Story Archive

There’s a Flag on the Play

Robert Morin was the cataloguer at the University of New Hampshire library for his entire career: nearly 50 years. He drove to work in an old car, rarely bought new clothes, ate cheaply, and loved to read. When he died last year at 77, the university was shocked to learn that he left his entire estate to the school — $4 million. “His whole life was the library,” says Edward Mullen, Morin’s financial adviser. Morin’s gift “allows us to address a number of university priorities,” says UNH President Mark Huddleston. Such as? Just $100,000 for the library, and $1 million for a video scoreboard for the school’s newly renovated football stadium. Such an “inconsequential trinket for the athletic department” is “a complete disgrace to the spirit and memory of Robert Morin,” complained alumna Claire Cortese. (RC/USA Today) ...The score: Scholarship, 1; Jocks who wouldn’t be caught dead in the library, 10.