In 1961, A&P supermarket heir Marie Robertson and her husband, Charles, gave $35 million in stock to Princeton University for its Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Today, the gift is worth more than $880 million.
But the university and the descendants of the couple have spent millions in legal costs in a years-long fight over how the money should be used.
A New Jersey judge’s decision last week that the dispute should go to trial has drawn nervous attention from college administrations across the country. The New York Times has called it “one of the largest lawsuits ever filed exploring how closely colleges must adhere to the original intent of donors.”
The Robertsons’ children - Anne R. Meier, Katherine Ernst and William Robertson - maintain that the donation was meant to help prepare graduate students for careers in federal government, particularly in foreign and international affairs. They filed suit against the university in 2002, claiming that Princeton had failed to adhere to their parents’ instructions and had spent the money for other uses.
The suit also charges that Prince took control of the foundation set up to administer the gift, and commingled its funds with the university endowment.
Princeton officials respond that the Robertson offspring are trying to overturn the structure set up by the original grant, and use the money for their own purposes.
Both the university and the Robertsons have launched web sites about the suit. And both sides say they expect to win at trial.
Regardless of the outcome, colleges are likely to pay much closer attention to the restrictions that often come with major gifts.
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