Money and the Academy: Academic Freedom at Meredith College
Fall 2004: Pres. Hartford makes initial inquiry to John
Allison, Chairman and CEO of BB&T about applying for funding from the
BB&T Foundation.
Oct. 21, 2004: Mr. Allison encourages Pres. Hartford,
telling her that independent colleges like Meredith might expect a “$250,000
five year contribution” used for a purpose such as that found at other schools
funded by the Foundation.
February 9, 2005: Pres. Hartford submits a
proposal for $447,000 over five years to the BB&T Foundation. This proposal was developed by Dr. Hartford,
members of Institutional Advancement, and two faculty members (an Assoc. Prof.
of Religion & Philosophy and an Ass’t Prof. of Business). These professors developed a new course,
including the course description and how the money would be spent. This was a detailed and far-ranging proposal
that anticipated a joint appointment between the Depts. of Business and
Religion & Philosophy.
Spring 2005: This first proposal was not approved by Mr.
Allison.
Summer 2005: Pres. Hartford, the Ass’t Prof. of Business,
and the Dean of Special Programs began work on a new proposal.
July 1, 2005: A new proposal was sent to BB&T asking
for “$450,000 over the next five years to support the study of
capitalism.” This alternate proposal did
not include a joint appointment between the two departments and instead
directed the gift to the Honors Program.
This proposal:
August 8, 2005:
Mr. John Allison of BB&T bestowed a $420,000 contribution to
Meredith payable over 7 years in $60,000 annual installments beginning Oct.
2005. The funds provided are to be used
as outlined in the proposal as sent by Dr. Hartford on July 1, 2005.
Fall 2005:
Honors Program Committee begins discussions about the BB&T gift.
November 2005:
Honors Program Committee is divided and requests for Faculty Affairs
Committee (FAC) to make a decision regarding whether the College should accept
this gift.
December 9, 2005:
At a joint meeting of the FAC and the newly-formed Faculty Council, FAC
took a vote on the decision of whether to accept the BB&T gift with the
conditions (excerpts of report below).
1. We consider the process that led to the
college’s accepting the current terms of the grant to have been seriously
flawed. The College Handbook clearly states that the faculty is responsible for
curriculum, and FAC firmly maintains that no funds should be accepted in situations
where a donor appears to have played any role in curricular
decisions. …
2. However, since the current agreement was made
at a time when we had no specific procedure in place addressing how and when an
elected body of the faculty will become involved when a gift is tied to any
curricular issue, FAC proposes that we accept the BB&T honors gift on the
condition that the honors colloquium … pass review by the Academic Council
before … [it] is offered. We see this as
a positive solution to the concern about this flawed process… .
April 4, 2006:
Academic Council approved the course along with a resolution (reading in
part):
“that the faculty teaching this course … are free to design the course with no
pre-conditions. Faculty teaching the course must have the freedom to
choose appropriate readings and other course materials within the guidelines of
academic freedom and academic responsibility. Further be it resolved
that any funding obtained for the College that includes conditions that the
Faculty interpret to be restrictions on academic freedom cannot be used to support
the development and implementation of this course or any course.”
April 6, 2006: Documents concerning the BB&T gift were shared with a
local reporter.
April 7, 2006:
At the All-College Faculty meeting faculty voted to both approve
Academic Council’s recommendation to add the course to the College Catalog and
also to adopt the resolution that was issued by Academic Council.
Fall 2006:
BB&T rescinded the remainder of the grant.