In response to: Philanthropy, to the Rescue
Current issue
October 2025
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott ’92; President Eisgruber ’83 defends higher ed; Julia Ioffe ’05 explains Russia.
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott ’92; President Eisgruber ’83 defends higher ed; Julia Ioffe ’05 explains Russia.
Good for MacKenzie Scott ’92 and her billions! Rather than add my voice to an unseemly chorus of sycophants falling over themselves to praise her largesse, I would like to offer an alternative view, expressed so elegantly and thoughtfully by Helen Keller more than 80 years ago. She wrote, “I regard philanthropy as a tragic apology for [the] wrong conditions under which human beings live.”