Robert G. Burton wants UConn to give him his $3 million back.
Burton gave the money to the University of Connecticut to build the Burton Family Football Complex in Storrs. Now, citing disagreements with the school’s athletic director and a desire to be consulted about the new football coach, he wants that donation returned and his family’s name taken off the facility altogether.
We live in an age completely lacking in honor, in which our rich feel they have a right not only to unspeakable riches, but constant massaging. Maybe I’m naive, but I always thought that a gift was something that one gave without strings, and it is rather tacky to demand it back, no matter what the circumstances. Mr. Burton appears to think that gifts are made with unspoken but implicit conditions, one of them apparently being that the giver has the right to have his ass kissed, the number of times and the length of the kisses being directly proportional to the amount of the gift. I feel his pain. I give regularly to my alma mater, and not once have I been consulted about hiring decisions. But, if truth be told, if my ass kissing theory is correct, my kisses would be so few and brief it would not be worth pulling down my pants.
Now, in a rational world, the folks at UConn would conclude that Mr Burton has destroyed any bargaining power he has. A gift is a gift, and they are under no legal obligation to return it. Since he has announced that UConn is dead to him, UConn has nothing to gain by giving him a dime. They should, therefore, tell him to stick it. But this world has gone mad in many ways, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave him his money.
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