Al, ??? The only confusion I have is about your point.? Maybe you snipped in error, but nothing in the article provides a foundation for your insinuation that Penn is hiding kickbacks by calling them contributions.? I have major issues with marketing done by banks to college students for credit cards.? But your apparent criticism of Penn for using an affinity card looks off target.? If you've ever received a solicitation for an affinity card, the whole point of it is to raise money for someone other than the bank.? So selling that to alums is not confusing.? Whats confusing is how you think calling the funds raised a contribution is confusing, who you think is confused, and what that has to do with ethics, let along the so-called anointed.? Next thing, someone's going to ask for the time, date and location of a public meeting for the community to have input to the process of making the deal with the bank, and a committee will have to be formed to debate whether Penn should be ab! le to use its logo on the card, while another will investigate the selection of the Quad for the photo.? And after the meeting, others will question whether it was truly public since they didn't go and besides, there's no video of the meeting, so we need to do it again so we have proof of the lies perpetrated upon us.? ??? God help us.
Paul -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Fri, 21 Mar 2008 7:42 am Subject: [UC] Just what IS your definition of "is"? >From today's DP: (emphasis added so you don't have to read the long, boring passages) ? "...some colleges make agreements with credit-card companies that provide the school with a 'kickback' for each customer that applies for the card. Such agreements create a conflict of interest since the academic institution might illegitimately promote the card to their students to get the 'kickback' benefit, leading students to make misinformed financial decisions. [snip] ? Penn has not been investigated nor received a subpoena, according to Business Services spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger. Though the University has several banking relationships - like its affiliation with PNC - its only credit-card partnership is with the Bank of America. This Bank of America "affinity" credit card, which sports the Penn logo as well as a photo of the Quadrangle, is available to anyone affiliated with Penn, but is mostly used by alumni. Bank of America contributes money toward Penn student and alumni programming for every account opened and every purchase made." ? Hmmm. Let's see. Penn doesn't get a kickback from BofA. But BofA "contributes money toward Penn student and alumni programming for every account opened and every purchase made." This contributes to confusion about what the definition of "contributes" is. Not to mention the ethics of the anointed. ? Remember, you read it first here, on the popu-list, Al Krigman Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home.
