UCLA rejects $3M gift from Sterling for kidney research
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}UCLA said it is rejecting the $3 million donation received last month from the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling after he was banned for life from the NBA over a racist audiotape.
"Mr. Sterling's divisive and hurtful comments demonstrate that he does not share UCLA's core values as a public university that fosters diversity, inclusion, and respect," the school said in a press release.
The money was set to be earmarked to research the structural properties of key proteins in the kidney that affects its function in health and disease, the school said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}At the time of the contribution, Dr. Ira Kurtz, who is the chair of the school's Nephrology department, noted that kidney disease affects 500 million people worldwide, including a "disproportionate" number of African Americans and Latinos.
"Blacks are more than three times as likely as whites to develop kidney disease and account for a third of U.S. kidney patients. Outrage won't help their cause," Virginia Postrel writes for Bloomberg View.
The school said it will return the $425,000 initial investment and will not accept the remaining money.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"UCLA fully appreciates the importance of further research in Nephrology and our development staff will be working diligently to replace that funding in the very near future," the school said in a statement.
UCLA joins team sponsors, players and fans who said they have no interest in dealing with the owner who was heard on audiotape telling his alleged girlfriend that he didn’t want her to bring black people to games.
Sterling was banned for life from the league, fined $2.5 million and the league is looking to force him to sell the franchise.