In his recent column ("Brown, Inc.", Sept. 10), Simon Liebling '12 made it very clear that he has forgotten Brown University's primary objective — education. It is not to provide healthcare to Dining Services or to take care of Rhode Island's destitute, but to provide an education and a remarkable research platform to students, academia and professors from all over the world. There are quite a few flaws in Liebling's analysis, which I hope to dispel.
Brown University is a home to knowledge, research and learning. For students and faculty to do this, they must have the best facilities that exist so that they can further their pursuits and make a name for Brown in the world. The University should keep reinventing and improving itself if it wishes to be regarded among the best in the world. That is precisely why they are building the new home for the Alpert Medical School, Life Sciences building and Creative Arts Center. The Athletic Center is also of great importance, since sports play a big role in leadership and team building. Furthermore, the University funds these new buildings and renovations through its endowment, which is purely gifted by alumni.
Should Brown think of itself as a corporation? Yes, I believe it should. It has customers — students and alumni — whose money Brown (as a corporation) must allocate in the most effective manner. Last year, around 30,000 high school students applied to Brown. Why the recent surge? I believe it is because our institution has put a lot of focus on the sciences and engineering. In doing so, it has truly understood the trend of preferences of students worldwide. To continue giving us the latest and best opportunities, the University has to keep growing and developing. After all, the rattling pipes in Metcalf did help keep one awake in class, but it did raise questions about the dilapidated condition of the building.
Even though Liebling's column goes on to talk about how managing the budget is important, the article's message is very clear — profit-maximizing is bad. What escapes me is how Liebling thinks that Brown will keep growing while providing financial aid to its students if it does not have a surplus of wealth or capital. America's private educational institutions are undoubtedly the best in the world, and they are the boons of a capitalistic society. Philanthropists such as John D. Rockefeller Jr. 1897, Thomas Watson Jr. '37, Sidney Frank '42, the Joukowskys and Stephen Robert '62 are among the many that have done well in their fields and have allowed all of us to benefit from this institution. However, Liebling goes on to insult them (in particular Stephen Robert '62, who was gracious enough to rebuild Faunce House as the appealing student center it now is). By questioning their donations and intentions, he has not done any of us a favor. If this is how the University's students think of such philanthropists, they certainly have no incentive to share their fortune with us. I look forward to the day when Liebling's $50,000 per year, "noble intentions" and pixie dust will pay for the University to be the best in the world and keep our lights on at the same time.
What I find very distasteful in the column is Liebling's choice of who the winners and losers are. He believes that letting employees go and not giving Dining Services workers healthcare are outrages. Has he ever wondered whether these employees were actually efficient and effective? Furthermore, if Obamacare is really the solution to the healthcare problem, it can take care of the Refectory's workers. Why must the University sponsor private healthcare and take on such a huge expense? Since when has healthcare been taken for granted? Should Brown's employees (myself being one of them) also take for granted that they will have a car, a nice house, a loving family and a warm pair of socks? That is not any institution's responsibility, but rather personal responsibility.
Harvard, our cousin to the north, saw an 11 percent increase in its endowment due to proper planning and effective investment. Brown's investment, even though it did not lose much, is certainly doing well. But that is an obvious problem to Liebling and his Open The Books Coalition, which wants investment transparency for Brown. If he understood the meaning of competition and having an edge in investment ideas, I would not be writing this column. He is riling the student body by reminding each one of you of the tuition hike, but he forgets to mention that a Brown education costs more than $100,000 a year without the endowment offsetting the cost. So, use the facilities well and prosper.
Manas Gautam '12 gives lessons in fishing and can be reached at mg@brown.edu.
