Yale alumnus make major contribution to school
on October 23rd, 2007 at 4:20 amNew Face of Philanthropy Is Highlight of Yale Fête
By AMANDA GORDON
Staff Reporter of the Sun
[...] To open its new underground library, Yale University threw a midnight bash inspired by the “Harry Potter” book release parties at the same hour.
More than 1,000 students, professors, administrators, and employees showed up for the Friday party, the highlight of which was remarks from the man who is perhaps Yale’s most hip, nocturnal donor: William Wright II of New York, a Morgan Stanley managing director and 1982 graduate of Yale College.
With his $1 million gift to the library, Mr. Wright is also the first African-American Yale alumnus to become a major donor and one of the few from the classes of the 1980s forward to make a donation of that size.
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“Everyone thinks libraries don’t matter anymore, with the Internet and so on, but let me wish you all one thing: that in the Bass Library you will find wisdom and judgment to solve the great problems of the world,” he said to whoops and applause.
He then joined a mob of students who thanked and hugged him as they headed to the library’s entrance.
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Like the rest of the new library, the Wright Reading Room is lavishly appointed. Formerly a 1970s all-white den of fluorescent lights whose most famous spaces were “weenie bins,” or individual study carrels, and Machine City, a gathering spot with vending machines, the Bass Library has been transformed with red brick walls, oak wood carrels, marble tables, and leather armchairs. When the Library Café opens tomorrow, students can purchase food from Yale’s Sustainable Food Project, including hot chocolate made from scratch and locally made kettle corn. (more…)
