After the Wellmark College of Public Health, Can the "Pizza Hut School of Nutrition" Be Far Behind?

We previously posted, here and here, about a proposal to name the school of public health at the University of Iowa the Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield College of Public Health, or something like that, after that for-profit insurance company's foundation offered to donate $15 million to the school.

The Des Moines Register is continuing to follow the story. And although the faculty voted against the naming rights, negotiations are underway to keep the idea alive, perhaps letting the school's name be shorted to just the "Wellmark College of Public Health," as if leaving "Blue Cross Blue Shield" off would conceal the ties to a large commercial health insurer with which the university's teaching hospital does considerable business.

It is notable that this story, perhaps because of its vividness, actually is now getting national attention. USA Today ran a short item on it.

And that lead to this priceless title to a column on "The Skinny" on CBS News.

What's Next? Pizza Hut School of Nutrition?

Maybe sarcasm in the national media will have some effect on the educational bureaucrats and corporate executives who now run health care, after scholarly criticism didn't.