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Harvard University, which has lagged other colleges in selling naming rights for academic colleges, has done so twice in recent years, in return for large gifts. That has prompted debate at its medical school over whether an extremely large gift (not yet on the table, but people are talking about a $1 billion gift) would justify renaming the medical school, STAT reported. Proponents say a gift of that size could bring the already prestigious institution to a new level.
But some faculty members worry about the implications. “If the school sells naming rights, it makes the school feel like it’s a football stadium,” David Jones, a professor, said. When faculty members publish articles with the new name of their medical school, “everyone on the faculty, and all of the students, become an advertisement for whoever bought the naming rights.” He added that professors also fear that they may not like the record of the donor, given that there are relatively few people with the ability to donate a gift of the size Harvard would want. “If they named it the Trump School of Medicine, half of the faculty would resign,” Jones said.
