University of Chicago donors want their $100 million back

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

Wealthy twin brothers Thomas and Timothy Pearson planned to donate $100 million to the University of Chicago for creation of an institute that would study global conflict resolution. Now they're battling the university in federal court, demanding it return the $22 million they provided since the gift was agreed to in April 2015.

They and their foundation allege that the school has breached their agreement on several fronts, from failing to appoint an institute director to organizing a major conference. The contribution was tied at the time it was given with several others for the second-largest donation ever received at the school.

"Rather than address these breaches with forthrightness and transparency, the U of C has repeatedly sought to avoid and deceive the foundation regarding these and other failures," the Pearsons say in the lawsuit filed Feb. 20 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. "The U of C has failed to deal with the Foundation honestly and in good faith."

The university in a statement called the Pearsons' allegations "baseless" and says it will "vigorously defend itself" against them. "The university honors its grant agreements with its donors, and it did so with the Pearsons," it says in the statement. "Further, all academic and hiring decisions are the sole purview of the University and its faculty, guided by the principle of academic freedom."

Mistakes were made...