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July 11, 2008

When the Mega-Donor Turns Criminal: What Next?

Two California institutions might undergo name changes at their engineering schools after a big donor pleaded guilty last month to a felony charge of lying to financial regulators.

The University of California is contemplating whether to retract the name of the high-tech billionaire from the engineering schools at the system’s Los Angeles and Irvine campuses, the Los Angeles Times reports.

In another recent case, Richard (Dickie) Scruggs and his wife asked the University of Mississippi to take their names off of a music building after he pleaded guilty to bribing a state judge in March.

In an age of mega-donations and ethical lapses, does this latest flap constitute one more piece of evidence that it’s time to have a bigger conversation about how to handle big gifts from generous donors who later have legal problems? Should there be a protocol for handling donations from disgraced titans, and does the severity of the crime matter?

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— Kate Moser

Friday July 11, 2008 | Permalink

Comments

1. When I was in graduate school & had my first fundraising class, our instructor gave us the advice to (whenever possible) avoid naming a building/wing/etc after a living person, because he has the rest of his life to potentially disgrace himself, as well as your organization!

   — Catherine    Jul 11, 05:13 PM    #

2. Considering the loss of ethics in extreme capitalism since the ’80s, it’s really not surprising that these issues will occasionally occur.

   — Dave Postles    Jul 12, 02:55 AM    #

3. Most likely some or all funds donated were tainted. Shouldn’t the money be returned to defray costs of prosecution, or repay possible victims??

   — Don    Jul 12, 08:33 AM    #

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