The wealth in our corporate sector come from out-of-towners coming here to run companies. They have allegiances to their undergrad school, not Minnesota.
It's not like Minnesotans are working their way up from the mail room to become CEO, and most of the B School grads go out of state for advanced degrees. UMN stopped being an undergrad school in the 1980s and it stopped being a post-secondary school at the turn of the millennium.
The research school of excellence myth that Academia is perpetuating does nothing for the other aspects of UMN nor for Minnesota since that research is purchased for those same out-of-state corporations who send their corporate wealth people here to watch over their outbound stream of money.
I wasn't thinking that CEO's or executives would be donating themselves - folks in those positions tend to be extremely self centered. I'm speaking on donations from operating budgets. Certainly there are tax incentives for certain donations to non profits or charities.
As far as I know, NIL certainly wouldn't fall into those categories or be worthy of any tax write off, but I would imagine there could be huge opportunities for some
quid pro quo. In other words, you donate to our NIL and we will sell your beer in our stadium. Or, to simply dream a little dream... (3M) donates to our NIL, and we will exclusively use their products to maintain facilities across campus.
There's hundreds of millions at stake in college football, I'm not willing to accept that corporations can't be got with the right carrot.
Your other comments on the state of the UMN feel subjective and totally off topic, but I'll bite.
It stopped being an undergrad school? That's strange considering they have nearly 40k undergrads. I hate making assumptions, but you're leaving me no choice - I'm assuming you're referring to the massive spikes in tuition we've seen across post secondary education for decades, pushing traditional
4-year-on-campus-universities out of reach for those not willing to incur massive debt. In that sense, I am sympathetic to your message. That said, if you are from a low income background, you'll definitely get big Pell and MN grants. It's the middle class that really get's destroyed in financial "aid."
"Stopped being a post secondary school."
Again, I can only make assumptions about your comment. Perhaps you have an axe to grind with curriculum. Otherwise, I have no idea what you're saying considering the U is accredited and pumping out graduates across a ton of programs every year. A classic liberal arts education hasn't changed all that much, even if the value vs cost has.
kstp.com
