Schools

UConn and Donor to Continue Relationship

Robert Burton says the university can keep his $3 million.

University of Connecticut  has decided to continue his relationship with UConn, after meeting with members of the university’s board of trustees on Wednesday, according to university officials.

On Feb. 9 UConn Board of Trustees Chairman Larry McHugh and Vice Chairman Tom Ritter met with Burton in response to the requests he filed in a letter to UConn Director of Athletics Jeff Hathaway last month. 

In January, Burton made headlines when he demanded the return of $3 million he had donated to UConn, calling it a “slap in the face” when he was not consulted in the search for the university’s new head football coach, . “We want our money and respect back,” he wrote in a letter to Hathaway.

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After his recent meeting with McHugh and Ritter, Burton said that he was able to put his differences aside, according to a release.

“I have been reflecting on it and came to the conclusion that I’m not going to let one experience change the relationship my family and I have with UConn,” Burton said in a statement released by the university. “We love the University; we’re proud of our association with it and it is going to continue.”

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McHugh said in the release that he was “pleased” that Burton and the university would be able to continue their relationship, “despite the frustration and disappointment” the family had experienced during the search for UConn's new head coach.

Interim UConn President Philip Austin said that he was “pleased those involved were able to get together to discuss this and work it out,” so that the relationship was not “permanently soured.”

To read the university’s entire press release, visit the UConn Today Web site, here.


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