A Big Gift Roils a College Town

A $40-million donation to Wells College, in Aurora, N.Y., has set off controversy in the small town that is home to the campus, reports The New York Times.

The donation was made by Pleasant T. Rowland, founder of the American Girl doll collection, who told the college to use the money to revitalize the town.

But many of the local residents don’t like the changes that have been made, the newspaper reports. They say the upgrades are not in keeping with the town’s roots.

Ms. Rowland’s money has been used to transform the dilapidated Aurora Inn into an elegant lodging facility, as well as upgrading many college-owned properties into more decorative establishments.

A coalition of residents filed a lawsuit with the support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organization, on the grounds that construction and upgrades in the historic district were inaccurate, but the lawsuit failed.

Wells College officials say that Ms. Rowland’s gift has made a big difference to the campus’s health.

Ann S. Rollo, Wells’s vice president for communications, said the college was “extraordinarily pleased by the physical results” of Ms. Rowland’s efforts. College enrollment, which hit a low of 395 in 2005, is now up to 567, and applications have almost tripled.

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