We need money to heat the buildings, to maintain the campus and of course, to support Shirley Jackson’s ever-changing tastes in vehicles. To finance these expenditures, and to solidify RPI’s financial footing, Shirley Jackson undertook the capital campaign. On paper, it’s a great idea: strengthen the Institute’s endowment which presently stands at a fraction of those of top tier establishments. Unfortunately, Shirley Jackson brings the same capacity for deception of the capital campaign is done in the same manner as she’s done everything else.
Let’s take a look at where that project stands.
The capitol campaign is presently at $1.24 billion. This would be great if that amount of wealth were piled in the Troy building in the form of precious metals or greenbacks, but it isn’t. It’s in the form of promised donations (which we may or may not see), or worse, “in-kind” gifts, the real values of which are subject to debate.
The PACE software that was donated in 2006 was valued at $514 million. Shortly thereafter, the goal of the capitol campaign was increased to $1.4 billion, as the Trustees claimed that they’d reached their $1 billion goal with the PACE gift. I realize that I’m not the first person to say this, but that seems like something of a cop out. By that same logic, someone could donate $200 million of gem-encrusted furniture to department lounges, and by virtue of the fact that students and faculty have access to it, Shirley Jackson could declare that to be putting her one step closer to her goal.
The capitol campaign seems to me like more of a cloak for Shirley Jackson’s spending practices than it is a genuine effort to strengthen the Institute’s financial standing. At present, we’re pouring money into the EMPAC, the ECAV and other pet projects with preposterous price tags, going further into debt under the premise that the money will come in before the debt load cripples us. Seeing as we’ve had our bond rating cut recently, it seems that this sentiment is shared by those outside the Institute.
The strong possibility that the money won’t be here doesn’t bother Shirley Jackson because she won’t be here, either.
September 17, 2007 at 9:16 pm
$514 million for PACE (CAD/CAE) software? So this administration expects us to believe each seat of the software cost $1,000,000? If this isn’t capital campaign accounting fraud, it must be the closest thing to it!