Through a new fee required for attendance, TU plans to give back.
As part of the university’s philanthropic endeavors, The University of Tulsa has partnered with the charity The Human Fund. The organization, whose tagline “money for people” captures their vision perfectly, promises to offer real change for people in a concrete manner, not relying on vague description but really offering some much needed relief to its target group, humans.
The initiative will draw its funding from a newly implemented fee required for attendance at TU. At just $250, the fee offers a level of satisfaction far exceeding its material value, the kind only available through mandatory donation. President Carson’s email, sent to all current students, explaining the new fee describes it as “absolutely integral to the mission of this university” and “of the utmost importance to the Board of Trustees.” He ends the message by arguing that “[i]f it was [sic] not for this charitable effort, we would continue to blindly grapple [sic] with the imprecise direction where this university is going to [sic].”
Critics have compared it to the far more vague “technology fee,” of equal cost to students, arguing that it represents another way for the university to siphon more money out of students covertly, but the objectives of this fee, so clearly articulated, seem to negate this comparison.
Helping with this mission is president and founder of The Human Fund, Arthur “Art” Vandelay, a close friend of President Carson. In a recent interview with “60 Minutes,” Mr. Vandelay discussed what brought him to create his charity:
Working, as I did, as an architect, you encounter a lot of people. People will hire you for all sorts of jobs as an architect, whether that be for building business — which, as you know, serve people every day — or building houses or apartment complexes that house people, it becomes difficult not to see the human aspects of everything you do. When I realized that, it became obvious that someone needed to create an organization dedicated to this group: people. That’s why I have recently chosen to partner with TU, who shares my appreciation of finding specific areas for improvement and going at them with defined goals.
Ironically, The Human Fund frequently employs the assistance of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for administrative problems, the same consulting group TU hired for assistance with True Commitment. Vandelay most recently brought in the help of BCG to help with The Human Fund’s own reorganization efforts, which saw the creation of 120 new administrative roles with the organization. BCG’s website touts the great success in this endeavor despite the fact that they were unable to identify a substantial change in the charitable efforts, negative if any.
TU will celebrate their new partnership with a Mar. 3 celebration on Chapman Commons which will feature catered food, inflatable attractions, a mechanical bull, a surprise guest appearance from John Stamos’ brother Richard Stamos, the Knights Who Say ‘Ni’ (but who now may say ‘Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-PTANG. Zoom-Boing. Z’nourrwringmm’), cliff diving, laser tag, deep sea fishing, Troy Aikman, a petting zoo and bubble wands. TU and The Human Fund will share the costs.
