In this case, the relationship between Gates and the Washington Post has come to an end, and that news makes me wish I had a nice bottle of Champagne to pop. On top of that, Mr. Buffett will also be leaving the Company Board. I had heard from an inside source, around the same time I wrote about the sordid relationship between the Post and Kaplan, that Gates was going to call it quits with them. So you can imagine my elation at the moment! (For those of you who wish to think of me popping a bottle of champagne on behalf of the indentured educated class, go ahead and imagine hearing that cork gleefully freeing itself from its neck now).
Naturally, Donald Graham, the chairman of the Post, is one of the biggest defenders of the for-profits. I know. Shocking, right? So then everybody on the Hill reads the Post. They read problematic stories by Michelle Singletary (see here and here), and conclude that there's really not a problem when it comes to student loan debt. They are also busy convincing everyone that for-profits are necessary and good. Ha.
As previously mentioned, and picked up in a recent piece by Ms. Linda Stamato, in order to boost the reputation of Kaplan, recruiters were encouraged to tell prospective students that "'Kaplan is owned by The Washington Post, one of the best newspapers in the country, and that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’s wife, Melinda Gates, were on our board of directors.'"
Luckily, Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffett have enough sense to know that they don't want their names run through the mud. Let's hear it for healthy breakups!
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