The Evil Philanthropists

I grow weary of the gas industry's ongoing harangue about the nexus of higher education and philanthropy as it (negatively) affects their ability to drill. They are particularly obnoxious on the topic of the Park Foundation, formerly Roy Park's operation, now run by the kiddies. I assume that they're mostly ticked off at Adelaide, the lefter-leaning Park.

Adelaide's Park Foundation grants are divided, and have been since 2009, among Higher Ed, Media, Environment, Animal Welfare, Community Needs, Sustainable Ithaca, Memberships & Philanthropic Engagement, and Other. Environment + Sustainable Ithaca + Community Needs monies don't even come close to the amount spent on Higher Ed. But Adelaide has been an outspoken anti-fracker, even winning awards for her advocacy.

This has been enough for the gas company's local mouthpiece, EID, to posit a vast conspiracy linking People Who Have Worked for Cornell with People Who Are Spokespeople for Antifracking and tying it all together with a big Park Foundation bow. I think if the author visited, he might understand that people on the legislature are often tied to Cornell—it is, after all, our biggest employer—and that it is possible to be both a horse farmer and a spokesperson. And Ithaca is small enough that for Walter Hang to be found at a dinner feting Adelaide is not only unremarkable, but it would be surprising only if he were NOT there. I think the gas industry needs a better army of reporters from the field, not just a bunch of amateurs sitting in their home offices Googling old issues of the Ithaca Journal.

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