Just what you've been waiting for: the Muskbrat has filed to open a STEM school in Texas!

[thewayne]

Yep, another celebrity opening another vanity school project. Exactly what the country/world needs.

The paperwork for a non-profit school was filed with the IRS last year and received its tax-exempt status in March. Apparently he is negotiating with a college conference to take it all the way to the university level.

WHEEEEEEE!

He's committed $100,000,000 of his own money to the project, which will focus on STEM.

Lots of amusing comments on the article, I especially liked the one suggesting it be named the Certified University of North Texas, which would be right on-brand for the Muskbrat. Consider that his space company sounds like "space sex" when pronounced and his car models spell "s 3 x y" when you list them out. The idiot is a frat boy, born with a golden spoon in his mouth from his dad's opal mine in South Africa.

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-is-reportedly-launching-a-new-university-in-t-1851097464

Comments

[kraig]

A hundred mill doesn't actually go very far when it comes to running a legit university. We're a reasonable-sized (for Canada) uni with a relatively small endowment (cos we're newer) and we're about 1.2 billion a year, budget-wise. A $50 million gift named a school and endowed 5 research chairs; another $50m with government matching built a pretty decent building (on a swamp).

I suppose following his usual business model they won't be over-burdened with things like "benefits" or "pension" which are a big chunk of budgets, but without those they also won't be over-burdened with "faculty" or "staff" either.

[thewayne]

Agreed.  Who knows what he's thinking.  I expect he thinks he'll get all sorts of investors, and seeing what a marvelous financial success he's made of Xitter, I'm sure the funds will come rolling in.

[disneydream06]

OMg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Texas deserves it. :p
Hugs, Jon

[rain_gryphon]

Given that it's Musk, I'd be loathe to bet against it. The man has a long record of getting things done.

[silveradept]

I wonder if he's shifting to his Carnegie phase, where he'll try to wash his reputation by funding a whole lot of supposedly philanthropic projects to work with.

[thewayne]

As much drugs as he does, adding in his ego and his ability to broadcast his bombast, I don't think he'll live long enough to whitewash his bombast.  I'm unsure whether his school will ever open, much less long-term succeed.  Celebrity schools do not have good track records.

[silveradept]

He didn't seem like the kind of person who can successfully manage his image and legacy, no, but sometimes people get scared that they might be known as a terrible person and start trying hard to make themselves seem better.

[thewayne]

Ah, the Scrooge Turn!  I'm not sure he's capable of this, he definitely has the undeserved makings of 'smartest guy in the room' because of his money and the success that he's bought with it.  He hasn't done much in the way of inventing, just gotten in as startup investor and made a big splash that way.  I will give him clever, but I don't know that I can give him much beyond that.