(Almost) everybody's happy

Today we learned that the University of Oregon is going to open a large new school to train childhood mental health professionals in Portland. They have secured upwards of $425 million to do so in a donation by Connie Ballmer, a U of O alum and the wife of Microsoft tycoon Steve Ballmer (currently the owner of the L.A. Clippers basketball team).

They're going to put the school on the old Concordia University campus in Northeast Portland, which I'm sure is a great relief to the neighbors up that way. And City Hall must be happy that anybody wants to site anything in this crime-troubled burg. Even the ultra-cynical Econ prof who runs the blog UO Matters approves.

So it's a good thing for everyone, it seems. Except...

You know, we do have a state medical school in Portland. You would think they'd be the logical folks to run such an institution. But then again, they are such bad boys, maybe Ms. Ballmer was smart to steer her mid-nine figures away from their domain.