Reminder: Big Donations Don't Have to Go to Demolitions and Construction

UCLA Media Release

Philanthropist Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants and an Academy Award–winning film producer, has pledged $10 million to the department of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA for the BrainSPORT Program, which has been renamed the UCLA Steve Tisch BrainSPORT Program
.

Due to be announced by President Obama Thursday at a White House summit on youth and sports concussions, the new funding — the single largest gift from an individual to a medical center for a concussion-related initiative — will enable UCLA to create the first U.S. fellowship program to train pediatric neurologists who specialize in sports concussions, and establish the world’s most sophisticated research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment program for concussions and brain injuries, with a particular emphasis on young athletes...

Full release at http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/steve-tisch-donates-10m-to-ucla-program-devoted-to-researching-treating-sports-concussions-especially-in-youth

You can even get good PR without building anything:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-sci-sports-concussions-ucla-20140529-story.html

and

http://www.dailynews.com/health/20140529/steve-tisch-gives-ucla-10-million-for-sports-related-brain-injury-program

So the next time someone comes up with a bright idea like the UCLA Grand Hotel, just say no. (Or, as in that case, don't suggest it to the donor.)  And think about alternatives that go into research, scholarships, and teaching.