A billionaire gifted graduating college students at UMass Dartmouth with “envelopes full of money” totaling $1,000.
Robert Hale Jr., the CEO of Granite Telecommunications, made the announcement throughout the faculty’s graduation ceremony on Thursday. The varsity shared a video of the ceremony on-line, displaying the second Hale informed the 1,200 graduates and their households.
“These attempting instances have heightened the necessity for sharing, caring and giving,” Hale stated. “Our group wants you and your generosity greater than ever.”
A UMass Dartmouth press launch stated safety introduced onstage two giant duffle luggage “full of envelopes full of money.”
Hale informed graduates that he had two envelopes to provide them: one studying “present” and the opposite studying “give.”
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Hale defined that every scholar would obtain $1,000 however added there was a “stipulation.”
“The primary $500 is our present to you,” Hale stated. “The second $500 is so that you can give to any individual else or one other group who might use it greater than you.”
If all 1,200 college students obtained the $1,000, Hale’s giveaway amounted to about $1.2 million.
Through the ceremony, Hale additionally obtained the UMass Dartmouth Chancellor’s Medal for his philanthropy work.
Representatives for UMass Dartmouth and Hale at Granite Telecommunications didn’t reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.
School commencement season in the US this 12 months has been rife with controversy, principally because of the ongoing battle in Gaza. A number of faculties, together with Columbia College, have canceled school-wide graduation ceremonies, citing safety issues. And several other faculties have referred to as within the police to disperse pro-Palestinian protest camps, a transfer that one knowledgeable on dissent informed Enterprise Insider would in the end backfire.
College students at Duke College walked out throughout a graduation speech by comic Jerry Seinfeld final weekend. Seinfeld has develop into a vocal supporter of Israel. Some college students held Palestinian flags as they left the ceremony.
A consultant for Duke College informed BI that “we respect the suitable of everybody at Duke to precise their views peacefully, with out stopping graduates and their households from celebrating their achievement.”
