Wall Street Journal Blogs, NY
I’ve written before about Yale’s vow not to sell naming rights to its two new colleges to the highest bidder. Their tradition is to name colleges after past presidents, locations and local historical figures. No college has ever been named for a living donor.
But now some alumni have kicked off a campaign urging Yale to name a college after David Swensen. Mr. Swensen, for those who haven’t read the countless hagiographies, is Yale’s chief investment officer. During his 23 years on the job, Yale’s endowment has increased to $22.5 billion from $1.2 billion.
According to an article in the Yale Daily News by Thomas Kaplan, some mystery alumni have launched a campaign urging Yale to name a college after Mr. Swensen, whom they say has given up untold riches in the private sector to help Yale.
“What Man gives up at least $100 million a year to work for Yale?” asked one full-page ad, referring to his theoretical earnings if he worked on Wall Street or in Greenwich. As one of the alums told the News: “Our hope is that the ads will encourage the University to recognize one of the most important men in the history of Yale.”
...I also wonder about the “$100 million” claim. Maybe Ms. Swensen could make $100 million a year, maybe not. But measuring someone’s contribution based on their theoretical salary in another job is misleading. It’s like saying Hank Paulson should have a federal building named after him because he’s giving up millions (or billions) he could be making in the private sector.
Here’s an idea. Rather than naming a college after Mr. Swensen, Yale should name something more fitting to his contribution. Maybe the Swensen Reading Room, where students could pore over Bloomberg screens, gossip about the latest commodity reports and size up SEC filings online. Now that’s something to aspire to.
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