Many strings attached to Ilitch School of Business gift to WSU

[downtownguy]

‘Confidential’ pact between Ilitch, Wayne State puts taxpayers, students at risk

I often take what the Motor City Muckraker writes with a grain of salt, but in this case he claims to have a copy of the gift agreement, and it's not pretty.

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/0...students-risk/

From the article:

The gift agreement, for example, contains numerous conditions, including some that would put taxpayers on the line for some or all of the $35 million that the Ilitch foundation pledged to donate for construction of the business school.

• The Ilitch family must be reimbursed for every dollar of public money that becomes available for building a business school in a clause that states “the amount of cash gift shall be directly reduced by any amount appropriated to donee by the state of Michigan.”
• If construction is late and the building is not “materially complete” by Sept. 1, 2018, the Ilitch family may impose significant penalties by reducing the $5 million endowment by $1 million. If construction isn’t complete by January 2019, the endowment will be reduced by $2.5 million, and if it is not complete by September of 2019, the Ilitch family may “eliminate the endowment entirely,” change the lease or “terminate this agreement and the lease” on land that is owned by the Ilitch family, not the university.
• Given that construction of such projects are routinely delayed because of unexpected expenditures and impediments, the penalties in the gift agreement that President Wilson touted as a positive step for the university will come at the expense of students, whose tuition increased an average of 4.1% this year.
• The Ilitch foundation also will have one or more seats on the school’s advisory board, a voice in the school’s curriculum and access to interns.
• The school also must build a “display case” or designate another area of the building to highlight Mike Ilitch’s “business careers and personal accomplishments.”