Medical School Math: 8 + 10 = 24

You have to take pity on Amanda Gellman, the University of Windsor's Vice-President of Advancement. She is the lady responsible for fundraising for the University.

By the way, the University holds in camera sessions in their Board meetings too. I noticed in their minutes on April 24, 2007 that there was a secret portion:

• 2. Approval of the Agenda. Mr. Komsa proposed that the Medical Education Building and the Engineering Building be discussed in the In Camera portion of the meeting.

That's the same day that Gord Henderson wrote in the Star:

• "It's far from a done deal, but the University of Windsor and city hall are in advanced discussions with the province on a proposal that could result in a $110-million state-of-the-art engineering campus with more than 1,500 students being located downtown."

Ms. Gellman was at that April 24 Board meeting and must have been close to a nervous breakdown by the time it was over I would bet.

You see she has major problems. First, she has to do the "normal" fundraising for the Unviersity.

Then she still has to find millions to help pay for the University stadium after the City refused to help out. As Ross Paul said in his 2006 address:

• "When we launched the new stadium project, we had high expectations for corporate support, especially given its high visibility at the gateway to Canada. This has been much slower to materialize than we had hoped"

Now here's some info re the Medical School. Its costs have risen dramatically from $11M to $24M. According to the Star:

• "The province is providing construction funding of $8 million and will pay annual operating costs. A local fundraising effort has begun. It is hoped that $10 million will come from private and corporate donors."

Here's my problem and Amanda's too I think. $10M plus $8M only equals $18M. Where does the other $6M come from? And if the story I heard is correct, the Province's money is paid over 20 years! Who pays the upfront cash now?

To add insult to injury, the operating costs for the school are not paid to our University directly but to Western Ontario since it is their school. Ours is just a satellite of theirs.

• "The government will provide $297,000 to Western starting in 2006-07 to support the first year of the enrolment increase, growing to almost $2.8 million at full implementation."

Amanda must have fainted at the in camera session. She now has to find additional millions---how many no one knows or seems to care about---if the Engineering complex moves downtown!

For the medical school, I can see people giving money. For the stadium---she has to compete with the City's East End arena for naming rights. But for engineers...in a city with an economy that is devastated and with so many people out of work....who will contribute a cent!

I attach her photo to this Blog. If you see this lady knocking at your door, you have now been warned about what she wants from you.