Earlier this month, the University of New Hampshire received a gift from one of its previous employees to be used to enhance its library and provide scholarships for working students. Critics are now blasting the institution for planning to use the money on a scoreboard.
It was previously reported that former University of New Hampshire librarian Robert Morin donated his $4 million estate to the school. He worked with the institution for 50 years and left the asset to the university upon his death. He specifically allocated $100,000 to the library where he previously worked.
Morin's donation will also be used to provide scholarships for work-study students. It will be used to support staff members who want to continue their studies in library science as well as fund the renovation of one of the library's multimedia rooms.
Another $1 million will support a video scoreboard for the new football stadium. This may be in honor of how Morin lived the last 15 months of his life in an assisted living center where he watched football games on television.
According to USA Today College, a few students and alumni are criticizing the university's plans to use $1 million for a video scoreboard at the new $25 million UNH football stadium. Apparently, this may not be what Morin intended for his donation to be used.
In a piece for The Odyssey Online, Claire Cortese, an alumna of the University of New Hampshire, was "deeply saddened" and "completely ashamed" of the school for this decision. "Ultimately, the school's administrative decision to spend a quarter of Morin's generous donation on a inconsequential trinket for the athletic department is a complete disgrace to the spirit and memory of Robert Morin," she wrote.
Cortese went on to list the departments of the school that can truly benefit from Morin's donation. She revealed that the photography department has not had a reliable water source in their darkroom and that the school's art department is "so financially deprived" that "it barely manages to stay afloat, let alone grow or develop."
