FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 17, 2020
COLUMBUS, OHIO – Today, with the full support of the late Michael Moritz’s family, the Honor Bound Initiative launched with a mission to restore honor to Ohio State University’s donor program by shining a spotlight on how Ohio State is spending endowment funds.
Specifically, Ohio State is spending endowment money for purposes that deprive deserving students of scholarships that many endowments were supposed to provide. The Honor Bound Initiative will look to educate Ohioans about the need to change these actions by Ohio State with the ultimate goal of replenishing impacted endowment funds to achieve their single true purposes — to provide student scholarships.
“In 2001, Mike Moritz made a $30 million commitment to future students of the Ohio State University Law School by providing an endowment that would fund 30 full scholarships a year,” said Honor Bound Initiative Spokesperson Ian Prior. “Unfortunately, Ohio State University did not honor the agreement it made with Mr. Moritz and has never provided the full 30 scholarships a year. Instead, it has spent millions from that endowment to pay for salaries and development office social events. The mission of the Honor Bound Initiative is to educate the public about this issue and to encourage concerned citizens to demand that Ohio State change its practices and replenish all endowments so that they can be used for the purposes for which they were intended.”
As part of a continuous campaign to educate and hold Ohio State accountable for its donor program, The Honor Bound Initiative is launching digital ads throughout the state on a variety of platforms.
The first ad – “MIRACLE” – is below:
SCRIPT:
They waited for a miracle. Scholarships for an education they couldn’t afford on their own. But that life-changing gift was taken away by a university some had dreamt about all their lives.
Generous donors gave The Ohio State University money for scholarships, but the university wasted millions on parties and staff.
While deserving students waited for an opportunity that never came.
They deserve better. Ohioans deserve better