(on the right, late librarian Robert Morin. And on the left, some stuff I don’t recognize as they’re not wearing pads or helmets)
Via Boing Boing comes the tale of thrifty University Of New Hampshire grad/librarian Robert Morin who bequeathed the school $4 million (USD) upon his passing at the age of 77. Unfortunately, Morin put no restrictions on how the school might spend his gift, and with that in mind UNH officals have portion a million towards the construction of a new video scoreboard for the football team, with just $100K earmarked for the library where Morin toiled for 50 years. From Inside Higher Ed’s Rick Seltzer :
To many, the football scoreboard seems out of sync with the life of a library employee with a reported passion for movies and books, one said to have read 1,938 books published in chronological order from the decade starting in 1930. Others have argued it is simply wasteful spending, funneling valuable unrestricted money into athletics instead of important academic pursuits.
The university has sought to bridge the gap between the image of the tweed-wearing librarian and that of the macho athletic donor by saying Morin was a football fan by the end of his life. He started watching football games on television while living in an assisted living center in the 15 months before he died, university officials said, learning the rules and names of players and teams.
University officials have also pointed out that Morin specifically did not give them instructions on how to spend most of his gift, except for the $100,000 for the library, trusting them and their priorities.