Oklahoma State U. Gift Remains Controversial

The debate continues over the $165-million donation made by Boone Pickens, an oil tycoon and hedge-fund manager, to Oklahoma State University last year for athletics facilities, reports USA Today. Mr. Pickens gave the university, his alma mater, the money last December. He earmarked it for sports facilities, with $120-million of it directed toward the university’s football program.

One condition of the gift was that Mr. Pickens would invest it in his hedge fund, BP Capital Management, and would waive all fees, a move that Mr. Pickens says has already saved the university about $14-million. The investment has earned $50-million in returns so far, said the university’s athletics director, Mike Holder.

Mr. Pickens has been accused by some critics of using his donation to influence the university’s decision to hire Mr. Holder, a hunting buddy of Mr. Pickens’s, who was the university’s golf coach before becoming its athletics director several months before Mr. Pickens announced his gift.

Read The Chronicle’ s coverage of Mr. Pickens’s donation. (A paid subscription is required to view the Chronicle article).