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Stanford dropping 11 varsity sports

Which is so incredibly dumb, and one of the many reasons why our university system is broken.

To be fair, this statement [referring to the correlation between endowment and university ranking] could also be made as to why an institution like Stanford has so many niche, financially insolvent varsity sports in the first place.

Refusing to dip into the endowment to protect ranking may be dumb in some cases. But not dumb to prioritize the university endowment over the synchronized swimming team.
 
To be fair, this statement [referring to the correlation between endowment and university ranking] could also be made as to why an institution like Stanford has so many niche, financially insolvent varsity sports in the first place.

Refusing to dip into the endowment to protect ranking may be dumb in some cases. But not dumb to prioritize the university endowment over the synchronized swimming team.

What’s the point of the endowment? What does it actually do besides provide ammunition for a douchebag dick measuring contest?
 
What’s the point of the endowment? What does it actually do besides provide ammunition for a douchebag dick measuring contest?

Protecting academic programs?

Stanford is shutting down varsity sports while some other universities are shutting down departments and even whole colleges.
 
Protecting academic programs?

Stanford is shutting down varsity sports while some other universities are shutting down departments and even whole colleges.

Oh I agree. But how does hoarding billions of dollars protect academic programs? Why not spend the money and slash absurd tuition rates, or pay grad students and young professors a living wage?

Endowments are nothing more than dick measuring contests for douchebags
 
If there are no endowments, who else is going to own all those timber harvest options, snake oil futures and other absurd illiquid shit that endowments gamble and lose money on for some reason.
 
What’s the point of the endowment? What does it actually do besides provide ammunition for a douchebag dick measuring contest?

We should probably pin this because there are some serious misconceptions on these boards about the purpose and utility of a university endowment. It's not just some coveted hoard of treasure guarded by administrative dragons beneath their ivory tower or a rainy-day fund that can be spent when funds get low. An endowment is a useful economic measure of academic dick-size exactly because it literally funds the operation of the university.

Endowment funds generate income to finance particular operating costs for units within the institution itself, providing revenue for specific assets like professorships and scholarships. The typical university only spends something like 5% of their endowment each year. And they usually can't spend the remaining funds on something like, say, firing an unpopular basketball coach, because the principal is usually restricted and the income is otherwise committed to recurring expenses.
 
Endowment is often donor restricted, for scholarships, faculty, etc. And once restricted by a donor, the school must go to court to redesignate principal and income for a different purpose. Which Stanford will have to do with all those Synchronized Swimming scholarships.
 
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We should probably pin this because there are some serious misconceptions on these boards about the purpose and utility of a university endowment. It's not just some coveted hoard of treasure guarded by administrative dragons beneath their ivory tower or a rainy-day fund that can be spent when funds get low. An endowment is a useful economic measure of academic dick-size exactly because it literally funds the operation of the university.

Endowment funds generate income to finance particular operating costs for units within the institution itself, providing revenue for specific assets like professorships and scholarships. The typical university only spends something like 5% of their endowment each year. And they usually can't spend the remaining funds on something like, say, firing an unpopular basketball coach, because the principal is usually restricted and the income is otherwise committed to recurring expenses.

You don't see that as a massive issue? Universities have to sit on massive piles of money, so that money can make money, which will be used to pay for operating costs, while charging kids $50K+ to attend their school? How about just running a balanced budget with a little put away for a rainy day. The Stanfords of the world do not need $28T sitting in a bank account. Our universities are run like fucking hedge funds, not schools. And it is disgusting.
 
^Also sitting on a billions of dollars while paying a majority of your staff below a living wage is morally reprehensible. No university or college that does that can claim to be anything but a cold-hearted corporation. Just like everything else in this country our modern universities' main purpose is to bloat the salaries of its elite employees and to hoard wealth.
 
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You don't see that as a massive issue? Universities have to sit on massive piles of money, so that money can make money, which will be used to pay for operating costs, while charging kids $50K+ to attend their school? How about just running a balanced budget with a little put away for a rainy day. The Stanfords of the world do not need $28T sitting in a bank account. Our universities are run like fucking hedge funds, not schools. And it is disgusting.

well, Stanford charges rich* kids and their parents $50k while offering discounts (funded through the endowment) to people that aren't rich*

*Stanford and I disagree on the precise categorization of who is rich
 
^Also sitting on a billions of dollars while paying a majority of your staff below a living wage is morally reprehensible. No university or college that does that can claim to be anything but a cold-hearted corporation. Just like everything else in this country our modern universities' main purpose is to bloat the salaries of its elite employees and to hoard wealth.

Who is it that is being paid below a living wage by the university?
 
well, Stanford charges rich* kids and their parents $50k while offering discounts (funded through the endowment) to people that aren't rich*

*Stanford and I disagree on the precise categorization of who is rich

A lot of those discounts are not getting funded by endowment. They're getting funded by those who can afford to pay full fare.
 
Who is it that is being paid below a living wage by the university?

We can start with the food service and maintenance/custodial workers, I would be shocked if they were paid above a living wage in the most expensive area of the country. After that add in all the grad students/non-tenured professors who get paid next to nothing. That makes up a large chunk of university staff.
 
A lot of those discounts are not getting funded by endowment. They're getting funded by those who can afford to pay full fare.

sure - but Stanford says they are getting funded by the endowment
 
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