The Power of Protest

The building was complete, even to the glistening gold letters that proclaimed: THE MAURICE AND DOROTHY GORDON BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL

OF NURSING BUILDING. All that remained to be done last week was the dedication. But two hours before the ceremony, Philanthropist Gordon announced that he not only would not attend but also had withdrawn the $500,000 gift that had made the $2.7 million building possible.

The last-minute turnabout was the result of a campaign by B.U. students to portray Gordon, who is one of Boston's biggest landowners, as a profiteer in slum property. The campus newspaper raked up a 1933 real-estate-rackets charge against Gordon (he was never convicted); student leaders signed a letter to Boston newspapers claiming that his dealings were "exploitive and discriminatory." Actually, Gordon's real estate holdings, which were once extensive in slum neighborhoods, now consist mostly of profitable downtown office buildings; only a few of the 100 or so apartments he owns are in the city's worst areas.

Gordon explained that he withdrew his gift out of fear that the protestors would harm his family or the building. B.U. President Arland F. Christ-Janer called Gordon's action "understand able." Taken by surprise, student leaders started a fund-raising drive to replace the $500,000.

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