---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 09:07:36 -0500
From: Albert Henderson <chessNIC@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Re: Clarification of "parasitism" and copyright (Dan Lester)

on Mon, 11 Feb 2002 Dan Lester <dan@riverofdata.com> wrote:

> Friday, February 08, 2002, 9:36:00 AM, you wrote:
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 19:39:57 -0500
> > From: Albert Henderson <chessNIC@COMPUSERVE.COM>
> > Subject: Clarification of "parasitism" and copyright (Stevan Harnad)
> >         What Stevan will never admit is that university
> >         managers have plundered library budgets since the
> >         1970s in anticipation of windfall savings from
> >         interlibrary photocopying. Any windfalls go right
>
[snip]

> All that being said, I'm renewing my challenge to Mr. Henderson to
> cite even ONE example of a profitable university that is supported by
> taxpayers.  I don't know whether Harvard or Yale have larger or
> smaller endowments than they had in the past, although I'd assume
> they're larger.  I won't, however, presume to tell those private
> institutions how they should spend their funds.

        Simply get out your DIGEST OF EDUCATION STATISTICS
        and subtract expenditures from revenues. In the
        2000 edition, table 340 (p372-3) shows expenditures
        of public research universities: $46,673,565,000
        Table 332 (p363) revenues are:    48,412,659,000
        I see profits over $1.7 billion (3.5% of income).

        You can repeat this exercise for other categories,
        state by state, etc. You will always find a profit.
        For an individual institution, you will have to
        seek out financial reports from other sources.

        Moreover, if you track such profits over several
        decades, you will find they grow -- as a percent
        of total revenue -- balanced by shrinking library
        spending!

        P.S. You will find the top 120 endowments in table
        354 (p386) include many state universities. Texas,
        California, and Pennsylvania are in the top ten
        ranked by wealth -- with market values over $2
        billion at the end of 1996. The Chronicle of Higher
        Education publishes more up-to-date figures.

        Thanks for asking.

        Best wishes,

Albert Henderson
Pres., Chess Combination Inc.
POB 2423 Bridgeport CT 06608-0423
<alh@chessNIC.com>