Northwestern University School of Law Changes Name After $100 Million Gift
Most people would probably change their name in exchange for $100 million dollars, so we can’t blame the school.
The National Jurist reports.
Northwestern changes name after $100M donation
Northwestern University School of Law is changing its name after a $100 million gift from J.B. Pritzker, the second largest gift to a law school. It becomes the 18th law school, and the highest-ranked school, to be named after a benefactor.
Pritzker is a venture capitalist who graduated from the law school in 1993, but made his money investing in technology companies. Forbes has estimated his net worth at $3.4 billion. His family is one of the wealthiest in the world, with 11 billionaries in the extended family.
The law school, which will now be named the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, plans to use the funds to help the school focus on the advancement of the study of law, business, and technology, and on public interest initiatives in the areas of civil and human rights.
“Our increasingly complex and dynamic world demands lawyers who are trained to tackle difficult legal and policy problems and to work imaginatively at the interface of law, business and technology,” said Dan Rodriguez, dean of the law school. “This extraordinary gift will help provide the financial foundation for this law school to produce a new breed of highly skilled, adaptive lawyers — creative, constructive problem-solvers armed with multidisciplinary skills and resolutely committed to social justice and the rule of law.”
Comments
And so what happens if another donor comes along and donates MORE than $100 million to the Northwestern University law school? It is foolishness (and cowardliness, really) for schools to rename themselves or their departments after large donors.