Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Hmmmm ....

As all Macalester students and alumni know, once upon a time, DeWitt Wallace gave a lot of Reader's Digest stock to Macalester College. $450 million worth, in fact. I know about this because Macalester likes to make a big deal out of it -- in recruiting brochures, in alumni newsletters, etc.

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw this on the Strib's website today.

"The University of St. Thomas announced Wednesday the largest fund drive in its 122-year history, with the acceptance of a $60 million gift that is the largest contribution ever made to a Minnesota college or university."

One of three things is going on here:

a) Macalester is no longer in Minnesota. I know we've always flown the UN flag on campus, but ....

b) The Wallace endowment somehow doesn't count because it was in stock and not cash.

c) A Strib reporter swallowed a press release whole and regurgitated it onto the page.

I wouldn't care so much if it didn't seem to be the hook he hung the whole story on. And if it wasn't St. Thomas, for fuck's sake.

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