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The wealthiest man in St. Louis. Gave 1 million to the arena,should have given more.

To be fair. he and the family have given Many, Many millions to groups around the country including 30 million to the botanical garden, 25 million to Wash U as well as setting up the trust for the St Louis Symphony.

I don't take shots at people who are that generous with their money. What are his ties to SLU anyway? Maybe his donations to SLU don't fall under the athletics portion of the school but more under academics.

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To be fair. he and the family have given Many, Many millions to groups around the country including 30 million to the botanical garden, 25 million to Wash U as well as setting up the trust for the St Louis Symphony.

I don't take shots at people who are that generous with their money. What are his ties to SLU anyway? Maybe his donations to SLU don't fall under the athletics portion of the school but more under academics.

Agreed. I'd hate accept a cool million and cry for more. He runs a great company (I don't rent with anyone else), gives a lot of money away, gave to a school he didn't go to, and sponsors NCAA basketball. He's a winner in my book.

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To be fair. he and the family have given Many, Many millions to groups around the country including 30 million to the botanical garden, 25 million to Wash U as well as setting up the trust for the St Louis Symphony.

I don't take shots at people who are that generous with their money. What are his ties to SLU anyway? Maybe his donations to SLU don't fall under the athletics portion of the school but more under academics.

Hey I'm thankfull for the mil,but as you pointed out he has given much more to other St. Louis institutions. He could have given more.
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Getting Back to the Housing discussion..

IMO, on campus housing is absolutely crucial to building a sense of pride to the student body. Part of the apathy come from the fact that most upperclass students, who should be teaching underclassmen traditions, bolt at the first chance for a decent apartment off campus. The longer you stay on campus typically the more involved you are. The village is really the only decent living arrangement for upperclass 21+ adults, and once that is full, you have a tiny amount of space in not-so-grand forest. Upperclass housing has really urgent needs if they want to keep students on campus.

The (DeMatt) Greek dorm in its current state, is not a viable solution for greek housing, the indivual chapters have one room that is about 10ftx12ft with damaged walls and ceilings that are crumbling to call their own. It might be one of the worst maintained buildings on campus, and if you don't believe me, just go walk around the building. With repairs and some changes it could be a viable system.

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Getting Back to the Housing discussion..

IMO, on campus housing is absolutely crucial to building a sense of pride to the student body. Part of the apathy come from the fact that most upperclass students, who should be teaching underclassmen traditions, bolt at the first chance for a decent apartment off campus. The longer you stay on campus typically the more involved you are. The village is really the only decent living arrangement for upperclass 21+ adults, and once that is full, you have a tiny amount of space in not-so-grand forest. Upperclass housing has really urgent needs if they want to keep students on campus.

The (DeMatt) Greek dorm in its current state, is not a viable solution for greek housing, the indivual chapters have one room that is about 10ftx12ft with damaged walls and ceilings that are crumbling to call their own. It might be one of the worst maintained buildings on campus, and if you don't believe me, just go walk around the building. With repairs and some changes it could be a viable system.

Being DeMatt's former building manager, that's a very sad thing to hear. But I second that about their chapter rooms, they are kind of ridiculous.

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And he did actually go to WashU, and Andy is or has been on its board of trustees. (Plus his donations have tended to support cultural and academic endeavors, neither of which really falls under the 'Fetz umbrella.)

I think he was a Wash U. drop-out.

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Jack Taylor was Wash U drop out. His son Andy, who has been running the company for a long time now, is a 1970 graduate of U of Denver.

Enterprise was named after the U.S.S. Enterprise where jack Taylor was a U.S. fighter pilot.

They support and give to athletics, but no Andy isn't a "sports" guy.

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And note that I said that he "did actually go to WashU." I never said he graduated.

(My old boss, who also started a company from scratch after dropping out of WashU, has a personal fortune of a mere $50M. Perhaps we all should have skipped our "upperclass" years in favor of a different form of upper class. B)

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And note that I said that he "did actually go to WashU." I never said he graduated.

(My old boss, who also started a company from scratch after dropping out of WashU, has a personal fortune of a mere $50M. Perhaps we all should have skipped our "upperclass" years in favor of a different form of upper class. B)

Taylor is $14b from what I see. That is a nice nest egg.
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And note that I said that he "did actually go to WashU." I never said he graduated.

(My old boss, who also started a company from scratch after dropping out of WashU, has a personal fortune of a mere $50M. Perhaps we all should have skipped our "upperclass" years in favor of a different form of upper class. B)

I caught that. I just thought that it was nice that he has been so generous to an institution from which he did not even earn a degree.

I'm still waiting to find out that my wife is somehow related to the Walton family.

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You make good points. I will say that some of the purported benefits of Greek life are a little ridiculous, most notably the community service aspect - like you said, statistics can be misleading. I've been at community service events through my fraternity in which some of the guys are simply there out of obligation and have no intention of actually doing any real work. But at the same time, I've seen guys who normally would not have had any inclination to do volunteer work take a real interest in a cause and develop into people who are truly passionate about their community and the welfare of others - something that they take with them long after their college days. I would consider myself to be such a person, which I attribute more to things I did through my fraternity than by virtue of having attended Jesuit schools (although I will admit to that playing a role as well). Growing up, sometimes your parents force you to do things that are good for you - requiring community service can have the same effect. Just don't pat yourself on the back for doing community service when you're forced to.

As far as dividing students into subgroups go, that's one way of looking at it. You could also view it from the standpoint that the social connections gained from joining a fraternity or sorority makes it easier to transition into college life. I, for instance, commuted my freshman year, so I didn't have the benefit of living in a dorm. I think I might have been pretty miserable that year had I not joined a fraternity.

My take is that options are always a good thing. Giving students the option of joining a Greek organization while still fostering an environment in which there is no pressure to do so and where there are other ways of having a great social life is important. So to me, exploring Greek housing options might be a good idea if it's not done at the expense of others who need a place to stay on campus.

Excellent post. We have different perspectives but both had a great experience at SLU in different ways. Having options to find your best possible experience in college is important, and I certainly wouldn't want to take opportunities away from SLU students. The "best" schools in the country (e.g. the Ivies, Stanford, etc.) are the ones where students have the most academic, social, athletic, and other opportunities, without any one "scene" dominating or acting as a negative on any student's college experience (I don't mean academics as a scene, either- one would hope that is the main drive behind what a school offers).

I don't think the Greek system is inherently wrong. I do think it could use some reforms, though. It seems like increasing scrutiny from parents and the media has been coming down on the Greeks recently, and one too many hazing incidents, alcohol poisonings, balcony collapses, or selection incidents will make it that much worse. For example, the DePauw Delta Zeta incident (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/27/national/main2519872.shtml) from last year drew national attention, and more investigation into that kind of thing can pull the rug out of a fraternity or sorority chapter's existence, and could bring down more along with it.

These situations are going to become more common without a concerted effort to change a few things. I can't speak as an insider, but it sure seems like fraternities and sororities make offers based on who fits the mold of existing members, which only feeds into the generalizations Greeks and non-Greeks alike can place on each chapter (i.e. jocks, blondes, etc.). The generalizing and the "I'm not one of them, they're not one of us" mindset from all students, Greek or not, is too divisive and campuses would be better off to work on changing that.

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A 2001 or 2002 article I found while looking all this up showed his net worth at the time at $3B. I don't think even Warren Buffett is that good of a financial advisor. B)

Per. Forbes Magazine Jack Taylor and family are worth 13.9 billion
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Per. Forbes Magazine Jack Taylor and family are worth 13.9 billion

Yeah, I got that. But according to a 2002 editorial in our newspaper, his "personal fortune" then was a mere $3B. Either the aggregation of him and Andy and all the little Taylors caused a big jump, or somehow $3B turned into almost $14B in about six years. If y'all can guarantee me those kind of returns, I'll be in your offices tomorrow. B)

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Yeah, I got that. But according to a 2002 editorial in our newspaper, his "personal fortune" then was a mere $3B. Either the aggregation of him and Andy and all the little Taylors caused a big jump, or somehow $3B turned into almost $14B in about six years. If y'all can guarantee me those kind of returns, I'll be in your offices tomorrow. B)

For what it's worth, Forbes did say that in their opinion they far under-estimated the Taylor fortune the first time around. Considering some of the "compounds" of its upper management that I have seen, perhaps the higher figure is not that far off. ;)

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The wealthiest man in St. Louis. Gave 1 million to the arena,should have given more.

i could have given more

i bet you could have given more

nice, throwing a shot at someone not affiliated with the U who gave $1mil

i'll take this space to thanks to mr taylor for his generosity and hope it keeps coming

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