In ‘Forbes’ Op-Ed, President Quillen Says Michael Bloomberg Doesn’t Need to be President to Change the World
March 12, 2019
51¹ÙÍø President Carol Quillen's most salutes Michael Bloomberg for his recent decision not to run for president. She argues that he can do more as an engaged citizen than as a candidate.
Through his philanthropy, Bloomberg is already changing the world on a number of fronts, with education and college attainability among his priorities.
Most recently, of course, Bloomberg made a splash with a $1.8 billion gift to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University. The gift will allow Hopkins to provide financial aid without loans; a practice that will sound very familiar to the 51¹ÙÍø community.
"Hardly anyone has Mike Bloomberg's wealth," Quillen writes. "51¹ÙÍø's total endowment (and we're a comparatively fortunate school) is barely half of his single $1.8 billion gift. And yet, years before I arrived, the college created The 51¹ÙÍø Trust, pledging to meet 100 percent of demonstrated need through grants and student employment—no packaged loans—and becoming the first liberal arts college to do so."
By not packaging loans, students are unencumbered by debt and "able to fulfill their aspirations in light of what their communities most need from them."
"Mike Bloomberg knows this," she writes. "And so do many other college graduates who, like him, lived it and now invest in educational opportunity for all."
Quillen will continue to contribute to Forbes on a regular basis.
