Cumming School of Medicine

[Vidhya]

Welcome to the newly named Cumming School of Medicine:

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/businessman-makes-largest-donation-in-university-of-calgary-history/article19197443/

 

I'll just leave this one wide open for everyone.

[No1Dr.Ozfan]

i can't wait to have cumming plastered all over my diploma

[No1Dr.Ozfan]

2017 class is cumming to med school

[No1Dr.Ozfan]

mr. cumming making the world a better place

[No1Dr.Ozfan]

thank you mr. cumming

[amichel]

On a more serious note, seriously, did no one think this through? It sounds awful, even if you ignore the innuendo...

 

Even if they had used the guy's whole name "Geoffrey Cumming School of Medicine" (like Mac) it would be so much better.

 

Is it seriously going to say this on our degrees? Yuck.

[gunshotsglitter]

is this real life

[shady]

is this just fanta sea

[Der Kaiser]

Caught in a landslide

[Aetherus]

No escape from reality

[dmleo]

Now I wish UofA had some sorta name in front of it. Damn

[rmorelan]

It is actually getting confusing now where all these schools are. We talk a bit about school reputation on the board - one way to mess with that quickly is to start changing the names around. Then nobody knows what you are talking about.

[Aetherus]

Schulich (western), DeGroote (Mac) and now Cumming (Calgary) are the only three schools with the names of benefactors, correct?

[rmorelan]

Schulich (western), DeGroote (Mac) and now Cumming (Calgary) are the only three schools with the names of benefactors, correct?

 

so far! Yet we can all see the trend.

 

You should see the strange looks I get sometimes when I tell people I am from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. It is just not known by that name really. One of the oldest medical schools in the country and people draw blank stares Personally I have found it even worse with DeGroote.

 

This is why we all still call it Western for the most part.

 

I am biased of course - I don't like the renaming trend. I find it for lack of a better description rather tacky. The donations are very welcome and important for the schools but no one person creates the school. This isn't to belittle the contribution and generosity of the donors, nor the tradition of supporting our universities. Yet as a counter example the funding from the tax payers of Ontario for instance vastly exceeds the donations of Mr Schulich and others, and those donations are on going. These are public institutions first and foremost.

[gunshotsglitter]

I for one am choosing to ignore the name change entirely

[amichel]

so far! Yet we can all see the trend.

 

You should see the strange looks I get sometimes when I tell people I am from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. It is just not known by that name really. One of the oldest medical schools in the country and people draw blank stares Personally I have found it even worse with DeGroote.

 

This is why we all still call it Western for the most part.

 

I am biased of course - I don't like the renaming trend. I find it for lack of a better description rather tacky. The donations are very welcome and important for the schools but no one person creates the school. This isn't to belittle the contribution and generosity of the donors, nor the tradition of supporting our universities. Yet as a counter example the funding from the tax payers of Ontario for instance vastly exceeds the donations of Mr Schulich and others, and those donations are on going. These are public institutions first and foremost.

 

I don't like it either. I'm actually mildly upset about it. Especially because in this case, the government matched his donation. So, still a huge donation, yes, but do we really have to rename the school?

[shady]

I am biased of course - I don't like the renaming trend. I find it for lack of a better description rather tacky. The donations are very welcome and important for the schools but no one person creates the school. This isn't to belittle the contribution and generosity of the donors, nor the tradition of supporting our universities. Yet as a counter example the funding from the tax payers of Ontario for instance vastly exceeds the donations of Mr Schulich and others, and those donations are on going. These are public institutions first and foremost.

 

I agree. I don't see myself ever saying I'm from the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. I just say I'm from "mac", or if it's a formal setting I'd say "McMaster".

 

The donations are big and very well appreciated, but what about everyone else who is funding the schools including the government? What about future mega-donors? If some dude donated $100 mil to Mac next week, would we change our name yet again? If we refuse to change our name, wouldn't mega donors prefer to donate to a generically named school than one named after a different businessman?

[viceroy]

interesting to note that the other 'U of C' (Chicago) has a Cummings Life Science Center...