The Committee

Yesterday I attended a meeting of the one committee I haven't dropped out of: the one that advises a Dean at a college at the U.  The Committee was originally formed years ago, when my friend Ross was Dean, and I was an up and coming lawyer, and he thought members of the community should have a say in whether the College did a good job. I joined, happily, and over the years, and, I guess 4 or 5 Deans since, stayed on, even as the Committee changed, a lot.

It's now composed of a group of really, really rich folks, and me. I'm pretty sure I'm by far the poorest guy there -- other members are a wife of a local hedge fund guy who gave $20M to the U, the son of a major car dealer (I have long been a customer) and the kids of two well known Miami developers. A new member joined yesterday, who I'll call Debi, since that's her name. Her husband was a founding member of probably Miami's biggest and most famous law firm.

Although we're supposed to advise, we mostly listen to all the great things going on -- we got to meet the new president of the U yesterday.  The fellow is WAY smart -- and he shared his "Road Map" for the next century -- UM turns 100 in 2025.  Essentially, he wants to make us the premier university in the hemisphere, with so much money that anyone who can attend academically but not financially can -- for free.  Sort of like Harvard is now.

We then heard for another smart guy -- a Geography prof who studies disease spread -- he's in the news a lot lately because of Zika. And finally, we heard from a senior undergraduate doing genetics studies in autism -- I used to work in a neurophysiology lab, and I think I processed about 1/3 of what she said.  I think they're growing them smarter these days...

I'll remain on the committee.  It gets us inside, VIP tickets to UM stuff, like parties to meet Richard Dawkins, and Anderson Cooper.  There was no financial commitment, but yesterday we voted to require each member to yearly contribute $2500 to the College.  All of the big machers just chuckled a little -- it was the equivalent of asking working class folks if they'd donate 25 cents to be in a group...

My friend in academics have to endure committee meeting DAILY. I don't see how -- I've gotten spoiled as a small business owner for the past 22 years -- my partner and I see a problem, talk about it, and solve it -- and then move on. We don't commission studies to see if anyone will be offended by what we do...

Speaking of which, I just realized another anniversary of my firm passed, without recognition.  We opened on November 15, 1994, so we turned 22 last Tuesday. No flowers or candy from my partner.

I'm calling a committee meeting to address the failure to recognize that date...