In 1923, Plimmon H. Dudley, an engineer who worked for the New York Central Rail, left over $150,000 to Yale to establish the the Dudley Professorship of Railroad Engineering. His desire was that the professorship continue his research into railway safety, particularly as it applied to the development and improvement of designs of rails, roadbeds and crossties. That was all well and good in 1923. But eventually, rail’s luster dimmed, and the chair sat empty for 70 years. Yale finally realized that the 1923′s steam engines were destined to be replaced by magnetic levitation trains, and in 2002, seated a professor.
Many other schools are facing similar dilemmas in dealing with quirky endowments. This NY Times article discusses it in more detail.
It was an interesting piece to me as my wife and I created an endowment a few years ago to benefit our church. We made no special conditions on the endowment, other than to create a chain of succession should our congregation or district go away. But it’s interesting to see what others have done with endowments.
