Ideas, and actions, have consequences. Harvard's faculty can't celebrate so smugly about heaving former university president Larry Summers overboard now that software billionaire Larry Ellison has decided to take back his intended donation of $115 million.
Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison has decided not to give Harvard University a planned gift of $115 million, a company spokesman said Tuesday.Posted by Alan at June 27, 2006 08:37 PMEllison canceled the gift because Lawrence H. Summers stepped down as Harvard's president this month after a stormy tenure at the university, Oracle spokesman Bob Wynne said. Summers announced his resignation in February, after being embroiled in controversy throughout 2005. Wynne said Ellison began to reconsider his donation when it appeared that Summers would step down.
Ellison's promise to Harvard last year created a sensation throughout the philanthropic community because it would have been the school's largest single contribution. The gift would have created a global health foundation named after Ellison.
Wynne said Ellison planned to make a donation to another institution, but had no details as to the size of the planned contribution or where it will be made. Wynne said he didn't know if Ellison had notified Harvard of his intentions.