August 22, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
This week’s announcement that Philip H. Knight, the co-founder of Nike, and his wife, Penelope, pledged $100-million to the University of Oregon has led at least one alumnus of the institution to write that he’ll never donate to his alma mater.
Burton Simmons, who earned his bachelor degree at the university, writes on his blog Burton Speaks that he is upset the massive donation will help pay for the building of a new basketball arena. The university has said that the current arena is so old it has hurt the institution’s ability to recruit athletes.
“How about the efforts to recruit and educate students?” asks Mr. Simmons, who is now a business student in Salem, Ore. “How come they never make the news? This, honestly, frustrates and disgusts me and I will never personally make a donation to the University of Oregon as long as I live.”
Mr. Simmons does praise Mr. Knight for helping the university build academic facilities, such as its library. But “I’m sick and tired of the attention athletics gets at our universities.”
Professors at the university have voiced similar complaints, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
What do you think? Should the Knights be applauded for their gift or are academics getting short shrift? Is Mr. Simmons’s self-imposed ban on making contributions to his alma mater a good form of protest? Click on the comments link below to share your thoughts.
