Mar 29 2006
NYU’s Dilemma
ScienceNOW Daily News is reporting the outrage on the campus of NYU concerning the large endowment given by the Leon Levy Foundation to create the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (one archeologist has apparently resigned in protest). The controversy surrounds the unsavory tactics of collecting ancient artifacts by the founder of the philanthropic group.
Let me first make two observations. (1) The stealing of ancient artifacts should be decried by all learned men/women especially by professional educators and distinguished archeologists. (2) Hypocrisy is humanity’s ubiquitous folly.
Rebuttal: It is the height of duplicity for a university to take money without question or criticism from one business/individual/foundation and disparage the source of another’s gift. Should Vanderbilt reject moneys from its university’s founder based on manipulative business practices? Or should the University of Chicago vilify John D. Rockefeller’s philanthropy for the pollution of gasoline burning automobiles? Harvard surely should give back its original donation lest it be seen as giving favoritism to the religion of John Harvard over another.
Instead NYU should commit to using the funds to advance learning to the end that individuals would see the necessity of preserving ancient artifacts and not the stealing thereof. What an opportunity to produce a virtuous outcome from a wayward start! If that is not the mission (and vision) of the university, what is?