Duke U. Still Waiting for Much of $72-Million Pledge Made in 2003

A $72-million commitment made in 2003 to a Duke University fund-raising campaign remains largely unpaid, according to The Chronicle, the student newspaper at the North Carolina campus.

The gift from Peter and Ginny Nicholas, at the time the biggest in the university’s history and a key part of the $2.36-billion Campaign for Duke, was to have been fully paid by December 2008. William Schlesinger, former dean of Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, the main beneficiary, said the institution had not received any of the money when he stepped down in June 2007.

Peter Nicholas, co-founder of Boston Scientific, told the newspaper the family has paid “a significant portion” of the pledge but declined to provide a figure. He said the remainder would be paid in “due course.”

Administrators at the university declined to comment to the student newspaper, but Mr. Schlesinger said “I went along with being quiet for quite a while, but over the years I’ve decided that I don’t care,” he said. “You know, somebody needs to start telling the truth about some of this stuff.”