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Historic $250-M Gift to Centre College Collapses

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An historic $250-million gift to Centre College in Danville, Kentucky won’t happen.  The university initially announced the gift  from the Brockman Charitable Trust last month. 

Officials at the small liberal arts school said the 250 million dollar donation has collapsed.  Richard Trolinger, who’s Vice President for College Relations, said the deal could not be finalized.

“For reason unknown to the college, the transaction is not going forward and as a result the gift that had been committed to Centre has been withdrawn,” said Trollinger.

Without offering an explanation, Centre President John Roush said the Brockman Charitable Trust killed the all-stock deal. 

“I’m reminding my colleagues often these days, we were a remarkable college before the gift and we remain a remarkable college, even with this disappointing news," said Roush. "And our future remains exceedingly bright, none the less."

Roush said he's not exactly sure what went wrong.

“We’re stunned that that’s not going to occur," said Roush. "Having said that, it does go without saying, as life comes at you, there always is a certain measure of risk.  This whole process involved some risk, we knew that.”

The endowment would have established the Brockman Scholars Program in fall of 2014. The donation would have been the largest to ever be awarded to Centre College.

Stu Johnson is a reporter/producer at WEKU in Lexington, Kentucky.
Rob Canning is a native of Murray, KY, a 2015 TV Production grad of Murray State. At MSU, he served as team captain of the Murray State Rowing Club. Rob's goal is to become a screenwriter, film director or producer and looks to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie for inspiration. He appreciates good music, mainly favoring British rock n' roll, and approves of anything with Jack White's name on it. When not studying, rowing or writing, Rob enjoys spending his free time with a book or guitar.
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