[jmharvey]

Donations matter, I hope. But I don't know how many regularly-donating alumni will follow through on their pledge not to give until this case is resolved, and proper action is taken.

It's hard to do, and it feels lousy. The alumni who feel closest to this case are probably people who spent a lot of time making stuff. When they donate, they're more likely to target their money at helping other people make stuff, by donating to things like the Edgerton Center [1], MITERS [2], or SIPB [3], or even just giving money directly to dorm governments (my hall had a PIC burner sitting next to the toaster on our kitchen counter and a couple of oscilloscopes you could check out from the front desk, courtesy of some slush fund somewhere).

When these alumni donate, they're not doing it to get their name on a plaque, or out of some kind of broad-based affinity for the school, they're doing it to help current students have the same kind of experiences they were able to enjoy. And if they stop donating, it's pretty easy to see the culture of creation suffering. People will keep making stuff, but it'll be a little more difficult, require a little more dedication, and it'll wind up being fewer people. That's a significant price to pay to stand on a principle.

[1] http://web.mit.edu/edgerton/ [2] http://miters.mit.edu/ [3] http://sipb.mit.edu/

[rapind]

Couldn't they donate elsewhere and have pretty close to the same affect? I assume that your choice to donate specifically to your school instead of another has something to do with your feelings for the school.

[ericd]

Yeah, I always donate to EC, they're not the ones that are responsible for this kind of crap :-/