Thursday, March 10, 2005

UW Whitewater fundraising

I received a phone call tonight from a pleasant young woman at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. From the moment I picked up the phone, I could tell she was nervous. She started by asking to confirm information about Mrs. Jib and I. Once we finished that, she broke into the pitch that I knew was coming: The read off a script, will you donate to the University pitch. I felt bad for her, so I went easy on her. My response?

"Due to the recent Ward Churchill speech, I will not be donating to the University for the foreseeable future."

At the mention of Ward Churchill, she could not get off the phone fast enough, even stumbling over "Thank you." I'd have to speculate that she's gotten an earful multiple times about him.

I have mixed feelings about saying no. She was specifically asking me to donate to the funding of the new College of Business building as well as to scholarships. Since I'm a grad of that college, I'm happy that future students will not have to attend classes at Carlson. Just the same, I did not see anyone from the Business College standing up and saying, "Why are we hosting a man who is trying to legitimize the killing of 3,000 people who are just like the kids we are trying to educate?" Given that, saying no was my little way of expressing my displeasure with my alma matter.

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