Building name attached to gift
By Renae Merle
Daily Texan Staff
February 20, 1996
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Naming the molecular biology building was a privilege attached to the $4 million donation necessary to complete the construction project, Faculty Council chair Reuben McDaniel revealed Monday.
"This is the first time that the [UT System Board of Regents] had asked that funds be raised from private sources for an academic building," McDaniel said.
In a statement before the council, McDaniel detailed the history of the naming of the molecular biology building in honor of Freeport-McMoRan chief executive officer Jim Bob Moffett and his wife.
"The purpose of my statements is to inform the Faculty Council debate on the motion to appoint a committee to inquire about the circumstances of the donations," McDaniel said.
The motion, submitted by Alan Cline, a professor of computer sciences, was withdrawn after McDaniel's comments.
McDaniel added that he derived all of his information on the issue from discussions with highly placed administrators and media reports.
Shirley Perry, vice chancellor for development and external relations, said that naming privileges are common practice in fund-raising.
"It's just part of the whole process," said Perry, who worked for the University when the decision concerning the Moffett building occurred. "This is a common pattern across the United States."
"UT, because it had such good resources in the past, was never required to find private support," Perry said.
Perry stressed that "nobody ever asked to have a building named for them."
McDaniel also said the Moffetts' $2 million donation to capital projects in the College of Natural Sciences was originally intended for the renovation of the Experimental Science Building.
When Albert Alkek, the original donor, withdrew his $4 million donation for the molecular biology building, another source had to be found, McDaniel said. Alkek has since died, he said, adding that he did not know why the donation was withdrawn.
He added that when Alkek made the donation, "it was agreed that the building be named for his wife."
McDaniel said UT System Chancellor William Cunningham asked Moffett if his $2 million donation could be diverted to the molecular biology building and asked the Freeport board of directors to donate an additional $1 million.
Cunningham, who served on the Freeport board at the time, resigned after facing increasing criticism regarding the University's association with Freeport-McMoRan.
"Cunnigham indicated to Moffett and the board of Freeport that he would recommend to the regents that the building be named for Jim and Louise Moffett and that one wing of the building be named for Freeport," McDaniel said.
But Cunningham also had indicated in 1990, when the Moffetts originally donated the funds, that he would ask the regents to name an appropriate facility for the Moffetts.
McDaniel added that naming one wing of the building after Freeport was used as an incentive to attract the additional $1 million needed to finish the project.
In November 1993, UT alumnus Virgil Waggoner pledged the final $1 million needed.
Cunningham has refused to comment on the issue, saying only that he stands by the decision to name the building in honor of the Moffetts.
But Cline said it is now clear that Moffett donated no additional funds for the molecular biology building.
"There was no net gain for the University from a donation by the Moffetts at the time the agreement was made to honor them with the naming of the building," Cline said.
"There was a gift from the Freeport corporation and there was a transfer of money previously donated," he said. "But that transfer put the funding for renovation of the Experimental Science Building back $2 million."
Hannah Gould, Students for Earth Awareness president, said Moffett did not contribute enough of the total cost of the building to have a building named in his honor.
"I don't think the process of [receiving] donations in such a way is proper," Gould said.
The total funding of the $25 million building was accomplished with $8 million from student fee reserves and $13 million from revenue bonds.