Taboo tableau
We all received the e-mail from President Gregory Farrington during the tail end of winter break, and the 75 percent of us not enrolled in the College of Business and Economics promptly rolled our eyes and deleted it. And though the $10 million donation made by Joseph and Amy Perella was earmarked for the CBE’s department of finance, that same large sum of money will have wide-reaching implications for the entire university. Perhaps we were all a bit too hasty with the mouse button.
A portion of the donation will support an endowed chair for a professor in the college’s new Financial Services Laboratory. The lab’s name sounds ominous, but the university is going beyond wall-mounted stock tickers and a constant stream of CNBC to ensure that the lab is an advantageous resource for everyone on campus. Computer science majors will have access to virtual Linux systems. Mathematics majors will be able to use advanced software for developing models. The entire Lehigh community, from engineering majors to writers for The Brown and White, can use the new laboratory as a window to the global economy.
This is a step in the right direction if the administration wants to expand Lehigh’s reputation beyond that of an engineering college (and it’s more pragmatic than changing the name of the mascot). The establishment of the FSL, along with recent renovations to the Wilbur Powerhouse and Coppee Hall, prove university officials are trying to raise standards, not just rankings.
These improvements are in line with several of Farrington’s “Seven Goals of Lehigh,” introduced in 2000 to serve as the university’s plan of action. The second rule states, “The quality and productivity of Lehigh’s faculty, staff, students, departments and programs should compare favorably with those of top-25 research universities.” Accordingly, the new financial laboratory will be comparable to facilities already in place at the University of Southern California and M.I.T., schools ahead of Lehigh in the 2004 U.S. News and World Report rankings.
Another of these goals is for the university to keep strong ties with its alumni. Certainly a donation more than twice the size of the average NBA salary is a good sign that this goal is being met. But what exactly could possess Mr. Perella to give so much money to his alma mater, for the benefit of students he’ll most likely never meet?
The answer is school pride. As an undergraduate student, he experienced first-hand the benefits and privileges that come with being part of the Lehigh community. As an alumnus, he saw that he could help give the same opportunities to current students, as well as scores of their future counterparts. This vigor — this willingness to give back — is what the university has always been particularly apt at cultivating in its former students; it’s no surprise Lehigh is ranked seventh in alumni giving.
But the Perellas of the world won’t always be around; today’s students will eventually be the ones visiting the “Giving to Lehigh” page so prominently displayed on the university’s Web site. In order for these future alumni to generously open their checkbooks, the administration needs to continue to provide an environment students will look upon with the same amount of pride as our current benefactors. Simply put, students should be happy with the education they receive.
While discussing Lehigh’s goals in a state of the university meeting, Farrington asked, “Are there ways that we can measure from a student perspective whether Lehigh is a great place to be, and how do we do it?”
There is a way, Mr. Farrington. Just ask us.
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