Word: petersons
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Although two consulting firms are presently studying the feasability of switching to one consolidated drive, Peterson says he doubts the University will make the change. Harvard raises as much money or more than other universities, "without making a lot of noise about announcing a five year $300 million drive. We just go on as we are." Through the Development Office and its mini-drives, Harvard raised an average of approximately $54.2 million annually in each of the last ten years, an amount slightly greater than those other schools raise in their major drives...
Fluctuations in the national economy and the stock market naturally affect giving to Harvard. "Bad times dry up sources of money and frighten people," Peterson says. But he adds that an efficient fundraising system should be able to overcome these trends. With the right "psychological" as well as economic strategy, Harvard can "largely ignore economic fluctuation. We plan in the good times so that we can survive the bad," he says...
Although corporations, like individuals, can take a tax deduction on their gifts, "nobody makes money on a gift," Peterson says. He feels corporations have the same basic motives for giving that individuals do. While the individual may be concerned with "doing something immortal" for the alma mater, Peterson says that if corporations are going to exercise power, giving money to an educational institution is certainly a "benign" way to do so. Corporations may feel "obligated to support institutions which provide them with technology and people...
...Peterson says he does not believe the University compromises itself in its dealings with corporations such as Continental Oil who endowed a $1 million chair at the Business School, or foreign countries such as Korea. "Buying off doesn't happen. Donors have no power to appoint a professor, to tell him what to study, what to publish," he says. Once they make a gift, although the University is obligated both "morally and legally" to adhere strictly to its terms, it is final. "They can't get their money back," he points...
Gifts or financial arrangements with foreign countries have sometimes come under particular scrutiny, but Peterson says that as long as Harvard is not restricted, the benefits usually outweigh the drawbacks. He compares these grants with the situation a black student sometimes faces. "Shouldn't he take a fellowship to finance his education even if the money originally came from a fortune originating from slave exploitation?" he asks. Peterson believes he should...