The Hawkeyes are considering selling the name of their College of Public Health to Blue Cross for $15.
College sees dollar signs on its sign
The University of Iowa is considering whether to rename its College of Public Health after Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s foundation in exchange for a $15 million gift from the company’s philanthropic arm. Terry Burton, a naming-rights consultant based in Vancouver, British Columbia, says he believes Iowa would be the first public university to name a college after a corporation.
The offer has ignited a debate over where universities should draw the line when accepting corporate gifts.
A corporate name on a school could undermine the independence of researchers and create other conflicts, some educators say. Others see little reason to build a wall around academia.
That consultant from Iowa is way off on this being the first case. Look no further than the Carlson School of Management at the U. Some may say it’s named after Curt Carlson but this is the buy who named his company Carlson Companies, so was the school named after him or his company? Did he do it to promote himself or his company?
I’m sure there is a plaque or something around CSoM that makes it sound like it was named after the man rather than the company, but that was done simply to avoid the headlines Iowa’s getting for their efforts. Why don’t they simply get Trump to kick up some cash to they can play the CSoM game?