By: Ex-Oligarch

Ex-Oligarch
Sat, 07 Jun 2014 00:22:00 +0000

Can it be that OSU’s administration does not know that money is fungible, and that $620,000 of unrestricted donor funds instead could have been spent to benefit the university’s students, boost its academic reputation, lower tuition or to shore up its endowment? No, I suppose not. The argument that no public or tax dollars were used on this effort is an insult to the intelligence of Ohio citizens. Gary Lewis should be ashamed of himself, though since nowadays university spokesmen seem to be hired for their total lack of scruples I expect he won’t be.

Coming from the UC system, Dr. Drake has plenty of experience with absurdly wasteful administrative spending, an ever-metastasizing bureaucracy, and first-class luxurious perks, so it seems he will fit right in at OSU.

Executive search firms and their clients have long since succeeded in ratcheting both compensation and recruitment costs into the stratosphere for public corporations, so why not do the same for academia? The sky is the limit, and OSU is leading the way to a new normal. If Professors Dietrich and Silverman play their cards right, they one day may be able to ride this lucrative trend right to the top.

One small correction to your excellent article: Dr. Skorton will remain at Cornell through mid-2015, to preside over that institution’s sesquicentennial academic year.