June 29, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Harvard University has halted a plan to hire 155 staff members and scholars after it failed to receive any of the $115-million Lawrence J. Ellison, chief executive of the Oracle software company, promised to give the university.
The proposed Ellison Institute for World Health, which Harvard planned to create with the money, has laid off three managers, who were building the organization.
Mr. Ellison told Harvard in 2004 that he would donate $100-million, then increased his offer to $115-million in 2005.
The news that Harvard had not received the money was first reported in the Financial Times.
A draft of a contract between the university and Mr. Ellison was exchanged, and Mr. Ellison’s camp said Harvard would receive the money in a matter of days. But last fall Mr. Ellison’s advisers tied the money to the settlement of a lawsuit charging Mr. Ellison with insider trading. Under the terms of the settlement, Mr. Ellison agreed to pay $100-million to charity; he has argued in court depositions that he did nothing wrong with his shares, but a shareholder appealed the settlement of the lawsuit so it is still pending.
Since the settlement was first reached, Harvard officials say, they have not been allowed to discuss the money with Mr. Ellison.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Ellison at Oracle did not return calls from The Chronicle seeking comment.
Christopher Murray, director of the university’s Global Health Initiative, who was chosen to lead the institute, told The Chronicle in an e-mail message that people involved with the institute remain hopeful that Mr. Ellison will follow through on his promise.
“For some areas, we have been able to continue developing our work and in others we have had to put on hold expansion of our team and research efforts,” Mr. Murray wrote.
