-
This Gift Horse Has Cavities
-
This topic is not a news story you'll find anywhere else at the moment (I imagine the Philadelphia Inquirer will get to it at some point), but it's raging on the social media pages of my undergrad college and graduating class, and it's a good one: Should a college return donations from a benefactor if he or she holds a fundraiser for someone or something that's antithetical to the school's values? Okay, an explanation: I went to Haverford College, which is a Quaker school known for being very tolerant and liberal. As you might imagine, it is not MAGA Country. OK, so a guy who graduated in the class after mine is Howard Lutnick, who you might know as the head of Cantor Fitzgerald who has been very philanthropic since losing his staff (including two of my classmates) in the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. And he's been generous to the school. But he also recently held a major fundraiser for Trump, and now there are alumni who want the school to at least reverse the decision to rename the library after Howie's parents, and some who want the school to return his gifts. Their argument: The school is pro-LGBTQ+ rights and tolerance and equality, and Trump is diametrically opposed to their values; supporting him with a fundraiser violates the spirit of the school's vaunted Honor Code. There you go, the conflict in a nutshell. If you're in charge, how do you handle it, from the school's perspective, from Howie's perspective, or from the other alumni's perspectives? (Not to mention the naming thing in light of the College Admissions Scandal/#VarsityBlues, and if you need a citation, here's the President of the University of South Florida donating $20 million and getting an honors college there named after her, from WTSP-TV/St. Petersburg-Tampa.)
Have an opinion? Add your comment below.