Colleges around the country are closely watching for a key ruling in a bitter legal battle between Princeton University and a disgruntled alumnus who claims the school misspent the millions his family left the school in 1961.
Regardless of the outcome, the case has already cost Princeton $22 million in legal fees and left a mark across higher education. Many colleges are grateful they haven’t been targeted by such a suit â?? and newly determined to make sure they never are. It’s accelerated a trend among both schools and donors of negotiating upfront just how gift money is to be spent.