Lion Green

Roar Lions Roar 2012 is brought to you by StealADiamond.com

***REMEMBER Enter the coupon code “ROARLIONS” for a 10% discount off anything on the site!***

Last year was a record year for donations to U.S. universities... and the rich got richer as the 20 schools with the biggest endowments got 27% of all the money donated.

Columbia was one of those top 20 schools and by all accounts, 2011 was a banner fundraiser year for Alma Mater.

There are two points I take from all of this:

1) At Columbia, sports is a very big driver for donations. So our student athletes past and present deserve a big pat on the back.

2) The article asserts that at the top 20 schools, tuition isn't really needed since just about every penny spent comes from donations.

That's a red flag for all those middle class families who make just a bit too much to get major financial aid.

I mean, how would you like to hear that all that money that you've been saving for so many years is really not needed or perhaps not even used anyway?!?

My solution to all of this is to reduce tuitions, at the top schools, to a number that the actual STUDENTS could pay mostly on their own... you know, the way it used to be in America before 1975 or so.

I think both rich and less rich kids alike are done a disservice by not letting them really learn the value of money. And that's exactly what colleges do when they charge tuitions that no 18-year-old could make a serious dent in.

I'm not just throwing this out as a general criticism of others, I can say very emphatically that I was a much lesser person when I graduated Columbia because I didn't pay one penny of my own on tuition and relied on parents and grandparents to pay those bills.

By contrast, my father- who grew up in a wealthier home than I did - was expected to pay his University of Chicago tuition in full by his parents every year, (he graduated in 1961). And he did that by working summer jobs that just covered his $600 per trimester tuition. And he was better for it.

If you REALLY want to educate kids nowadays, teach them the value of money too... and you rob them of that lesson when you charge so much that making the effort to chip in is meaningless.

Hall of Fame Ballot

Speaking of fundraising...

I used to get very excited about the voting process for the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame
I even used to make some recommendations for names people should nominate.

But recently I've learned that the Hall of Fame process is really just an elaborate excuse to point the inductees, their families and friends on the spot to donate money.

Now don't get me wrong, I think donating money to Columbia and Columbia athletics is a GREAT thing to do if you have disposable income. And charging people $150 or so to attend the awards dinner is more than okay.

But as we get into the 3rd or 4th Hall of Fame classes the process is starting to feel hollow. By that I mean, shouldn't we start getting more WINS before we look for more honorees to laud with the all-too-familiar refrain of: "he/she was a standout star despite never winning a championship... ?"

Continuing to expand the Hall of Fame without producing more winning teams first seems like the athletic department is taking victory laps it doesn't deserve.

A far better exercise would be expanding the kind of donation options that have fans and alums donating more and more to a given program based on how many WINS it earns that season, (football does this with
the "100 Club" where donors pledge to give $100 for every win).

If Columbia didn't already have the seed money to build competitive programs without such win-tied donations, then I'd back off this demand.

But athletics has earned record donations in recent years, so the money is there.

Now, we want WINS.

Continuing to ask us for money in this environment reminds me of a great voice over scene in the movie Goodfellas where Ray Liotta's character Henry Hill describes what it was like to go into business with the
backing of the leader of the mob, (I apologize in advance for the vulgar language in the clip below):

Now let's imagine I rewrite the above scene with Columbia athletics in mind:

"Now we've got Dianne Murphy and Columbia Athletics as a partner.

Now we've gotta come up with Dianne's money every year no matter what.

Football team is 1-9 despite loads of All Ivy players? F**k you, pay me.

Oh, you wanted a real national search for a coach instead of a knee jerk, hire the one guy I remember from Cornell 12 years ago? F**k you, pay me.

The basketball team just blew a 21-point lead to Yale last weekend? F**k you, pay me."


You can insert your favorite line with the same ending for each sentence if you like, but you get the picture.
I just want the athletics department to tie more of its fundraising to actual results. Otherwise, there is no standard and when you have money flowing in with no standards it's positively toxic.

I say we suspend these Hall of Fame ceremonies until we can nominate at least one football and one basketball team with a winning overall and Ivy record over a four year period.

Many of us also received this fancy mailing below:

DearXXX:

We are busy training for the fall season, and your support helps us to fight that much harder. We do it for the love of the game.

Will you show your love of the game and make a gift today? Roar!

Sean Brackett, '13CC, #10

This is a very nicely packaged mailing and I like the personal touch from Brackett, but again we have to tie more, (not all), of our donations to results.

So, yes I WILL donate money to the team right now to show my support.

I will donate $100 now and pledge to give $100 more for each win this fall.

For those of you with more money to spare, I ask that you do the same with bigger numbers. If you've given $2,000 or $3,000 per year in the past, how about fronting $1,000 now and another $500 or so per win?