What to do Mizzou?

I read an article today in the Missourian discussing former Enron chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay's ties to the University of Missouri, and questions as to what the University should do with donations from Lay, if he is convicted of fraud and conspiracy charges he is facing in a Houston courtroom. Lay, who graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1964 and received his master's degree from the school in 1965, had created an endowed economics chair as well as donating money to help with the construction of Cornell Hall, the business school.

The major issue is whether or not these gifts are tainted by the scandal that has occurred with the Enron company. The story gave both sides of the issue, one person, Keith Poole, who was the Kenneth L. Lay Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston from 2000 to 2005, (Lay had received his doctorate from the University of Houston in 1970), said that his attitude was to "take the money and run." Another person, Valerie Kaussen, who is an assistant professor of romance and literature at MU said, "I don't think we should stand for a white-collar crime being celebrated in the name of an endowed chair."

Personally, I think that the University should keep the money that was given to them. The story does a good job of pointing out that two of this countries greatest University donors, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, had some questionable business practices of their own. Yes, I think it is terrible what the Enron company did to its employees, but I don't think that the money Lay gave to the University had anything to do with these practices. Regardless of my own opinion, if Kenneth Lay is found guilty of fraud and conspiracy charges in Houston, the University of Missouri is going to have a dilemma on their hands, and there isn't going to be a way to make everyone concerned with the issue happy.

Publish Date: February 6 in the Missourian