Hamilton College Alumni for Governance Reform

stewart is retiring

Another wicked rumor to raise our false hopes?!?

Be still, my beating heart! Not that I loved Stewart less, but that I loved Hamilton more. Alas, too good to be true.

(Dear Deadbeat Alumn),

I, my colleagues, and our predecessors in Hamilton’s Economics Department, such as the esteemed and sorely missed Sidney Wertimer, coaxed, cajoled, and counseled you to success. We did this not out of duty, but because we believed in your potential, in the certainty that you would, in due course, positively impact the world through your work and lives. We gladly leant our time and expertise to you, and would do so again without reservation or condition. We are proud of you and of our shared department, which continues to host the largest numbers of majors and course offerings at the college, with professors recognized by their national peers to be of the highest caliber. I must point out, however, that none of this would be or have been possible without the generosity of previous generations of Hamilton alumni.

That said, I was surprised and distraught to learn that many Economics alumni have not yet given to this year’s Annual Fund. Given the depth of the global economic downturn and its pervasive impact, Hamilton included, I feel it is necessary to coax and cajole you once again – please support your alma mater. Current students should have, at minimum, the same opportunities that you had. One financial aid dollar of every four comes from unrestricted Annual Fund gifts. You can (at risk of being forward might I say should) play a significant role in perpetuating the tradition of educational excellence on the Hill. There is an expression, perhaps now overused but nevertheless still instructive – Pay It Forward. Please.

I look forward to hearing that Hamilton’s Economics alumni recognize how important their support is to the future of our College, including the Economics Department itself.

I sincerely appreciate your consideration of this request. Thank you.

With best regards,

Erol Balkan
Professor of Economics

Dear Prof.Erol,

Thanks for your comments.

Scarcity is a good concept to revisit even in the context of academia. It was rumored that the College paid Jonathan Stewart a sum significantly greater than $100,000 for his recent show at Hamilton. Is that correct?

Can you confirm the specific number?

If so, it may not square the concept of highest & best use for some alumni, even economics majors. They may view it as an example of an unconstrained marginal propensity to consume...you know, entertainment qua luxury good.

As to educational excellence, did not Hamilton recently terminate merit scholarships so the resources could be otherwise diverted? Perhaps for Jon?

From HOLAC:
"The Sacerdote Great Names Series brings to campus national and international leaders in government, business, science and the arts. Established in 1996, the series provides Hamilton students, professors and staff members, as well as the broader community, with opportunities to interact with some of the world's most renowned individuals through free, public lectures and, in many cases, intimate classroom discussions. The series is made possible by a significant gift from Peter and Bonnie Sacerdote and their son Alex Sacerdote '94, and is named in their honor."

Clearly, the Sacerdote gift was a restricted (i.e., earmarked) gift - and one could therefore conclude that annual fund gifts, as well as monies designated for scholarships of any sort, were not used to fund the Jon Stewart performance.

Wasn't Jon Stewart the source of the pinata image that sparked all the protests on the Hill this spring?

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=113671&title=Headlines---Borders

Paquette has written an op-ed on the Delta Phi incident.
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2009/05/war_over_a_trojan_horse.html

Off-topic, but $10.7 million to renovate/expand ELS seems like an extraordinary amount of money to me. Wow! Does the College really need to spend this much for yet another place for students to congregate and socialize (plus other stuff, I know), while having to charge $50k/year to attend the school? I would love to see a breakdown of the costs.

Visited Hamilton during Alumni weekend.

College says 10.7 million is bargain in current economy.

Original estimate was closer to 20 million.

Much talk about student diversity. No mention of intellectual diversity.

I have been told by an eminent academic critic that I am a sad symptom of the failure of an intellectual class in time of crisis. The implication being, I suppose, that the professor and his colleagues are hilarious symptoms of success. The benefactors of humanity deserve due honor and commemoration. Let us build a Pantheon for professors. It should be located among the ruins of one of the gutted cities of Europe or Japan, and over the entrance to the ossuary I would inscribe, in letters six or seven feet high, the simple words: Sacred to the memory of the world's educators. SI MONUMENTUM REQUIRIS, CIRCUMSPICE.
A Huxley