finally: an alum who isn't stingy like the rest of us!

I just received the following form letter from my alma mater:

Office of the President

September 18, 2013

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is with great pleasure that I write to share the news that Georgetown will take a transformative step in the history of our University and create our ninth school, the McCourt School of Public Policy. This milestone is made possible by an extraordinary gift of $100 million from alumnus Frank H. McCourt Jr. (C’75), the largest gift in the history of our University.

I invite you to read more about The McCourt School here and in today’s Washington Post.

The McCourt School is grounded in the existing strengths of our University – our academic excellence, our extraordinary faculty, our location in Washington, D.C. and our relationships with global leaders. Throughout our history, Georgetown has risen to meet the most pressing challenges of our time. Following the First World War, Georgetown created our Walsh School of Foreign Service to contribute to global peace by preparing young diplomatic leaders. In 1957 we started what is now our McDonough School of Business as a recognition of America’s place in a growing world economy. And now we have the ability to build on our existing strengths once again to bring new understanding to the complex and evolving field of public policy and its application in solving global challenges.

The McCourt School will build upon the foundation of exceptional research, scholarship and teaching that has characterized the Georgetown Public Policy Institute since its founding in 1996. This will position us to compete for the most talented students through the new McCourt Fellows Program, which will recruit and offer full scholarships to the country’s most promising future public policy makers and scholars. Our faculty will benefit substantially as we expand our expertise through the addition of endowed faculty appointments, as well as more core faculty and interdisciplinary positions as the school grows.

With this new school, Georgetown will shape public policy in a new way by taking a dynamic, data-driven, interdisciplinary approach. We seek to respond to the changing landscape of public policy by harnessing and navigating the data that new advances in technology and communications have generated in the past decade. Through the Massive Data Institute, the McCourt School will train the next generation of leaders to critically analyze, extract and use these large sets of data to better inform public policy.

With the establishment of a new Center for Politics and Policy at the McCourt School, we will strengthen our tradition as leaders in civil and civic discourse, convening leading policy makers and scholars who are grounded in policy and bring broad expertise to our dialogue.

The McCourt School represents a new era for Georgetown, one that connects the strengths of our community – our resources, our traditions, and our enduring commitment to building the common good – with the power of innovation and technology to address the policy challenges of the 21st century.

This gift, a historic achievement in our $1.5 billion For Generations to Come campaign, is a testament to our exceptional community and the truly outstanding accomplishments of our students and faculty. The result of deep engagement with Mr. McCourt over many years, this generous act of philanthropy reflects the very best of this vibrant community of which we are all a part.

I look forward to the opportunity to celebrate this milestone for Georgetown on October 8, when we will formally launch the McCourt School of Public Policy at an academic ceremony and celebration.

You have my very best wishes.

Sincerely,

John J. DeGioia

Translation:

Dear Everyone,

Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneyWOO-HOO!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneyWOO-HOO!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneyWOO-HOO!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneyWOO-HOO!!moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneywoo-hoo!!

Thank you. We are so awesome.

Hell, if I had $100 million lying around, I'd seriously consider giving it to Georgetown to found the Kevin Kim School of Logsmanship and Scatology. Alas, I barely have $100 to rub together, let alone $100 million. I'm happy, though, that Mr. Frank H. McCourt, Jr., gave the gift he did: that takes pressure off the rest of us, and skews the statistics that show the relative generosity of various university alumni. Georgetown normally scores pretty low on that scale, and I have to admit that I haven't been much of a giver to the G-town cause in the years since I graduated. In my defense, I'll say that's because I've chosen a life of relative poverty, and also because I rarely, if ever, worry that Georgetown University will somehow run out of funds.

Inconthievable!


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