"My story today is not my own: it is Peter Cooper’s. He died in 1883, but his legacy is just as important now as it was then. He believed that education is a public good - that it should be available to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay, gender, race, religion, social class, or political beliefs. This may not seem like a huge thing now, but it was then.
The reason I bring it up now is because the institution he founded, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, is in trouble. It has been a full-scholarship college for art, architecture, and engineering students since 1902 but it will run out of money in 2015 unless it gets significant help.
I’m not soliciting donations (I doubt there are a lot of rogue billionaires on this list anyway. . .) but I would like you to take 10 seconds to Google “Cooper Union” and learn about Peter Cooper’s dream for education. It has become my dream as well (I’ve taught there since 2009) and it makes me sad that its future is in jeopardy."
Ben Davis
[email protected]
New York, NY