How would you like to have the new Life Sciences Building named after you? Or, if you don't have $50 million on hand, how about the East Asian Studies Building for a paltry $3 million? If that still sounds a bit steep, you could always have a classroom named after you for a cool 150 grand.
The Web site for Brown's Campaign for Academic Enrichment, boldly.brown.edu, features a list of "Giving Opportunities" that details potential uses for donations to the University of between $5,000 and $50 million. Donors who give more than $150,000 are entitled to name their own little pieces of Brunonia, including buildings, classrooms, laboratories, professorships, athletic coaching positions, library collections and faculty professional development programs.
Students have their own ideas about how they would like their names immortalized on campus. Amanda Cavicchio '06, a science major, would like a laboratory to bear her name. Timothy Courchaine '06 would give his name to the Graduate Center Bar, because he likes it and goes there a lot, he said. Casey Lieb '07 would like the bear statue on the Main Green to bear her name, "'Cause it's cool."
Alums have had similarly diverse, if somewhat more dignified, ideas about how they would like to be remembered. Alums immortalized by wrought iron gates include Augustus Stout Van Wickle 1876, who met an untimely end in a skeet-shooting accident, and Donald L. Saunders '57, a real estate mogul whose name graces a gate onto Wriston Quadrangle from Charlesfield Street. Saunders also gave his name to the Brown University Inn.
Along with his wife, famed Norwegian actress Liv Ullman, Saunders also financed the restoration of the Blue Room, although the couple only got three plaques in and around the eatery for their munificence.
Jonathan M. Nelson '77, founder and CEO of Providence Equity Partners, will give his name to a new fitness center. Like Lieb, Theodore Francis Green 1887 wanted to have a statue of the University's mascot named after him - his name now graces the bear fountain near the Faculty Club.
Presenting donors with giving opportunities like those on the Boldly Brown Web site is fairly common, said Neil Steinberg '75, vice president for development and director of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment.
The list on the Web site is "just creating more opportunities because this is a big campaign," he said. "Any new project or most buildings on campus that don't have a name" are candidates for being named by a donor, he said, adding that most requests to name something specific are fulfilled.
"Some people like to name things, some don't really care, some prefer facilities" and others prefer programs or initiatives, Steinberg said. He said that for some donors, the opportunity to name something is a "motivating factor" because they like the idea of having their name attached to something that is more or less permanent. Donors hoping to have something named for them can talk with Steinberg's office and ask, "If we give X number of dollars, what are the options?" he said.
Steinberg also said that donations from corporations and other organizations are treated the same as donations from individuals for naming purposes. Warner Field, which sits on top of the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, is named for Warner Communications, which donated funds for the facility.
Facilities available for naming fall into two categories - those that already exist and those that have not yet been built. Richard Friedman '79 P'08 and Susan Friedman '77 P'08 recently donated $5 million for the renovation of the bottom three floors of the Sciences Library. The new area will be called the Friedman Study Space.
Richard Friedman, who works for Goldman Sachs and lives on Fifth Avenue in New York, said the couple wanted to make a donation that would have an immediate impact and worked with the University to "find out where it could be best deployed."
Creating a new physical space "reinforces the connection (and) makes us feel good that we can contribute," he said. "If it was just to give money and then put your name on a pre-existing building where nothing was done ... there's not as much of a connection."
But Friedman added that naming rights are "motivating regardless" and encourage giving because "it allows you to be able to make a connection." As for the study center's name, he said, "Brown suggested it and we thought it was a good idea."
Friedman said he is "excited about how much buzz there is about this." Although the couple knew a 24-hour study space would be well-received, the amount of "front-and-center attention and focus" it has garnered, especially during the public launch of the Campaign, was "not expected." He added that being responsible for a physical space that will be completed in the near future is more satisfying than endowing something more abstract or long-term.
