Letters

Defects in the MITIMCo Proposals

To The Faculty Newsletter:

Re: “A Critical Look at the Plan for MIT’s East Campus” (MIT Faculty Newsletter, Vol. XXVIII No. 3)

Dear Bob:

Your deconstruction of the current MITIMCo plan is required reading for MIT’s “Top Brass.”

In particular, the proposal that several commercial buildings be built so that at some future date they can be converted to alternative uses is outstanding. Future flexibility can be worth its weight in gold.

Much of what you and others see as defects in the MITIMCo proposal(s) is traceable to a failure to align the longer-term interests of some MIT principals (stakeholders other than top administrators) with its agent (MITIMCo).

Many of us would love to see the particulars of the contract. ( Is it available?)

I conjecture that the principal driver is cash flow. (Am I correct?) Rewarding MITIMCo mostly for cash flow generated to MIT skews MITIMCo incentives.

Best Ever,
Gordon Kaufman
Morris A. Adelman Professor of Management, Emeritus

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