An unusually forthright statement

“The University of Calgary is a significant business … a $1.2-billion (a year) business.  The space, specifically for the president, that the board of governors worked out of was embarrassing.”

Mr. Bob Ellard, VP Facilities Development, University of Calgary, quoted by Mark McClure, Calgary Herald, 18 November 2013.  Ellard was explaining why he and his colleagues voted to spend eight million dollars renovating their offices after a budget cut.

Gloss: Ellard’s statement takes a controversial assumption for granted.  Is a university an instrument for making money, with the exact services it provides accidental?  Or is a university an institution for satisfying curiosity, with its financial aspects accidental?

Edit 2022-04-11: converted to block editor so formatting worked like before