UCLA Law School's Gift Horse

Milken’s Gift Stirs Dispute at U.C.L.A. Law School

Inside Higher Ed points to the story (excerpted) below in a blog of the NY Times:

When the U.C.L.A. School of Law announced a $10 million gift from Lowell Milken to establish a business law institute in his name earlier this month, the university described him as a “pioneer in education reform” and a “leading philanthropist.” Behind the scenes, Mr. Milken’s big donation has set off an internal debate at the school. While many faculty members welcomed the money, one of the University of California, Los Angeles’s top business law professors has said the gift poses deep ethical problems and reputational risks, given Mr. Milken’s run-in with securities regulators two decades ago.

“The creation of a Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy will damage my personal and professional reputation, as I have devoted my career to arguing for investor protection and honest and ethical behavior in business,” Lynn A. Stout wrote in a letter last month to the president of the University of California and U.C.L.A.’s chancellor. Ms. Stout, a specialist in corporate governance and moral behavior, said in an interview last week, “I think it’s somewhat distressing that so few people seem to be aware of Lowell and Michael Milken’s business history.” …

Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/08/23/qt#268540 and http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/milkens-gift-provokes-dispute-at-u-c-l-a-law-school/

Seems like some folks are more anxious to get a gift horse than others:

Cat gifts are clearly better:

Owner bequeaths $7.6 million to UC Davis vet school in cat's name

Not much more to be said about that, but the full story is at: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/23/3854696/owner-bequeaths-76-million-to.html

Update: A radio program on the Milken gift - with Prof. Lynn Stout as a guest - is at http://media.scpr.org/audio/upload/2011/08/24/20110824_airtalk_Milken.mp3