Harvard Hasn't Changed

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country
hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge.

"We'd like to see the president," the man said softly.

"He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped.

"We'll wait," the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would
finally become discouraged and go away.

They didn't, and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided
to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted.

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him.

He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance
obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, and he detested
gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.

The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the
couple. The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a
memorial to him, somewhere on campus."

The president wasn't touched. He was shocked. "Madam," he said, gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."

"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a
statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and
homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly
idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard."

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe
he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said
quietly, "Is that all it cost to start a university? Why don't we just start our own? "

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and
bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away,
traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university
that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that
Harvard no longer cared about.

By Malcolm Forbes

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country
hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve ...[text shortened]... anford University, a memorial to a son that
Harvard no longer cared about.

By Malcolm Forbes

Originally posted by Mangy Mooose
Cute story ... it would be even more cute it it were actually true:

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/stanford.htm

also

http://www.stanford.edu/home/stanford/history/begin.html#Birth

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
LOL... I'll take your word for it. I got it as one of those chain letter emails today. Good job. Too bad I don't care enough to even look at it. That's how important it is.

Anyway, good job. At least you care enough to look it up. I'll go look at your stuff now.

Mike

Very interesting Urban Myth. I wonder where the Malcolm Forbes thing came into it?