Abstract:
Dr. Larry Penley, University of Dallas presidential candidate, met with representatives from the Student Government Executive Council, the Braniff Graduate Student Association and The University News on Nov. 10....
Penley says that the proper approach to fundraising at UD is "finding a philanthropist who already has a dream and presenting an opportunity at the university to fulfill that dream."
This suggests changing or altering UD in order to cater to the dreams of philanthropists. Changing UD is not the answer. We need to find philanthropists willing to buy into OUR dream as it is, not create opportunities for philanthropists to fund their own private ventures here.
Penley raised eyebrows at his last job (Colorado State) for putting a heavy emphasis on research in order to attract investors. This is an example of Penley's philosophy in practice, finding philanthroists seeking to pursue a private goal and using the university as a means for them to do it. But the fundamental idea of UD will perish if it is transformed into a research school.
UD must avertise the gem that we offer and find philanthropists willing to invest in that gem as it is rather than changing it to attract investments.
"UD must not allow its identity to be compromised."
Looking around it seems as if it might not be such a bad idea to re-work our business/fundraising structure a bit. Maybe after a re-evaluation we would be able to pay our professors a decent wage, fund new programs and draw in enough students to fill up our student housing. That doesn't sound too bad to me. Maybe a breath of fresh air from CSU could give us a hand.
As for finding "philanthropists willing to buy into OUR dream as it is," not too long ago I seem to have had a conversation with an alumn who thought other ALUMNS weren't terribly interested in donating money. We need to look outside our own group for our survival.
[QUOTE id="723c2026-c634-4e32-88d3-d23e0eed9bd0"]Maybe a breath of fresh air from CSU could give us a hand.[QUOTE]
Yes, it would be a nice breath of smelly, old, bureacratic, state-funded, green, "big-tent Catholicism" air. President Penley? Give me a break. This guy is just out for a retirement post. We are not a nursing home for unemployed executives.
Read Mr. Arevalo's article in this week's paper for more.
Regarding UD's "coherent story," UD never had one. It wants to pretend it can be both an orthodox Catholic school and a Great Books school. However, these two strands have always fundamentally in conflict. The fake resolution picked by most at UD is to be as orthodox Catholic as possible, and then from this viewpoint discuss but trash most of the Great Books of the last 300 years.
Concerned
posted 11/19/09 @ 9:03 PM CST
Penley says that the proper approach to fundraising at UD is "finding a philanthropist who already has a dream and presenting an opportunity at the university to fulfill that dream."
This suggests changing or altering UD in order to cater to the dreams of philanthropists. Changing UD is not the answer. We need to find philanthropists willing to buy into OUR dream as it is, not create opportunities for philanthropists to fund their own private ventures here.
Penley raised eyebrows at his last job (Colorado State) for putting a heavy emphasis on research in order to attract investors. This is an example of Penley's philosophy in practice, finding philanthroists seeking to pursue a private goal and using the university as a means for them to do it. But the fundamental idea of UD will perish if it is transformed into a research school.
UD must avertise the gem that we offer and find philanthropists willing to invest in that gem as it is rather than changing it to attract investments.
UD must not allow its identity to be compromised.