Board Chair Withdraws $3M Donation Over Naming Flap

University of Michigan board chairman Mark Bernstein and his wife will withdraw a $3 million gift slated to help finance a new multicultural center on campus after concerns were raised about naming the building for them.

The current multicultural center is named for William Monroe Trotter. It is the only building named for an African American on the school's Ann Arbor campus.

In April, Bernstein and his wife, Rachel Bendit, announced they would give $3 million to help fund the construction of a new center in the middle of the campus. Per the university's standard procedures, the center was to be renamed as the Bernstein-Bendit Hall. The Trotter Center was to retain its name, but the building would not have the Trotter name on it.