduate enrollment so low (especially for low
income students).

~~~
melling
Can you provide me links with some facts? Is Harvard that much different than
Princeton, Stanford, Columbia or Yale? Why are you comparing the big state
school model with the Ivy model? Probably every big state school enrolls more
low-income students than any Ivy league school. And shouldn't government
research money go to the schools with the best research? I checked and Harvard
isn't in the top 10: [http://247wallst.com/special-
report/2013/04/25/universities-...](http://247wallst.com/special-
report/2013/04/25/universities-getting-the-most-government-money/)

A few Ivy Schools for comparison.

[http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-
colleges/...](http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-
colleges/harvard-university-2155?int=d1415b)

[http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/94/opinions_college08_Yale-...](http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/94/opinions_college08_Yale-
University_94568.html)

[http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-
colleges/...](http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-
colleges/princeton-university-2627?int=d1415b)

[http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-
colleges/...](http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-
colleges/stanford-1305?int=d1415b)

[http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-
colleges/...](http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-
colleges/columbia-university-2707?int=d1415b)

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nickhalfasleep
The "Ballmer" Chair position will be thrown at some of the great up-and-coming
researchers at Harvard.

~~~
Rayearth
I half expect the next hack (prank) that MIT will pull on Harvard would
involve the mysterious appearance of a "Ballmer Memorial Launchable Chair" in
Harvard's CS building.

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guncheck
Ballmer has an AmA on Reddit right at 11:15pst
([http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2m7cmt/were_steve_ball...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2m7cmt/were_steve_ballmer_harvard_college_class_of_77/))
in case any of you are interested to just ask him. Or discuss.

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_gwint
FYI, Harvard currently has a $30B endowment.

~~~
_gwint
So Gates retires, spends his fortune trying to reduce global poverty and cure
malaria. Ballmer retires, spends his fortune on a basketball team and donates
to what is already the richest school in the country.

~~~
taylorwc
So my disclaimer is that if I ever retired with a net worth in that
neighborhood, I would also put the bulk of it to work combating poverty.

That said, it's his money. He can spend as he sees fit and unless he sees
clubbing baby seals or something equally morally reprehensible as his aim, who
are we to take aim?

~~~
melling
Why not try to combat poverty now? The hypothetical "if I were rich..." adds
zero value to the world, and it's so easy to say.

~~~
taylorwc
And I do. I donate regularly to several charities that are focused on poverty
(both at a local and global level) and volunteer time at some of those. What
my comment was meant to communicate is that if I had a substantially higher
income/net worth, I'd be able to put a _much_ higher portion of it to work
doing that than I can right now, where more of my income has to go to a
mortgage, car payments, and diapers.

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gohrt
Is it weird that the size of the faculty (inluding proportion among
departments) is determined by the whims of wealthy alumni?

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sadfaceunread
I don't know what to say besides kudos. Harvard will need to build a new
building for CS now.

~~~
objclxt
They already are, across the river in Allston - much to the dismay of some the
faculty, as the CS department is currently based just north of Harvard Yard.
The entire school of engineering will be moving in the next few years.

Oddly enough, the current building the Harvard CS department is based in
(Maxwell Dworkin) was itself funded by Ballmer as part of a previous gift with
Bill Gates (Maxwell and Dworkin being their mothers' maiden names).

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bane
I think this is good. It wasn't all that long ago that a B.S. in C.S. from
Harvard was an immediate red flag...a person who went to the school purely for
the impressive name, but Harvard's C.S. program was not terribly well known.

It's definitely in an upward swing, likely because "these fancy computer
things" are the key to making serious money and influence these days and are
only going to be more so, it's nice to see some good work coming out of their
program and better funding of the program is going to be very helpful towards
equalizing the prestige of Harvard C.S. with Harvard Law, etc.

