$15-Million Corporate Gift Withdrawn From U. of Iowa

The Wellmark Foundation withdrew a $15-million pledge it made to the University of Iowa College of Public Health after faculty and administrators declined to rename the college after Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, reports The Des Moines Register.

University officials refused to rename the college out of concerns that such a move would damage research and look like a conflict of interest.

Although the university said it would rename the building after the foundation or a person of the company’s choosing, the foundation’s board rejected those ideas. Wellmark is Iowa’s largest private insurance company.

In a letter to the university’s president and its Board of Regents, John Forsyth, Wellmark’s chief executive officer, wrote, “Unless and until there is unwavering support from both the college and university administrative leadership for a major gift as originally solicited by the college’s capital campaign committee leadership, our gift will remain withdrawn.”