Check it. The Stephen M. Ross Academic Center at 1110 South State Street opened in 2006. It's 3 stories tall with 38,000 square feet comprised of meeting rooms, offices, study space, computer labs, and double-secret-special rooms open only to athletes. I'd love to see if the average GPA of the athletes went up since it opened....Mr. Ross, ponied up $5 million of the total 12 million dollar cost to get his name on the door. But that was just CHUMP change because he gave 100 million to the business school in 2004. He's got his name on that door too. (and no, Andy, I've got the numbers right)
Stephen M. Ross is sooooo big that he's got his own wikipedia page! No kidding. He is an alum of our esteemed institution, attaining an accounting degree in 1962. He is also a lawyer and a real estate mogul. He is originally a Detroiter but graduated from high school in Florida. Which explains why he is the owner of the Miami Dolphins and not our darned Lions.....
The other cool fact (imho) is that he is the nephew of Detroit philanthropist extraordinaire Max M. Fischer. Who put HIS name on the b-school at tUOS. Yeah, we Detroiters OWN you buckeyes....hah!
I was wondering though if Ross may have lost some of his coin to Madoff. Not sure if you have found this site muckety.com but it gives you the opportunity to create a relationships map for people, institutions, companies etc. I started a page on SMR---happy hunting!
The Michigan Daily had a piece about the center in 2007 and it's exclusive operating policy....interesting dilemma. I don't have a position one way or another (yeah yeah, pick yourselves up off the floor), but I wonder what you guys think about the exclusivity of these academic services for athletes.......
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8 comments:
GeezLouise... I make one innocent comment after mis-reading a couple of zeros and all the sudden I am the bad-guy!
Andy,
Are you quoting Bernie Madoff?
it's so rare that you are wrong dear Andy that I have to exploit my victories every 20 years or so! ;-)
Whet:
I am not quoting Madoff.
In the first "know your building" post I had the unfortunate opportunity to question T9s reference to the revenue produced by ALRO.
In fact my mind saw 3 more zeros than she put on the post.
I was wrong. She was right.
Story of my life.
Let's play a short game of CASH CAB.
Stephen M. Ross was a Florida resident as a child and grew up to give millions to the University of Michigan.
What man was a Michigan native as a child and grew up to give millions to the University of Florida?
(the winner gets zeroes from Andy)
Getting back to the initial question posed by T9:
I think it is perfectly ok for athletes to benefit from a special academic setting devoted to them.
These kids put in a lot of hours in exchange for their scholarships AND the University is measured by the NCAA on how many athletes actually graduate.
It makes sense to spend some of the deep budget resources to ensure they are successful.
heh uconn :)
I forgot Andy's email or how to find it on here. Figured here's one for the "where are they now?/You stupid clown jackass." posts. http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2009/07/cleveland_browns_list_braylon.html
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