Go Big and Go Home: Major Gifts, Public Flagships, and the Parlance of Prestige

Abstract:This study examines public flagship press releases (n=150) after receiving a major gift from 2000 until 2017. Findings suggest the communication habits and philanthropic tendencies of public flagships support the notion of academic capitalism (Bok, 2003; Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004) primarily through the practice of opportunistic disclosure (Saorin, Osma, & Jones, 2012) regarding the headline, body text, and publication timing of the press release. This study also supports the trend of “mega gifts” (Scutari, 2017), but may transgress research suggesting a decline in alumni giving (Kaplan, 2017), as this study finds most major gifts and mega gifts come from alumni, primarily for student scholarships.