Yes. That's the grand purpose. To do exactly that so they can exist in perpetuity.
Do you also go around pointing at hearts as if it's all some grand revelation that that's the main reason we're all here, making it also very clear that you don't mean it in the loving, metaphorical sense, but simply referring to its function of pumping blood about?
Sure, if you want to reduce a university down to simply existing for money's sake, then go ahead, but then you might as well say that about literally everything. Horrifyingly cynical. Is our grand purpose, in your eyes, the accumulation of money as well, simply because we want to live with a roof over our heads that costs money?
No it doesn't apply to literally everything. We are talking about the Universities that are completely pausing admittance to their graduate programs while sitting on billions or tens of billions of dollars.
It is deeply twisted and perverted that these schools are prioritizing the size of their endowments over taking on any new graduate students.
So pausing it now is more likely to make it possible in perpetuity. Now, if you don’t care about future students, if you don’t care about this institution existing in perpetuity, please just say so. Say that you couldn’t give a rat’s arse about our descendants and all that we’ve been able to keep alive to hundreds of years. A perfectly reasonable argument, I suppose, if you think a meteorite is about to hit us. Given how firm you are in your conviction, at least tell us where and when it’ll hurt us.
Let’s say a PhD student costs them $100k, and that they have a pile of $10 billion. All just hypothetical order of magnitude numbers. They are one of the biggest universities in a state of 13 million people. Now exactly how do you make that pile last for another 284 years if you have much less money you’re putting into that pile? Either dazzle us with your financial genius right now, or just admit “you don’t”.
Can you maybe see past a decade and see how it might be even more twisted and perverted if they lose the endowment entirely?
University exist for over 200 years. 200 years very long time. University want to exist 200 years from now.
