The March 2001 Lawrence Summers Memorial Award* goes to Nottingham University in the United Kingdom.

Nottingham University announced in December 2000 that it had accepted a 3.8 million pound donation from the British American Tobacco Company ... to establish an International Center for Corporate Social Responsibility.

As a campaign mounted to urge the university to reject the donation, university officials dug in their heels.

In response to critical letters, the Vice Chancellor of Nottingham, Sir Colin Campbell, wrote:

"The donation will enable the Universities to make a serious investment in a very important developing academic field. Public scrutiny of global companies is increasing and stakeholders hold companies more and more accountable. British American Tobacco is working hard to address the changing expectations of society and its stakeholders. It has a genuine commitment to supporting higher education and the development of the management skills base in the countries where it operates.

I should add that the funding comes with no strings attached.The Business School will be able to establish a new Center with high quality staff in an increasingly important research discipline. This is, of course, organizationally, fiscally and physically separate from the important work going in the Schools of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences." For more on the controversy, see ASH UK's web site, www.ash.org.uk.