Pepperdine’s Million-Dollar Club : University Releases List of Donors After Controversy Erupts on Contributions by Supporter of Whitewater Probe

Pepperdine University, seeking to refute reports that Richard Mellon Scaife, a controversial conservative publisher and financier, is the only major donor to its new School of Public Policy, has released a list of all contributors of over $25,000, including six who each gave more than $1 million.

The new figures show that Scaife was one of several major donors--contributing $1.35 million, or about 15% of the $9 million in start-up and endowment funds that the school has received.

Scaife’s contributions to the school became a center of controversy recently when the Whitewater independent counsel, Kenneth Starr, announced that he would join Pepperdine as dean of both its law school and the new public policy school.

Through his newspaper, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and sizable donations to several other conservative groups and journalistic organizations, Scaife has helped publicize a variety of theories about wrongdoing in the Clinton White House and the death of former White House aide Vincent Foster--many of which are under investigation by Starr’s staff.

James R. Wilburn, the acting dean of the public policy school, said Pepperdine officials had not anticipated the furor that erupted after the Starr appointment.

In part, this was because Starr himself had told school officials he did not expect any furor, the acting dean said.

“He told us that it would not be a major development for him to leave the Whitewater inquiry, because he was mainly a manager, and there were many proficient lawyers in the group who could carry on the investigation,” Wilburn said.

However, just four days after the Pepperdine appointments were announced, with controversy mounting, Starr announced that he would remain as special prosecutor indefinitely and that he was withdrawing his commitment to assume the Pepperdine positions by Aug. 1.

Even while Pepperdine was providing the more comprehensive list of donors to the public policy school, Wilburn acknowledged that Scaife has long been a big giver to Pepperdine--going back long before the policy school was first envisioned.

A Scaife associate disclosed last week that total giving to Pepperdine by Scaife and the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which Scaife heads, has totaled $12.7 million since 1962.

“He used to show up unexpectedly on the campus at Christmastime and make major gifts,” Wilburn said.

“There were occasions where they made the difference between our being able to keep to our building schedule for developing the Malibu campus or delaying it.”

However, Wilburn said, in his 25-year acquaintanceship with Scaife, he had never known the Pennsylvanian to give any instructions as to who Pepperdine should hire or how it should operate. “He didn’t ask for anything, but he often gave substantial amounts which kept us going,” he said.

The $12.7 million in Scaife donations compare with total giving by all donors to Pepperdine since 1962 of between $500 million and $525 million, said the university’s executive vice chancellor, Larry Hornbacker.

Wilburn said five parties besides Scaife have each given $1 million or more toward establishing the public policy school.

While mostly conservative corporate leaders, the others have not been associated, as has Scaife, with pushing publicly for a more intensive Whitewater inquiry.

The other $1-million donors identified by Pepperdine are four couples and a foundation: Robert and Katheryn Dockson, Edward and Thelma Gaylord, Charles and Rosemary Licata, Bill and Nancy Mortensen and the Flora L. Thornton Foundation.

Dockson is chairman emeritus of California Federal Savings and Loan. Gaylord is an Oklahoman who is chairman of Gaylord Entertainment. Licata is a retired public accountant, and his wife has been president of the Thousand Oaks Republican Women. Mortensen is retired chief executive of the First Fed Financial Corp. And Thornton is the widow of Charles B. “Tex” Thornton, head of Litton Industries.

In addition, Pepperdine released the names of 18 other parties, including couples, that it said gave between $25,000 and $100,000 to the new school.

These donors included singer Pat Boone; former U.S. ambassador to Japan Jim Hodgson; Thomas P. Kemp, the brother of former GOP vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp; and Glenn Campbell, former director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

There were no contributions between $100,000 and $1 million on the list. School officials said they had solicited the smaller contributions for a “Founder’s Cabinet” for operational expenses, while the $1-million contributions were for endowment.

Wilburn demurred slightly to published reports that Pepperdine’s new public policy school would seek to provide a conservative counterpoint to a more liberal Harvard University public policy school, the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

“I don’t think of Harvard as having an ideological bent,” he said.

But, he went on, Harvard is geographically closer to Washington, D.C., and “more Washington centered” than Pepperdine.

“We will be focused more on our region,” said the acting dean, who also served 12 years as dean of the Pepperdine Business School.

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Top Donors

Here are the major donors to Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy:

$1 MILLION OR MORE

Robert and Katheryn Dockson

He is chairman emeritus of California Federal Savings & Loan.

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Edward and Thelma Gaylord

He is chairman of Gaylord Entertainment.

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Charles and Rosemary Licata

He is a retired public accountant. She has been president of Thousand Oaks Republican Women.

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Bill and Nancy Mortensen

He is the retired CEO of First Fed Financial Corp.

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The Sarah Scaife Foundation

It is chaired by Richard Mellon Scaife, a Pennsylvania newspaper publisher and heir to a large fortune.

The Flora L. Thornton Foundation

She is the widow of Charles B. “Tex” Thornton, who was head of Litton Industries.

$25,000 to $100,000

Pat and Shirley Boone

He is a singer and entertainer.

*

Viggo and Judi Butler

He is former president of Lockheed Air Terminal and Airport Group International.

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Glenn and Rita Campbell

He is former director of the Hoover Institution at Stan-ford University.

*

Jamal Daniel

Houston businessman.

*

Robert Davidson

Former CEO of Davidson & As-sociates, an educational software firm.

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Carl E. and Shirley Reid Frahm

He is former chairman of Reid Plastics.

*

Terry Hamilton

She is a longtime supporter of Pepperdine.

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Jim and Maria Hodgson

He is a former U.S. ambassador to Japan.

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Glen and Gloria Holden

He is a former U.S. ambassador to Jamaica.

*

Bill and Sue Huston

He is chairman of the board of Watson Land Co.

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Thomas P. Kemp

Former CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles and brother of former GOP vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp.

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Glen and Marilyn McDaniel

He is a former Litton Industries executive.

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Kenneth Mosier

A late Stanford University professor.

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Travis and Martha Reed

He is a Kansas City businessman.

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Jerry and Maggie Sheppard

He is a Los Angeles attorney.

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Leonard H. Straus

He is chairman emeritus of Thrifty Drug Stores.

*

Brook and Barbara Townsend

He is a Los Angeles businessman.

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Robert Virtue

An official of Virgo Industries.