America 1982-Chapter 617 - 138: We Are Different_2

The total donation of two billion US Dollars stunned universities all across America, prompting many university-related magazines to launch investigations. Following the investigations, it was found that while the total amount of donations by Stanford University alumni has not yet surpassed Harvard and Yale, the number of individual donations and total number of donating alumni have begun to exceed them.

This is all thanks to Donald Kennedy. After all, when he first took over at Stanford University, the institution was still tarnished by the "Stanford Prison Experiment" scandal, with other universities joking that rich kids could simply pay their way into Stanford to legally trample on their poorer classmates. Newspapers even mocked this expert in human biology, claiming he would personally oversee the development of a more perfect, more brutal 2.0 version of the "Stanford Prison Experiment."

Now, any university that says it doesn’t envy Stanford’s transformation is lying. Previously, the medical school at Stanford was too small, with outdated equipment. Donald Kennedy convinced the Board of Trustees to raise funds to build a new medical school with first-class international standards for facilities and equipment. As soon as the new medical school was built, the faculty hardware ranking shot into the top ten in the nation.

How could those who graduated from this medical school not donate, considering that many alumni graduated when the Stanford Medical School was virtually unknown? They were constantly outperformed by graduates of other prestigious medical institutions. Now, overnight, graduating from Stanford Medical School is no longer a demerit but rather a bonus. The school has also created more opportunities for them after graduation, so naturally, they want to give back to Stanford when they earn money.

Furthermore, the percentage of students receiving economic aid or subsidies at other universities is only 5%, but at Stanford, after Donald Kennedy’s reforms, this figure has risen to 33%. That’s 33 students out of every 100 who have received economic subsidies from Stanford University. If you have good grades and don’t want to affect your studies by working part-time after class, no problem—as long as your transcript is impressive, the school can help extend your tuition loan, and offer many types of performance-based financial aid, ensuring that you can devote more energy to studying.

The students who were able to focus on their studies through various subsidies provided by Stanford University will surely feel immense gratitude toward the institution after graduation. How to express this gratitude? By donating to it.

It is with these donations that Stanford has grown ever more powerful, and the rapid change in the faculty-to-student ratio is unbelievable. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

For example, when Tommy Hawk started at Stanford University, there were 8,300 students and only 337 tenure-track professors. Now, there are 9,700 students, but the number of tenure-track professors has surpassed 950, with one tenure-track professor for every ten students.

"Tommy, let’s not talk about those highly specialized issues. Just some light topics, like friends do. I need to keep a clear mind; a few guys from Washington’s Department of State are coming to see me this morning, and I need to save my energy to deal with them," Donald didn’t wait for Tommy to speak, and proactively stated his request.

He might not remember other students, but how could he forget Tommy Hawk, who had donated a mid-sized library to Stanford during his tenure?

And over the years since graduation, the guy donated money so frequently that at one point, during a board of trustees meeting, they couldn’t help but joke that Tommy was like those outlaws from the era of the Wild West, who kept only a portion of their loot to replenish their guns and ammunition, bringing the rest back home to Stanford to support their brothers and sisters, ensuring they grow up and join him in robbery, transforming from a lone bandit into the leader of the Stanford outlaws.

"Is the Department of Education coming to argue with you again? What does the Department of State want with you? Stanford isn’t planning to secede from the United States and declare independence," Tommy, hearing ’State Department,’ thought the president must have misspoken, as Donald Kennedy couldn’t possibly know officials from the State Department. If there were to be a meeting, it should be with officials from the Department of Education.

The frequency of arguments between the president and William Bennett, the Secretary of Education during President Reagan’s term, was nearing the point of becoming a weekly drama. If a week’s newspapers and magazines related to education or universities didn’t include news of their quarrels, the readers would suspect that the editors were lazy and forgot to publish it, rather than doubt that they didn’t argue that week.

Their feud, which began in 1985, lasted over three years until the Secretary of Education was replaced.

The cause of the disputes was simple: Stanford University wanted to be more open to admitting students from all over the world and from all ethnic backgrounds, while William Bennett, a member of the new conservative faction of the Republican Party, consistently disagreed with the proposals Stanford University brought forward.

Of course, Stanford University ultimately triumphed, which is why today there is a large population of Asian computer industry professionals in Stanford’s campus and Silicon Valley.

"No, I didn’t misspeak—it is indeed the Department of State. The State Department is currently finalizing Gorbachev’s itinerary for his visit to the United States next month with the Soviet Union. They have proposed visiting Stanford University during the visit, wanting to hear my opinion on this, and through me, get a sense of what research successes at Stanford University can be demonstrated to him, which ones need to be hidden away, and what kind of welcome banquet should be arranged for them," said Donald Kennedy as he wiped sweat from his neck with the towel around it.