This case study reviews the financial dispute and legal battle between the heirs of Josephine Newcomb and Tulane University. Following Hurricane Katrina (2005), Tulane’s Board of Directors announced Newcomb College’s closure to stabilize university finances. In response, Newcomb’s heirs filed suit against the university. In 2009, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tulane, setting legal precedent for educational merger. Now, more than 10 years after Katrina, Newcomb alumnae continue to question whether Tulane administrators abused Newcomb’s financial intentions. This case study helps students consider the rights and interests of philanthropic donors from the perspective of different stakeholders.
NealA.PoliakoffM. (2011). The intelligent donor’s guide to college giving. Washington, DC: American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
4.
ReckhowS. (2015). Follow the money: How foundation dollars change public school politics (studies in postwar American political development) (Reprint Edition). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
DixonB. (1928). A brief history of H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College 1887-1919. New Orleans, LA: Hauser Printing Company.
10.
DryerJ. P. (1966). Appendix III “Will of Josephine Louise Newcomb.” In Tulane: The biography of a university 1834-1965 (pp. 312-313). New York, NY: Harper & Row.
11.
FreyS. A. (2011). Newcomb, Josephine. In MohrC. L. (Ed.), The new encyclopedia of southern culture, volume 14: Education (pp. 266-267). Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
12.
Howard v. Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, 986 So.2d 47 (2006).
13.
KingsleyK. (2003). Buildings of Louisiana. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.
14.
MastersonK.GoseB. (2009). Settlement ends dispute between Princeton and donors’ heirs. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(18). Available from http://chronicle.com
SamelsJ. E.MartinJ. (2009). Turnaround: Leading stressed colleges and universities to excellence. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
23.
SolomonB. (1986). In the company of educated women: A history of women and higher education in America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
24.
ThelinJ. R. (2011). A history of American higher education (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
25.
TuckerS.WillingerB. (Eds.). (2012). Newcomb college 1886-2006: Higher education for women in New Orleans. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
WedellM. (2012). Founding Newcomb College. In TuckerS.WillingerB. (Eds.), Newcomb College, 1886-2006: Higher education for women in New Orleans (pp. 25-43). Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
WillingerB.TuckerS. (2011). Josephine Louise Le Monnier Newcomb. In JohnsonD. (Ed.), KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana. Retrieved from http://www.knowla.org/entry/859/
