“… The vast majority of the donation will be spent elsewhere at the university: $2.5 million to expand the school’s student career center. And $1 million, a quarter of the bequeathed money, on a video scoreboard at the school’s Wildcat Stadium … critics took to the university’s Facebook to express their discontent. Prioritizing a stadium over a library at the school, as commenter put it, is like ‘Dante’s Ninth Level of hell in case you’ve forgotten — or more likely never knew to begin with.’” …
I can understand why they would be upset, though there isn’t much they can do legally given that the money was given by the man without any stipulation, other than the amount for the library. Still, you would figure a donation like this would be much better spent on academics, given the guy was a librarian. Even if the guy loved football, sounds like a kind of stretch to me…
And this is exactly why I give only a restricted donation to the colleges.
Indeed.
This makes my blood boil.
I love college athletics, both my kids participated, I have always been involved and enthusiastic about college sports.
BUT, I love reading, books, literature and learning more, and I have very concrete ideas about the purpose of college. Yes, it’s legal, but to me this decision by UNH reflects extremely poorly on the school and indicates a morally corrupt mission.
This illustrates the misplaced priorities of UNH’s admins. Sorry, but unless the academic and related needs* are fully met first, athletics shouldn’t be given greater priority…not to the point of 25% of the entire $4 million donation.
- Including libraries.
Money is fungible.
When a dual income couple sharing a joint bank acct go grocery shopping together, do they think: “this gallon of milk is being paid for by wife’s paycheck, and this head of iceberg lettuce is being paid for by husband’s paycheck”?
If the university writes a $1 million check for a scoreboard from Mr. Morin’s gift, and then writes a $1 million dollar check for library books from another source, then what’s the net difference?
Fun fact about the University of New Hampshire, in 2013 80% of students graduated with debt. Their average debt load? [Url=<a href=“http://nhpr.org/post/32698-nh-second-worst-nation-average-student-debt%5D$35,000%5B/url”>http://nhpr.org/post/32698-nh-second-worst-nation-average-student-debt]$35,000[/url]. A public university has an obligation to its in state students in that it should offer an affordable, high quality education. Clearly UNH does not agree
UNH is known for being pretty expensive. It’s a state without a sales tax and an income tax. You get what you pay for. 
@primemeridian:
That is the old assumption that spending is fungible, that if they spend 1 million on the scoreboard from the donated money that will free up 1 million for books or aid or whatnot from the rest of the budget. The reality here is likely they saw the donation and figured it was a way to finally get that high tech scoreboard for the football stadium, money they otherwise would not have had to be able to spend it on it, so it was either spend the money on the scoreboard or spend it on books and so forth.
This reflects very poorly on the University. No matter what they could legally do, it’s still morally wrong, especially for a school with such terrible budget as unh. Can people in NH do something about it - as 1 million in scholarships would certainly have been more appreciated?
The fact that he only specified $100K for the library makes me wonder if he even knew how much his estate was (or might be) worth when he wrote the will. Seems like they could they do something amazing with that amount of money, and leave a worthy legacy to that man. A plaque outside the library? Really? How about naming a new wing of the library after him? Spending $1 million for a scoreboard is absolutely counter to the frugal lifestyle that made this man’s gift possible. Totally inappropriate in my mind. I hope that UNH students, staff and alumni keep making noise about this and can make a difference.
My take? The administrators are jealous over what big state schools like Alabama, Michigan and the like get in publicity over their football teams, and want to feel like big shots, too. UNH is up there with schools like University of Massachussetts, not exactly football powerhouses. They could have spent that money endowing a chair in something like biotech, they could have built research facilities (or used it as seed for a campaign to do that), to be remembered for a great discovery, but instead they choose self gratification. Kind of ironic from a state like New Hampshire that prides itself on being pretty blunt, straightforward, independent, to go this route.
It’s wrong, any way you slice it. Makes my blood boil as well.
It always amazes me when a group of people make such crappy decisions. You’d think at least one or two would chime in with some reason.
@doschicos:
All they came up with was “well, the deceased in his later years found he liked football, got into the stats, how teams call plays, and so forth, so would have been pleased by this” WTH? So the guy liked pro football so he would suddenly want to build a new scoreboard? Sadly, the legislature and the governor likely will see this as a good thing, they seem to get caught up in the thrall of ‘getting on the map’ with football and such, they keep trying here in NJ with Rutgers (who I won’t go to watch, the ticket prices are comparable to pro prices, and given that my tax dollars subsidize the school that is ridiculous…not to mention they generally not exactly at the level of the top football schools).
You’re speculating again, @musicprnt. 
I don’t think state politicians spend much time in NH worrying about “getting on the map” with football. I just think its a bone headed move by University administration.
Actually the NH Governor released a statement of displeasure but doesn’t control the university. I’m sure she’s not loving the focus in the press on how expensive UNH is relative to other state universities.
http://governor.nh.gov/media/news/2016/pr-2016-09-16-unh-scoreboard.htm
“It is concerning and perplexing that the University of New Hampshire decided to use part of this generous donation on an expensive new scoreboard. There were much more appropriate uses for these funds – such as the library and career center that received part of the donation, the new science building that the university wants or holding down the cost of tuition.”
“Ensuring that our young people develop the skills and innovative thinking needed for success in the 21st century economy is critical to our businesses and our state’s future, and increasing affordable access to higher education is an important part of our efforts to build an even stronger workforce. I am proud of our bipartisan work to hold down the cost of higher education, including freezing tuition at the university system for the first time in 25 years, and I strongly encourage the university’s leadership to be more thoughtful when determining how to use donations such as this.”
What’s the ROI on the scoreboard?
Negative.
I read online that the donor’s lawyer who wrote up his will asked him several times over the years why he only designated $100,000 to the library. The donor refused to explain it or change it.