WHO RULES COOPER UNION?—Conclusion: A Look at Cooper Union’s Bristol-Myers Squibb and Vassar College-Yale University/Bain Capital Connections
(A shorter version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of the Lower East Side underground/alternative newspaper, “The Shadow”)
Perhaps the ultra-rich folks who rule Cooper Union should ask the 1 percent of the people who control Bain Capital (as well as Bristol Myers-Squibb, Vasser College and Yale University) to share some of the big money they apparently obtained from owning Burger King and exploiting Burger King workers and consumers between 2002 and 2010 with Cooper Union—in order to continue providing free tuition for Cooper Union students after the Fall of 2014?
Otherwise, perhaps the Cooper Union Administration should lose its special city tax break privileges on its Chrysler Building commercial real estate property? For, as Werner Cohn noted in his 1996 study, titled “Cooper Union and The Chrysler Building:”
“The…Chrysler Building in New York is one of the city's most famous sights...But while in many ways the building is very conspicuous, there is also a hidden side...What is hidden is that the building pays no property taxes and that the money that would ordinarily be due for such taxes is used to support a private college, Cooper Union. This institution, an elite and…private college…on Manhattan's lower east side, has so far been able to escape taxation of the Chrysler Building even though it is the general rule in New York that real estate taxes are due on commercial property regardless of who owns it.
“The resulting loss to the City…is not a trivial amount in a city that is chronically short of cash….The Chrysler Building has always been used for wholly commercial purposes. The ground on which the building stands, but not the building itself, is owned by Cooper Union. The building's owner pays Cooper Union what he would otherwise have to pay the City…The institution's library, which Peter Cooper had ordained to be free to the community, is now closed to the public. So it cannot be said that the City's taxpayer, unless he is a matriculated Cooper student, gets a direct benefit from Cooper's tax exemption….”
(end of article)
Showing posts with label Yale University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yale University. Show all posts
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
Who Rules Cooper Union?--Part 10
WHO RULES COOPER UNION?—Part 10: A Look at Cooper Union’s Bristol-Myers Squibb and Vassar College-Yale University/Bain Capital Connections
(A shorter version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of the Lower East Side underground/alternative newspaper, “The Shadow”)
Besides being Vassar College’s president, Cooper Union Trustee “Cappy” Hill also sits next to a Bain Capital founder and managing director who has focused on consumer and retail companies—Yale Investment Committee Member Joshua Bekenstein--on Yale University’s governing board: the Yale Corporation. As Yale University’s president-elect Peter Salovey told the "Yale News" on May 28, 2013:
“I am looking forward to working closely with Josh and Cappy. Both are…leaders with a deep love for this University. I am thrilled that they will join the Yale Corporation just as I begin my presidency.”
One reason Cooper Union Trustee “Cappy” Hill might have a deeper love for Yale University than for Cooper Union might be because the only U.S. university or college with an endowment whose market value exceeds the market value of Yale University’s endowment--$19.3 billiion-- is Harvard University. Given “non-profit” and tax-exempt Yale University’s apparent business relationship to Bain Capital and Cooper Union Trustee Hill’s colleague on the Yale Corporation board, Bain Capital Managing Director Josh Bekenstein, it’s not surprising that the market value of Yale University’s endowment has apparently been able to increase during the last 20 years. In a July 16, 2012 article, for example, "The Nation" magazine noted that Bain Capital (a private equity firm to which 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has also been connected to historically) “makes its money by buying functional US manufacturing and service firms and rendering them dysfunctional,” “guts American companies, ripping out whatever parts are profitable and then tossing the workers aside,” “forces cuts in wages, benefits and pensions,” “outsources work” and “offshores production—harming American workers and communities and undermining American industries…. “
And in a June 22, 2012 "New York Times" op-ed column, titled “Burger King, the Cash Cow,” Joe Nocera indicated how Bain Capital managers made a lot of money from collaborating with Goldman Sachs and TGP to purchase Burger King in 2002 and sell Burger King in 2010:
“In 2002, Goldman Sachs, along with two private equity firms, TGP and ... hmmm ... Bain Capital, teamed up to buy Burger King…. The private equity investors…cut themselves an incredibly sweet deal. Their $1.5 billion purchase price included only $210 million of their own money; the rest was borrowed. They immediately began taking out tens of millions of dollars in fees. Four years later, they took Burger King public. But, first, they rewarded themselves with a $448 million dividend. In all, according to "The Wall Street Journal", `the firms received $511 million in dividend, fees, expense reimbursements and interest’” — while still retaining a 76 percent stake….In 2010, Bain, Goldman and TPG cashed out, selling Burger King to 3G Capital, for $3.3 billion. In sum, the original private equity troika reaped a fortune by selling a company that was in nearly as much trouble as it had been when they first bought it….”
(end of part 10)
(A shorter version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of the Lower East Side underground/alternative newspaper, “The Shadow”)
Besides being Vassar College’s president, Cooper Union Trustee “Cappy” Hill also sits next to a Bain Capital founder and managing director who has focused on consumer and retail companies—Yale Investment Committee Member Joshua Bekenstein--on Yale University’s governing board: the Yale Corporation. As Yale University’s president-elect Peter Salovey told the "Yale News" on May 28, 2013:
“I am looking forward to working closely with Josh and Cappy. Both are…leaders with a deep love for this University. I am thrilled that they will join the Yale Corporation just as I begin my presidency.”
One reason Cooper Union Trustee “Cappy” Hill might have a deeper love for Yale University than for Cooper Union might be because the only U.S. university or college with an endowment whose market value exceeds the market value of Yale University’s endowment--$19.3 billiion-- is Harvard University. Given “non-profit” and tax-exempt Yale University’s apparent business relationship to Bain Capital and Cooper Union Trustee Hill’s colleague on the Yale Corporation board, Bain Capital Managing Director Josh Bekenstein, it’s not surprising that the market value of Yale University’s endowment has apparently been able to increase during the last 20 years. In a July 16, 2012 article, for example, "The Nation" magazine noted that Bain Capital (a private equity firm to which 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has also been connected to historically) “makes its money by buying functional US manufacturing and service firms and rendering them dysfunctional,” “guts American companies, ripping out whatever parts are profitable and then tossing the workers aside,” “forces cuts in wages, benefits and pensions,” “outsources work” and “offshores production—harming American workers and communities and undermining American industries…. “
And in a June 22, 2012 "New York Times" op-ed column, titled “Burger King, the Cash Cow,” Joe Nocera indicated how Bain Capital managers made a lot of money from collaborating with Goldman Sachs and TGP to purchase Burger King in 2002 and sell Burger King in 2010:
“In 2002, Goldman Sachs, along with two private equity firms, TGP and ... hmmm ... Bain Capital, teamed up to buy Burger King…. The private equity investors…cut themselves an incredibly sweet deal. Their $1.5 billion purchase price included only $210 million of their own money; the rest was borrowed. They immediately began taking out tens of millions of dollars in fees. Four years later, they took Burger King public. But, first, they rewarded themselves with a $448 million dividend. In all, according to "The Wall Street Journal", `the firms received $511 million in dividend, fees, expense reimbursements and interest’” — while still retaining a 76 percent stake….In 2010, Bain, Goldman and TPG cashed out, selling Burger King to 3G Capital, for $3.3 billion. In sum, the original private equity troika reaped a fortune by selling a company that was in nearly as much trouble as it had been when they first bought it….”
(end of part 10)
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Who Rules Cooper Union?--Part 9
WHO RULES COOPER UNION?—Part 9: A Look at Cooper Union’s Bristol-Myers Squibb and Vassar College-Yale University/Bain Capital Connections
(A shorter version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of the Lower East Side underground/alternative newspaper, “The Shadow”)
Cooper Union’s Vassar College-Yale University/Bain Capital Connection
Officially, Cooper Union is not institutionally affiliated with either Vassar College or Yale University. Yet in June 2013 a member of the Yale Corporation governing board and policymaking body for Yale University and the president of Vassar College named Catharine “Cappy” Hill was elected to a post on the Cooper Union board of trustees by a unanimous vote—in an “election” in which neither Cooper Union students, Cooper Union faculty members, Cooper Union workers or Lower East Side community residents were allowed to participate.
According to Vassar College’s Form 990 financial filing for 2010, between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011, Cooper Union Trustee “Cappy” Hill was given a total compensation package of $619,963 by “non-profit” Vassar College for being Vassar College’s president. In addition, Vassar College provided the former World Bank employee-turned college president an “on-campus house” and paid “annual dues for clubs” that the Vassar College President Hill joined.
One reason Vassar College can apparently provide such a generous total compensation package to Cooper Union Trustee Hill is that the market value of Vassar College’s endowment--$867 million-- is even greater than the current market value of Cooper Union’s endowment. Only 90 other U.S. universities or colleges have endowments whose market value exceeds that of Vassar College; and only 15 other liberal arts colleges have endowments whose market value exceeds that of the college whose president is now also a Cooper Union trustee.
As "The Miscellany News" student newspaper noted in an April 25, 2012 article, “Vassar’s investment portfolio…features stakes in oil pump manufacturers, tobacco corporations and other controversial bodies;” and “is comprised of a diverse pool of assets—stocks, bonds, shares in mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity and venture capital, real estate partnerships, and oil and gas partnerships are all in the mix.” And as Gabriel Dunsmith observed in an “Open Letter to Vassar College Board of Trustees” on February 23, 2013:
“Vassar’s endowment has also shown remarkable growth in the last few years…Between 2008 and 2011, the endowment grew from $700 million to $814 million—an increase of more than sixteen (16) percent in just three years…”
Since about l0 percent of Vassar College’s endowment is invested in Big Oil corporations like Exxon, BP and Shell, however, students at Vassar College have recently raised some moral objections about how the college that Cooper Union Trustee Hill is president of has been investing its endowment funds. As an article by Jessica Tarantine from the "Miscellany News" from late 2012 reported:
“The Vassar Greens are currently mounting a campaign for the College to divest fully from fossil fuels. While originally a grassroots movement from the Greens, the campaign has gained support from other organizations, such as the Feminist Alliance, Vassar Animal Rights Coalition, and the Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics….The organization received word that the College holds investments in the fossil fuel industry….such as Exxon, BP and Shell...The exact amount of Vassar’s endowment invested in fossil fuels is hard to determine. While the College can tell that 8-9 percent of its endowment is invested in fossil fuels through co-mingled funds–which are similar to mutual funds and publish their holdings–and direct ownership of stocks, it is unable to determine the amount invested in hedge funds, which do not publish the companies they invest in as the information is considered proprietary. Investments in hedge funds account for roughly 30 percent of the College’s endowment.
“But Vice President for Finance and Administration Betsy Eismeier did give a figure for the amount the College holds direct investments and in portfolios which we know contain fossil fuel companies. `My understanding is that we know of about $73 million in the portfolio spread across a wide number of underlying fund managers that is invested in companies producing fossil fuel,’ she wrote in an emailed statement…”
(end of part 9)
(A shorter version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of the Lower East Side underground/alternative newspaper, “The Shadow”)
Cooper Union’s Vassar College-Yale University/Bain Capital Connection
Officially, Cooper Union is not institutionally affiliated with either Vassar College or Yale University. Yet in June 2013 a member of the Yale Corporation governing board and policymaking body for Yale University and the president of Vassar College named Catharine “Cappy” Hill was elected to a post on the Cooper Union board of trustees by a unanimous vote—in an “election” in which neither Cooper Union students, Cooper Union faculty members, Cooper Union workers or Lower East Side community residents were allowed to participate.
According to Vassar College’s Form 990 financial filing for 2010, between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011, Cooper Union Trustee “Cappy” Hill was given a total compensation package of $619,963 by “non-profit” Vassar College for being Vassar College’s president. In addition, Vassar College provided the former World Bank employee-turned college president an “on-campus house” and paid “annual dues for clubs” that the Vassar College President Hill joined.
One reason Vassar College can apparently provide such a generous total compensation package to Cooper Union Trustee Hill is that the market value of Vassar College’s endowment--$867 million-- is even greater than the current market value of Cooper Union’s endowment. Only 90 other U.S. universities or colleges have endowments whose market value exceeds that of Vassar College; and only 15 other liberal arts colleges have endowments whose market value exceeds that of the college whose president is now also a Cooper Union trustee.
As "The Miscellany News" student newspaper noted in an April 25, 2012 article, “Vassar’s investment portfolio…features stakes in oil pump manufacturers, tobacco corporations and other controversial bodies;” and “is comprised of a diverse pool of assets—stocks, bonds, shares in mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity and venture capital, real estate partnerships, and oil and gas partnerships are all in the mix.” And as Gabriel Dunsmith observed in an “Open Letter to Vassar College Board of Trustees” on February 23, 2013:
“Vassar’s endowment has also shown remarkable growth in the last few years…Between 2008 and 2011, the endowment grew from $700 million to $814 million—an increase of more than sixteen (16) percent in just three years…”
Since about l0 percent of Vassar College’s endowment is invested in Big Oil corporations like Exxon, BP and Shell, however, students at Vassar College have recently raised some moral objections about how the college that Cooper Union Trustee Hill is president of has been investing its endowment funds. As an article by Jessica Tarantine from the "Miscellany News" from late 2012 reported:
“The Vassar Greens are currently mounting a campaign for the College to divest fully from fossil fuels. While originally a grassroots movement from the Greens, the campaign has gained support from other organizations, such as the Feminist Alliance, Vassar Animal Rights Coalition, and the Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics….The organization received word that the College holds investments in the fossil fuel industry….such as Exxon, BP and Shell...The exact amount of Vassar’s endowment invested in fossil fuels is hard to determine. While the College can tell that 8-9 percent of its endowment is invested in fossil fuels through co-mingled funds–which are similar to mutual funds and publish their holdings–and direct ownership of stocks, it is unable to determine the amount invested in hedge funds, which do not publish the companies they invest in as the information is considered proprietary. Investments in hedge funds account for roughly 30 percent of the College’s endowment.
“But Vice President for Finance and Administration Betsy Eismeier did give a figure for the amount the College holds direct investments and in portfolios which we know contain fossil fuel companies. `My understanding is that we know of about $73 million in the portfolio spread across a wide number of underlying fund managers that is invested in companies producing fossil fuel,’ she wrote in an emailed statement…”
(end of part 9)
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