The Bwog
That's a hefty wish list

Over the summer, an anonymous tipster noticed that the Columbia homepage had added a "Giving" button. Poking around further, the same source found the University's gift guide, in which everything has a price.

  • jgjThe Arts Initiative is looking for between $225-670,000 for a "unified University Box Office" in Lerner with online ticketing. Finally?

  • Putting on the annual orientation arts party will only cost you $50,000
  • Endowing a head coach: $2,000,000

  • Endowing M. Diane Murphy: $5,000,000
  • Endowing a professor (with matching funds from Trustee Gerry Lenfest): $1,500,000

  • Schermerhorn Hall was built with a $500,000 gift. Today $500,000 will only get you a room in Hamilton.
  • For only $10,000 you can change the life of a starving college student today! Think of the hipsters, please. The student will send black and white pictures and letters hand written in crayon.

Posted by idea: #1 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 2:06 PM
a flag with your name on it planted in a patch of newly sodded grass -- $500
Posted by Sally Struthers: #2 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 2:11 PM
HAHAHAHA Sally Struthers would be proud.
Posted by afraid of urinals: #3 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 2:51 PM
How much do I have to pay to be endowed...oh wait...
Posted by Alum: #4 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 4:57 PM
Most universities have lists like this, and most make them public during fund drives. I remember several years ago Harvard Law School had a fund drive and its public list of naming opportunities included its library for something like $50 million.
Posted by CML: #5 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 6:27 PM
How much would it take to endow hefty portions of Kobe Beef for patrons of John Jay dining hall every Monday? Quick, someone do a back-of-the-envelope calculation.
Posted by $$$: #6 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 6:32 PM
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $
Posted by well: #7 (in reply to #5) · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 6:40 PM
do you mean real kobe or just waygu?
Posted by Wow.: #8 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 7:33 PM
I would not want to see a well-endowed Dianne Murphy. *barfs*
Posted by have..: #9 (in reply to #8) · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 7:41 PM
...you ever seen her at all? Because then you have seen a well-endowed Ms. Murphy, just not the part of her that's been so generously endowed

I think you meant you don't want to see her endowment. Personally I agree, and don't want anything to do with anyone who contributes to such an endowment
Posted by CML: #10 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 8:53 PM
Wagyu seems acceptable. Come on, you rugged Frontiersmen and women.
Posted by Well: #11 (in reply to #4) · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 9:50 PM
Potential building naming opportunities:

"Broadway Residence Hall"

"600 West 116th Street"

and according to my Calc 3 prof "Mathematics."

I'm pretty sure that the "Northwest Science Building" will also be up for naming. None of those have made the "list."

Dear Comparative Ethnic Studies agitators: Instead of crying for funding, do what everyone else does- get your research institute endowed with a $10M Gift!
Posted by cc'10: #12 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 11:41 PM
How about using 10% of Murphy's endowment and actually having a real lacrosse team (or is lacrosse only played by women in the post Title IX era?)
Posted by EAL: #13 · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 11:42 PM
Well, I don't know about you, but after I graduate I'm donating my money to football and basketball. Lord knows they need more cash for improvements (and not just to their records, which are getting better thank you).

Best to get started on a new gym to be built in Morningside Park (take two).
Posted by lax?: #14 (in reply to #12) · reply · track
September 12, 2007 at 11:48 PM
hahaha cu lacrosse (along with most sports) is a disgrace to the sport itself. and like, what the hell. you think shoveling money at the sports department is going to get a top 10 team? please. you went to columbia for teh wrong reasons (along with the people who applied to SEAS saying "i don't want to take a core curriculum... i'm only taking the focused one!")
Posted by lax: #15 (in reply to #14) · reply · track
September 13, 2007 at 10:14 AM
is an embarassment at Columbia. 10 years. 1 conference victory.

Meanwhile Columbia has no Men's Lax or Hockey team (don't laugh- Ivy League hockey is serious- Cornell, Dartmouth, and Harvard are often Frozen Four contenders).

I'm all for Title IX (Yeah Women's Soccer! Fencing! X Country! Golf ) but at Columbia so many Women's sports (Lax, Volleyball) are a waste of money. Granted you could say the same thing about some men's programs too...
Posted by Endowing a prof?: #16 · reply · track
September 13, 2007 at 12:20 PM
How does endowing a prof/person work?
Posted by EAL: #17 (in reply to #16) · reply · track
September 13, 2007 at 1:23 PM
You get your name or someone else's as their official title, i.e. Eric Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History. Brendan Buckley is the Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling. Plus, I think the money goes towards that professor/department/coach's work (either for research or the team, etc.).
Posted by EAL: #18 (in reply to #14) · reply · track
September 13, 2007 at 1:30 PM
Fuck you and your anti-sports mentality. That, more than anything else, is the problem with our sports teams. If there were more student support, maybe we'd do okay for once. I for one came to Columbia for the academics, but I do wish to see the Lions do well, since I am a sports fan. The University (in addition to the students) has also never given the athletics department the support that other schools give it (take Penn and Princeton, for example). Plus good sports equal more money for Columbia and its endowment. When your sports get good, alumni donations go up. Penn is a prime example of this. So it is in our best interest for the Lions to do well here (and not just from a sentimental perspective).

I also believe it is an embarrassment that we're the only Ivy League school without a men's lacrosse team (or a varsity ice hockey team for that matter, but that's another story), and I would love to see Columbia put some money up to start men's lacrosse here. We've got the facilities already; it's only a matter of hiring a coach and purchasing equipment. I know I'd like to see it happen.
Posted by Alum: #19 (in reply to #11) · reply · track
September 13, 2007 at 3:48 PM
I didn't claim that *all* naming opportunities are on the list. CU is surely looking for some of the gifts you mention. One that it surely is not seeking, however, is a naming gift for 600 West 116th Street. That building belongs to Barnard.
Posted by well: #20 · reply · track
September 13, 2007 at 4:05 PM
I think it's supposed to be 600 W. 113th street, the apartment building colloquially referred to as "Nussbaum."
Posted by Go non-Lions!: #21 · reply · track
September 13, 2007 at 7:35 PM
Overall, our Club Sport teams do much better than our Varsity teams, and most competitive club teams compete vs other varsity programs.

It's just a matter of Columbia hyping up the absolute wrong sports in which they will never be a powerhouse: football and basketball.

In this newest fundrasing campaign most would be disgusted at the amount of money going into just advertising and branding. This is also shitting all over our club "teams" (they aren't allowed to be called teams officially, nor are they allowed to be Lions) like LAX and Ice Hockey who do a hell of a lot better than some of the AWFUL varsity teams (Field hockey, volleyball, football).
Posted by hmmm: #22 · reply · track
September 14, 2007 at 11:18 AM
well, it's $20 million to name Barnard's Nexus...
Posted by Alum: #23 · reply · track
September 15, 2007 at 6:43 PM
Naming gifts for buildings sometimes just don't materialize. There was a naming opportunity for the Computer Science building when it sent up in the early '80s but no takers. The name "Broadway Residence Hall" was supposed to be temporary pending a major gift, but that hasn't happened yet either.

The same sort of thing happened at Barnard in the late '80s, when the new dorm was called Centennial for a few years until Sulzberger family made a naming gift.
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