...at IHE. There are a number of dubious claims in the article. None of what is happening is a conspiracy by the Board of Trustees; the leadership comes from President Robert Zimmer, a mathematician, who has a definite vision, and who has been, by all accounts I've heard, the real decision-maker who enjoys strong support from the Board. It is reasonable, in retrospect, to wonder whether all the building was a good investment, though I think it probably was. More controversial, and debatable, was the decision to make a massive investment during the past five years in an Institute for Molecular Engineering, a field where the University of Chicago had no investment previously. The cost of a couple of dozen faculty, many senior, and their labs must have been tens of millions of dollars. The IHE article also misstates the budget: the budget of the university (including the medical school but excluding the hospital) is about $2.6 billion. (The hospital actually makes a profit.)
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