LA Supreme court to hear Newcomb College suit

Sophie Newcomb finally gets her day in court, to the chagrin of Scott “everything or nothing” Cowen.

Donors are not stupid. They can clearly see a pattern here. If the Louisiana Supreme Court lets the appeals court decision stand, it will have a chilling effect on charitable giving in this very needy state. The courts will be telling donors: Give at your own risk. The charitable organizations you support are under no obligation to use your gifts for the purpose you have designated. If this happens, many people may, understandably, stop giving.

Way to go, Scotty boy. You're gonna lose this one, and the cost to the University -- not just the cost in goodwill you've already levied against Tulane, but the financial cost to reinstate Newcomb after you tried so damned hard to obliterate it, will be the final straw for the board, and they'll boot your misguided profiteering ass to the curb.

Especially interesting, since university presidents no longer need qualifications, just connections.

BTW, that's Sophie Newcomb, not Sophie Nuke'em.

Comments

[Frolic]

What I've never understood is what the alum want? Will they be satisfied if Newcomb again becomes a "college in name only" like it was before the storm? And if they want it to be a real college again, why didn't they complain when it was dismantled years ago? Because you're not really a college if you don't have professors and classes, and Newcomb hasn't had either of those for a long time.

[ashley]

The "mission statement" of the group I cited is here: http://newcomblives.com/main/?page_id=100 , and they say that they want Newcomb returned to the place it was before Katrina. I think the main deal they want is a college in name, so that Female students are admitted to Newcomb, and their sheepskin says Newcomb.

That's not asking too awful much, yet for some reason, it was too much in the eyes of Cowen.

[Frolic]

Thanks for the link. I'd read the website, but it's been a while. All the talk about "restoring the college" had me confused.

I've never been very convinced by the Save Newcomb contention that this was a money grab. We're talking about $40 million, or roughly $2 million a year. Not pocket change, but not a fortune either. Was it just an effort to streamline the administration?

[ashley]

From what I've heard and read, it was twofold: 1) by admitting all undergrads to the same college, they can reduce "redundant positions" for Newcomb, and have some savings there. 2) by rolling Newcomb's last vestiges into the Tulane/Newcomb ugrad college, Scott Cowen is able to use the Newcomb endowment as he sees fit, instead of just keeping it earmarked for Newcomb.

[saintseester]

So. I suppose there is no chance of correcting the Engineering mistake, though. You know, because some alumni gave beaucoups of money to that school, which is now gone, too.

[ashley]

There's not really any appeal like this that can be done for Engineering. Cowen was very shrewd in his wording of the line of succession for the Filo donations. No leg to stand on, and Filo has been dead silent. I'm sure, if he raised a little hell about it, something may have been done, but it's all water under the bridge now.

[Ray]

Well, fuck Filo, fuck his money, and fuck his dying has-been business. Google has been bending him and his engineering staff over a table and doing them with the strap-on for the last five years anyway.

[LatinTeacher]

Other schools do what Tulane/Newcomb did - Rutgers comes to mind. All the colleges are separate, but they are under the auspices of Rutgers. When I was at Tulane, I took most of my classes in Newcomb. The best part was graduation in which each college had its own traditions. I don't remember orientation though (mainly because I don't think I went). I know its about money, but some things are worth more than money. If no one raised a peep, I could see how this would be ok. But since people are pissed, Cowen should just back the hell off.