Indian gifts to universities

By Amit Roy

A NUMBER of universities in the UK and the US have acknowledged donations from Indians in time-honoured fashion.

At Oxford, the post of professor of vaccinology, currently held by Prof Adrian Hill, is being renamed the Lakshmi Mit­tal and Family Professorship of Vacci­nology, after receiving a £3.5-million donation from the steel tycoon.

Another man of steel, Lord Swraj Paul, last week announced a gift of $5m (£3.9m) to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he and his sons, Akash and Angad, were students. In recognition of this gift, “the large hall in the Kresge Auditorium will be named as the Lord Swraj Paul PC ’52 and An­gad Paul ’92 Theatre. The hall will be more generally known as the Swraj Paul Theatre at Kresge Auditorium.”

At Christ’s College, Cambridge, where Cipla chairman Dr Yusuf Hamied, has been a generous benefactor over the years, a building currently under con­struction will include a Hamied Court.

There is nothing to stop institutions honouring black achievers, even with­out receiving donations. Many cricket lovers would be happy to see a monu­ment commemorating the “three Ws”– Sirs Frank Worrell, Clyde Walcott and Everton Weekes – either at Lord’s or the Oval. And what about a bust of the late Lord (David) Pitt in parliament?