

Two billionaires on the university - mjn
http://www.bogost.com/blog/two_billionaires_on_the_univer.shtml

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rubidium
The blog post unfairly juxtaposes two different aspects of the university
(research and getting undergrads degrees):

Bloomberg is focusing on research: he understands the academy, the
intellectual body of people collaborating, discussing and rubbing elbows.
Research that happens in a "physics building, a school of public health, a
children's hospital, a stem-cell research institute, a malaria institute, and
a library wing" cannot happen at all the same "online". New buildings,
especially institutes and hospitals, can make a HUGE difference.

Cuban seems to be addressing and entirely different point, which is that for
many big universities their income comes from being a degree-mill for
undergraduates (which often, unfortunately, just the absorption and
regurgitation of information.), and as such are focusing not on quality
education and research, but on looks and prestige. A fair enough criticism,
but not contrary to Bloomberg's donation.

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rm999
Bloomberg went to Hopkins as an undergraduate student, and that experience is
largely why he donates so much money to Hopkins. A big chunk of his current
and past donations went to non-research aspects of undergraduate life
(scholarships, improvements to the undergraduate campus, improvements to
buildings that serve undergraduates, etc). Also, his donations have gone to
things that traditionally are associated with looks and prestige, like the new
buildings and moving parking to underground garages.

I think part of what Bloomberg is doing is allowing the Hopkins undergraduate
school to be what any top-rate university would want to be without making the
kinds of sacrifices that Cuban is critical of.

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pmorici
It's possible they are both right. The school Bloomberg donated the money to,
Johns Hopkins is among the more prestigious name recognition wise. It's hard
to see how, with billionaires willing to give you so much money, you could
possibly go bankrupt. On the other hand Cuban's point of view probably has
more merit for second and third tier schools with less name recognition. Look
at newspapers; the New York Times seems like it will survive many small town
paper's futures look much more uncertain.

~~~
spamizbad
Thiel, another billionaire who's down on college, got a Law degree from
Stanford. Stanford is probably even more highly regarded outside of tech
circles, if you can imagine that even being possible.

The answer may be in the degrees themselves: Bloomberg received his B.Sc. in
Electrical Engineering whereas Cuban received a BA in Business Administration.

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jonny_eh
I can't understand why someone would get a CS degree these days, but I could
totally see why someone would get a medical degree.

(A good exception for getting a CS degree though is if you'd like to get a US
work visa like a TN or an H1B, which requires one).

~~~
drakeandrews
Or the plethora of ancillary benefits to getting a university education. The
actual education in many areas is negligible, instead you get up to four years
to defer having to do any real work, spending a sizable chunk of your time
around intelligent, like minded peers. And for a lot of people, it provides a
relatively safe way of experiencing life on their own.

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gavanwoolery
Me (non-billionaire and dubious source) on the university system:

[http://www.altdevblogaday.com/2011/04/14/the-difference-
betw...](http://www.altdevblogaday.com/2011/04/14/the-difference-between-a-
degree-and-an-education/)

:)

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Evbn
It is hard to see how a billionaire's opinion of the University is relevant.
They are extreme outliers and haven't devoted much of their lives to studying
universities.

Bloomberg at least seems to be involved with JHU and had a sense of what they
produce.

~~~
Xcelerate
> It is hard to see how a billionaire's opinion of the University is relevant.

Oh, I don't know. Maybe because they have billions of dollars worth of
influence?

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OGinparadise
_Bloomberg's donations have made possible a physics building, a school of
public health, a children's hospital, a stem-cell research institute, a
malaria institute, and a library wing._

Unless they left some money for operating them over the decades, they just
burdened themselves with more future spending.

But there's a major difference: Bloomberg is donating his money for what he
sees fit, Cuban is commenting on that. Let Cuban donate a billion to pay for
tuition

