November 1, 2016, 12:53 pm
Christopher L. Eisgruber
1 Nassau Hall
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
Mr. Eisgruber:
The other day I received a call from a Princeton student calling to encourage me to participate in annual giving this year. I was in a hurry, and I feel bad that I gave the student a rushed answer, but I told him that I thought universities were lost and that I no longer had any desire to donate money to any of them. The word “lost” is admittedly imprecise, but it was the best I could to summarize my concerns in a brief call.
When I was at Princeton, we used to laugh at those crotchety alumni who wrote angry letters about Princeton letting in women, or integrating the all-male eating clubs, or whatever else. I never imagined that someday I would find myself writing one of those “I can't donate to Princeton any more” letters, yet here I am doing just that.
Continue reading ‘Why I Don't Donate To My University Anymore -- A Recent Letter to Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber’ »
November 1, 2016, 12:39 pm
A few months ago I helped my son shop for an apartment in San Diego, where he is working for Ballast Point Beer. Currently I am helping my daughter look for apartments in Pasadena, where she may be attending art school. In both cases we found that small studio apartments often have higher rents than one- and sometimes even two-bedroom apartments in the same complex (and with the same fit and finish, amenities, etc.)
What the hell? I understand that there may be more demand for studio apartments in these neighborhoods among young singles than for larger apartments, but once one sees the studio for $2200 and the one-bedroom for $1800, why would one still choose the studio, which might be half the size? Ease of cleaning? Is there some artificial demand from some government or financial aid program that will only pay for studio apartments? Do Chinese students come to the US and suddenly get agoraphobia from an apartment that is too large?
