Question

Do you think that, during times of fiscal restraint, publicly funded universities have the luxury of saying "no" to large endowments?

The question here is not about the money and the financial restraint but of ethics and principles. As a university the institute is expected to set example to the community and adhere to their principle of freedom of choice and academics. If NYU took the money from RIM and then in future gets influenced by their business agenda then the University will lose its credibility and vision. That is more damaging than the financial constraint.

What are your thoughts around whether universities' academic freedom and ethics could be considered "for sale" in such cases?

If an organization needs to donate money to an institute there are many ways of doing it without an attached string. The organization could find ways to donate money anonymously. However whenever an organization like RIM wants to give $30M to institutes they usually come with some unspoken conditions. This is because organizations such as RIM are “for profit” after all. Due to this understanding it can be considered that the University’s academic freedom and ethics are “for sale” if they accept the money.

I believe that the consequences of RIM is vary from SNC as RIM focus more on public and their motives are very truthful

Question :  if the conversation isn't about money and rather about partnerships (exclusive co-op arrangements) or services (proprietary technology or software) - would that change anything? Would it be viewed differently if it's not a straight money transaction?

Answer 1

The main debate here is about the tag of “for sale”. If there is no money involved in the transaction or relationship between RIM and the university then most likely the entire partnership can be viewed differently.

Every university requires insights from the industry so that they can create curriculum and research on solving real world problem. While novelty problems such as dark matter or higgs boson are often the matter of highlight in the media, the real work is often done by the real research on the practical problems.

In such situation an outside organization such as RIM can provide deep insights. The university and the researchers could learn from RIM and in turn also help RIM with knowledge and theoretical methods to tackle their business challenges.

It is difficult to point at anyone as a winner or loser in such partnership but if done properly both the parties could benefit from the knowledge gained from one another. This should not mean that RIM provides technology to NYU only but also that NYU receives industry information, challenges, and other key problems that may require solution in today’s time.

Needless to say, if money is not involved, the chance of the relationship becoming one sided is reduced drastically and both parties can be independent and autonomous. Thus it will be viewed differently.