Spruce College House will be renamed for Board of Trustees Chairman James Riepe and his wife Gail after the couple pledged in June to donate $10 million to the University, officials announced yesterday.
"Our family is excited about the opportunity to support undergraduate life at Penn," Riepe said in a press release, "while, at the same time, be associated with a facility like the Quad which has had such a long and storied history at Penn and, in fact, has housed members from three generations of our family."
The donation will go toward building maintenance, services and activities.
Some students currently living in Spruce are unhappy with the change.
"Even as freshmen, I feel like we really recognize Spruce itself as our home," College freshman Allison Wu said. "We live in Spruce, and we're comfortable with it, and now they're changing the name. The name loses its importance when it can be changed so easily."
"I think it sucks, if you want my honest opinion," said Mark Butt, a Spruce graduate associate and Graduate School of Education student. "I'd rather see the $10 million go to financial aid. ... It would go a lot further in enticing minority students, as opposed to donating it to a house so you can have your name on it."
Executive Director of Principal Gifts Linda Kronfeld said building signs will be changed from Spruce to Riepe in the summer, but that University officials will begin to use "Riepe" in college house materials and brochures soon.
Both Riepes are Penn alumni who have a legacy of involvement with the University. James has been board chairman since 1999, and Gail is a member of the Board of Overseers for Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine.
James is also the vice chairman of the T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. investment management company, and according to Forbes.com, made $2,326,085 in cash compensation for his work in fiscal year 2003. In this same year, he owned stock options valued at $15,690,221.
The announcement of the donation was delivered at the Board of Trustees meeting at the end of June, but officials decided to delay a University-wide announcement until students returned to campus, according to Kronfeld.
Spruce's Quadrangle neighbors, Fisher Hassenfeld and Ware college houses, are both named after alumni families.
In the fall 2002 semester, alumni Jerome and Anne Fisher and Alan Hassenfeld pledged $11.5 million toward what was then Woodland College House.
Jerome is the founder and chairman of the Nine West Group Inc.
Hassenfeld is chairman and chief executive officer of Hasbro, the international toy company.
The gift amount necessary to rename a building depends on the size and scale of the project, and differs for every building, Kronfeld said. The Daily Pennsylvanian quoted Kronfeld in September 2003 as saying the donation generally needs to be about 50 percent of the total cost of the project.
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