Who would refuse to tack a generous donor's name on a business school in these financially lean times for academia? Well, that's what at least one school says it will do should a benefactor come courting.
 
The University of Alberta's School of Business dropped out of the naming game this year after alumni raised more than US$20 million to avoid putting a wealthy contributor's moniker on the institution one day. Rather than honor a single alumnus, the school wants its name to continue to represent the entire community, as well as retain the heritage of the Alberta brand. Putting a different name on the business school could alienate it from the rest of the university and make other schools feel "the business school has all that money from the donor and thinks it's better than we are," said Mike House, assistant dean for development. "Keeping the pioneer Alberta spirit and name alive resonated with many people. The fact that we raised about $21 million in one of the worst economic times ever is pretty darned impressive."
 
It was a surprising but refreshing move that followed the University of Wisconsin School of Business's decision to buck the naming trend in 2007, when alumni donated about US$85 million to keep their alma mater's identity intact.

Dean Michael Knetter had talked with several naming candidates without netting any commitments and reflected on the long-term implications of putting an individual’s name on the school in perpetuity. “I worried if a person’s name were forever attached to the school that we would discourage other large donors,” he said, “because there’s nothing close to having a school named for you.” Twenty years from now, he figured, Wisconsin might fetch much more for naming rights than it could have in 2007.