On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 2:35 PM Larry McVoy <lm(a)mcvoy.com> wrote:
I think the outrage of Epstein at MIT is more
about MIT knowingly taking
money from a convicted pedophile who had a lot of rich friends
I 100% agree. This is revolting and it >>is<< a shame it has gone on and
people who should have/could have done something, have let it happen.
But my cynical self says that it is nothing new. Look at the Kennedy's
and Harvard. None of the Kennedy's could keep their pants zipped and JFK's
father was a bootlegger during prohibition. But we have another generation
throwing money around and people are cheering.
There was an article in today's globe about this very issue about the
schools. Large orgs, like MIT and Harvard or my own CMU and UCB, are
fueled by money. CMU always has been looking for ways to get more money
since Dick Cyert (had been head of the business school making it a top 5
B-school became president when I was there). Cyert straight out told the EE
and CS Depts were are going to monitize you. He even did the same with
drama (supposedly CMU gets royalties from the hits that came out of there
like Godspell and a few others).
What was the line from 'The Right Stuff' - "No bucks, no Buck
Rogers."
Slime like Epstein, Trump, or Michael Corleone for the matter, do look for
a way to be more legitimate in the eyes of the world.
Hey, new firms like Google and Amazon have hardly been immune to issues in
sr leadership. So, the key is that you need to have people leading
institutions that are willing to say, "wait a minute" and not let greed
overtaking doing what it proper.
But ... how .. you do it is as important as what you do.
Henry Kissenger once said, "Money is power. But power is the ultimate
aphrodisiac."
I will note that while people weren't able to do large things, he
definitely wore out his welcome at several conferences where he was never
invited back. There's only so many issues that you can fight in the
large... They are quite tiring...
Warner