What does the largest donation in KU Athletics history say about KU’s priorities?
On August 13th, KU business school graduate David Booth donated a “historic $300 million gift” to KU Athletics. It is the single largest gift in KU Athletics history and among the largest across the history of American universities.
Booth is Chairperson, former CEO, and founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors, which manages roughly $850 billion in assets and employs over 1,500 workers. He was among the first to create an index fund in the late 1970s. Put simply, Booth was one of the first ‘innovators’ of neoliberal capitalism. His net worth is over $2 billion.
Booth graduated from KU with an undergraduate degree in 1968 and a masters in 1969 before studying at UChicago for his MBA. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, which describes itself as “Analytical. Collaborative. Bold. Booth.” is also named after him.
Booth’s gift to athletics comes as David Booth Memorial Stadium, also named after him, is undergoing the largest renovation in its history. First set into motion back in 2017, the first phase of the project, which has cost $450 million thus far, was planned largely behind closed doors, has unclear and dubious return-on-investment potential, and is reflective of broader discontent with KU administration. Phase two of the project, which will supposedly start after this coming football season, has an initial price tag of $360 million and just received $94.6 million in financial and tax incentives from the city of Lawrence. If the price for phase two increases in the same proportion as it did for the initial disclosed cost of phase one, its final price tag could be closer to $600 million.
The gift is split into two portions, with $75 million being put towards the Booth stadium renovations now and the remaining $225 million being spread out over the coming decades.
For reference, with $300 million, you could pay for, roughly and on average, three semesters of every in-state student’s tuition, three semesters of tuition of every student who has applied for financial aid, and four semesters of the tuition of every student who receives federal loans on the Lawrence campus. You could pay for every available bed in student housing for six years. You could buy a meal plan for every Lawrence campus undergrad for six years or for just freshmen for the next two and a half decades. You could tear down and build about ten dorm buildings. You could fund Student Senate’s fees for the next dozen years. You could complete almost half of KU’s deferred maintenance on their “mission-critical” buildings. Instead, Booth’s gift will fund football.
KU Athletics director Travis Goff has described “David's unprecedented generosity” as “transformative now and for [KU Athletics’] future.” KU football is 34-95 over the last decade, including its two bowl games, of which it has won one – its first since 2008.
The $300 million gift comes shortly after the KU School of Business received $60 million between two donations from an anonymous donor.
As KU’s higher-ups celebrate receiving a sizable share of a billionaire’s private equity fortune, they are asking their leaders to ‘find’ $32 million in savings, enforcing a hiring freeze, stalling out negotiations with UAKU, neglecting their $750 million in deferred maintenance, raising tuition without end, and bending over backwards to pre-emptively and over-comply with state and federal law, among other transgressions against their constituents. These flashy projects attract attention and private investments to the University, but as a result, its core tenants – education, supporting students, and engaging with their community – are pushed aside.
If nothing else, though, the next time KU says there isn’t money for something, remember where their priorities lie. If they wanted to, they could.
This is a gross misunderstanding of the facts. David Booth donated that money specifically to Athletics, it is HIS money. He is choosing to spend it on athletics to support a university and growing industry both at KU, nationwide, and globally. I can guarantee that money will being in much more than $300 million to the university as a whole that will then be able to be used for the other projects. The university has no power to use that money for anything besides athletics, because that is what David Booth chose to do with his money. Football is one of the biggest brands in the country, and investing in it will pull in more recruits, which will make KU even better, which will attract more national attention, which will pull in advertising, merchandise sales, more student enrollment and even more donations which all lead to more money to the general university. People upset at David Booth or Travis Goff for not using that money elsewhere don’t understand that they are investing in the university as a whole within their power. It’s like going to a birthday party and everyone gets party favors on the way out, and then one kid gets $20 from his parent. The kid that received $20 isn’t expected to share that with anyone else just bc they all went to the same party. He was given that money specifically to him. Travis Goff/athletics in this scenario is the kid who is going to take that $20 and invest it so he can throw an even bigger and better party for the rest of the people, and David Booth is the parent who gave the child $20. If you are upset at the university for not addressing problems, be upset at Student Senate for defunding saferide, the Kansan, and other student groups because they are pushing their own agendas. Do not be upset at athletics, because it’s not their fault they’re more successful than the other facets around campus. Next time you have $300 million you can donate that to boost the rest of campus, but that is what David Booth has chosen to do with his money and that is his right.
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