Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Yale has no balls

Now we know why Yale sucks at sports: they have no balls. How else could one reconcile these two stories?

* WSJ reports that Yale’s endowment is 22.5 billion

* Yale Law announces it will allow military recruiters to keep from jeopardizing 350 million in federal funding for Yale University.

There’s a situation under which Yale could continue their research and keep their integrity: dispense 1.5% of their endowment. If they gained 5% return on their endowment they would then add “only” 775 million to their coffers per year (not counting any donations, of course).

Problem solved, integrity intact. Donations should ever rise as they show what a socially conscious university they are. But Yale chooses a third rail: sanctimonious grandstanding and shameless money-grubbing. I ask two questions:

1) Why the hell is the government giving *any* money to Yale? They have 22.5 billion cash on hand, yet take in 350 million in government subsidies. And I’m supposed to believe that Exxon is evil? At least they provide me a service. Yale’s last product was Mr. Burns, America’s most evil plutocrat.

2) The average American’s salary is 28,000 per year. Do you think if I offered the average person $8700 (31% of their income) they’d do something to compromise their principles? Well, that’s exactly what it costs Yale to compromise their deeply-held principle on gays that they’re sure “history will vindicate”. That’s some bargain-basement backtracking, if you ask me.

Apparently, Yale is wealthy, craven and cheaply bought. And that kind of mix doesn’t come easily.