The Yale Daily News reports:
The Schwarzman Center at Yale, Schwarzman College, the Schwarzman Scholars program and the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library — the illustrious philanthropist and Wall Street businessman Stephen Schwarzman ’69 has an impressive track record of leaving his name on facilities that have accepted his donations. But, over the weekend, one beneficiary of his multimillion-dollar giving rejected the Schwarzman name.Some places would rather not have the money.
Amy Sichel, the Abington superintendent of schools, announced in an email to community members on Saturday that Abington Senior High School, Schwarzman’s alma mater, had scrapped plans to rebrand itself Abington Schwarzman High School. In February, Schwarzman donated a record-breaking $25 million to the school.
The decision the reverse the renaming came just four days after the school board voted at a March 27 meeting to rename the school in Schwarzman’s honor. During that four-day period, two community petitions to keep the school’s original name garnered 1,400 and 700 signatures, respectively.
In her email, Sichel wrote that while most of the community did not oppose the name change, she had talked to Schwarzman’s representatives about “concerns raised by a minority in the community.” The school board will vote to reverse the decision at its next meeting.
