Harris Hall 107 was renamed the Accenture Forum on April 6 to recognize the consulting corporation’s $300,000 donation to refurbish the room.
As Campaign Northwestern approaches its $1.4 billion goal, administrators have for the first time attached a corporation’s name to a high-profile classroom that historically has been a popular venue for speakers visiting NU.
Ronald Vanden Dorpel, NU’s vice president for university development, said NU would continue to accept gifts from corporations to renovate buildings or classrooms so long as the companies are not seeking advertising.
“We’ll accept (the corporation’s) money but never their advice,” Vanden Dorpel said. “We’re not open to corporate influence in our curriculum.”
Vanden Dorpel said corporate names are scattered throughout Arthur Andersen Hall, Leverone Hall and the Allen Center. He said corporations usually are more willing to have their names attached to programs or classrooms than to buildings to avoid the possibility of high-profile backlash. But that might change soon at NU.
“Before we’re through with the end of this campaign, there will probably be one or two major corporate contributions to buildings,” he said.
The donation was spearheaded by Qung Go, a Kellogg graduate who works at Accenture. He and about 400 other NU alumni working for Accenture raised $150,000, which the corporation matched and donated to Campaign NU. Vanden Dorpel said NU grads constitute the second-largest group of alumni at Accenture. The money was used to rework the wiring in Harris 107 to make it a “smart” classroom.
Most students have viewed the change with mild bemusement. Speech junior Greg Newman, whose group Campus Alliance to End Gun Violence co-hosted an event in Harris 107 Tuesday night, said he didn’t consider the room’s new name when he planned the event.
“I noticed the name of the room, and thought it was kind of funny,” he said. “It didn’t bother me enough to (move the event).”
Vanden Dorpel said that although he suspected left-wing groups might be upset by the corporate name change, he was not worried that students would stop holding events in the room.
“That’s like saying people won’t go to the McCormick building because Robert McCormick was a rich capitalist,” he said. “Mr. Harris himself was a rich capitalist banker.”
The only mark of the name change is right outside the door of Harris 107, where “Accenture Forum” is embossed in brass letters. NU Registrar Suzanne Anderson said the room still will be known as Harris 107 in course listings.
