Rosey

A Rose by any other name

 

Pete Rose was convicted of federal tax fraud for failing to report (and pay tax on) income from memorabilia sales and personal appearances. About this there is an aroma of stupidity and sweat.

Princeton, on the other hand, is not required to report (or pay tax on) income from investments in private equity, despite the certainty that most of that income never will be used to further anyone’s education. About this there is an aroma of hypocrisy and complacency, with a hint of something more acrid, an open can of something a day or two past its expiration date sitting in a hot sun.

Last year (the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015) Princeton had a 19.6% return on its endowment (now $21,000,000,000). It spent 4.6% on education. It reinvested the rest—15%. And here is the best part, it’s all tax free. And better yet, the faculty, which never tires of vilifying private equity and tax inversion, and collectively never got a single major league hit, much less 4,256 of them, protesteth not.