Researcher Says Law School Misused $3 Million Donation

A University research associate has accused the Law School of misusing a $3 million donation from the Reginald F. Lewis foundation.

David H. Lempert, a research associate at the Ukrainian Research Center, said last week the money from Lewis' recent donation has been improperly spent. He said the gift was intended to benefit minority and Third World communities, but has instead probably been spent on "administrative costs and other one-time projects with no long term impact on the school or the communities...[the] gift [was] intended to help."

Law School Professor Christopher Edley Jr. denied the charges last week and labeled Lempert a "crank."

Lewis made the gift, the largest ever by a single individual, last summer. At the time Law School Dean Robert C. Clark said the school would use the gift to establish a fund for international study and to support faculty research, visiting lectureships, fellowships for students from developing nations and summer internships in Third World Countries.

Lewis, who owns TLC-Beatrice--the largest Black-run company in the nation, said he hoped the gift would also be used to increase faculty diversity.

Lempert said last week he wanted the money to be diverted to a small business development clinical project in minority communities in the Boston-Cambridge area and to "international teamwork on law and development." He said Edley refused to discuss the proposals with him.

But Edley said that only $500,000 of the donation, to be distributed evenly over six years, was designated and is being used for projects related to diversity at the Law School, Third World issues and international law. Clark was to decide how to spend the remainder of the gift.

Edley said the $83,000 allotted for minority projects this year has been spent on a variety of projects. The gift is financing six faculty research projects on topics ranging from the criminal justice system to immigration of Haitian refugees. Fifteen students are being supported for clinical research in Third World countries this month. In addition, the donation is being used to fund conferences on economic development in the Third World and five summer internships in human rights agencies.

Edley said he was unimpressed with Lempert's proposals. "Lempert has trouble accepting that other people have better ideas than he does, and he's obviously uninformed about where the money's going," Edley said.

Lempert sent letters detailing his complaint last month to President Neil L. Rudenstine, Law School minority student organizations, professors, administrators, The Crimson and members of the local media.

This month, the Law School is planning to release a formal announcement listing the projects being financed, Edley said. Lewis could not be reached for comment.