{"id":643,"date":"2025-01-21T09:26:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T09:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/a-billionaire-gave-1000-to-umass-dartmouth-graduates-some-missed-out\/"},"modified":"2025-01-21T09:26:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T09:26:47","slug":"a-billionaire-gave-1000-to-umass-dartmouth-graduates-some-missed-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/a-billionaire-gave-1000-to-umass-dartmouth-graduates-some-missed-out\/","title":{"rendered":"A Billionaire Gave $1,000 to UMass Dartmouth Graduates. Some Missed Out."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Graduation day dawned on May 16 at the Franklin, Mass., home of Emma Yell and her partner, James Ristaino, but the rain was so heavy that it was hard to tell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They had both hoped to cross the stage that day and receive their University of Massachusetts Dartmouth degrees after years of combining coursework with care for their now-8-year-old daughter, Elena.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The weather, however, was a problem. The rain-or-shine, no-cover ceremony meant that Elena, who uses tracheotomy and feeding tubes, would be exposed to the elements. The couple were not going to show up without her, and being there was just too risky.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Graduation went on without the family, and it came with a fabulous surprise for the seniors who were there: Rob Hale, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/profile\/robert-hale-jr\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a local telecom billionaire<\/a>, turned up with over $1 million in duffel bags and handed $1,000 each to graduates as they got their degrees. They were to keep $500 for themselves and give $500 to help a person or an organization that needed it more than they did.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Because Ms. Yell and Mr. Ristaino weren\u2019t there, they \u2014 like others among the 20 percent of the graduating class, which totaled 1,200 people, who missed the ceremony \u2014 did not get the money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou\u2019ve got to show up,\u201d Mr. Hale <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/billionaire-rob-hale-gift-umass-grads-1000-then-what-happened-8652028\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">told People magazine<\/a> when the tale of the rich man doling out $100 bills drew an enormous amount of media attention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Like many people who heard the Hale tale, I didn\u2019t know about the absent graduates. I had just wanted to learn what the ones who were present that day had done with the money. In October, the university sent an email on my behalf to every one of them, and people responded with the loveliest stories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One nursing student gave her $500 to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston in honor of a family friend in treatment there who was probably going to die. A budding engineer handed the money over to her high school so the teachers who got her to college could put it to work with other teenagers. A third graduate, whose parents had moved to the United States from Cape Verde, used the money to help a Cape Verdean family rebuild a destroyed home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But I got just as many notes from people like Ms. Yell. One graduate said she had missed the ceremony because her postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome flared up. Another had older parents, who could not have handled the weather, and did not want to leave them at home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Paige Santos, another UMass Dartmouth graduate, has cerebral palsy and uses an electric scooter that would not have done well in the monsoon conditions. She said she would have given her $500 to the Special Olympics, where she once competed as a javelin thrower.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In this season of giving, what are we to make of a billionaire with a soft spot for striving graduates who draws a hard line on being present for the pomp and circumstance, no matter the circumstances? I couldn\u2019t make sense of it, so I went to his office in Quincy, Mass., to ask.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Hale\u2019s inspiration to give and keep giving first hit him at a high school Easter Seals hoop-athon. He raised over $1,500 making layups on a basketball court within a specified period of time. \u201cI felt a kind of internal glow,\u201d he told me when I asked him about that experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After college, he volunteered as a Big Brother to a boy who would later be in his wedding party. And as Mr. Hale built a high-flying start-up, saw it fall into bankruptcy and built a new one \u2014 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitenet.com\/granite-company\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Granite Telecommunications<\/a> \u2014 he and his wife kept giving.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2022, the couple <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boston25news.com\/news\/local\/south-shore-based-billionaire-giving-away-1m-every-week-an-entire-year\/QA2JNNSUFJBPREOX6NXHDCXI6E\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">gave away<\/a> $1 million each week. And this year, they <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/thenonprofittimes.com\/npt_articles\/first-time-finisher-funder-boosted-boston-marathons-fortunes\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">donated $26.2 million<\/a> to a variety of groups as part of Mr. Hale\u2019s successful quest to finish the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Set against this record, the decision to exclude people who couldn\u2019t go to a graduation ceremony felt like an administrative oversight. So I took a few minutes to read Mr. Hale their emails aloud.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPart of life is showing up,\u201d he said in response, echoing what he told People magazine. \u201cThe message I want to be delivered for those who don\u2019t attend by choice is, \u2018Hey, this is a celebration of four years of hard work, and you\u2019ve got to show up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Surely another part of life, however, is having compassion for people who can\u2019t show up on a particular day in specific conditions \u2014 but showed up repeatedly for four years or more to earn their diploma. It didn\u2019t seem like anyone had ever looked Mr. Hale in the eye and put it that way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf there were medical circumstances, we can certainly make accommodations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ten days later, he changed his mind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEven though he is certainly sorry for the folks who could not make it, for any reason, there were still over 1,000 graduates that were there with him in the pouring rain for the commencement,\u201d Katie Sheridan, his executive assistant, said via email. \u201cHe would like to stick with the original sentiment that you had to be there in order to receive the envelopes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ryan C. Merrill, a UMass Dartmouth spokesman, said via email that under an agreement the school had signed, the $1,000 was only for students participating in the May 16 ceremony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWith that said, the university remains committed to Mr. Hale\u2019s vision for his philanthropic distribution, should that ever change,\u201d Mr. Merrill wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Yell, who had hoped that Mr. Hale would make an exception so she and her partner could support organizations that help children with special needs, said she was disappointed all over again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI just want people like me \u2014 or us \u2014 to be seen,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel constantly isolated in every way, and the graduation ceremony was just like the cherry on top of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But you had to be there, right? Sentiment, and all that. Otherwise, you don\u2019t get seen by Mr. Hale, who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X_yFJMFTBr8&amp;ab_channel=UMassDartmouth\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">told the crowd<\/a> that \u201cif you give a little bit more in your life, your life will be better for it.\u201d Of your own heart, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Hales\u2019 UMass Dartmouth gifts surpassed $1 million, and the cash in the unclaimed envelopes went into an endowed scholarship fund in the couple\u2019s names. And they are not done. Mr. Hale told me that he and his wife were planning a similar giveaway at a school he would not name in order to preserve the element of surprise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">What\u2019s that school to do about people who will not be able to go to its graduation in person?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">UMass Dartmouth has an applied ethics minor, and I took this entire situation to one of its instructors, Catherine Villanueva Gardner, a professor of philosophy and women\u2019s and gender studies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOne of the things that philosophers discuss is that if you are a recipient of a gift, it comes with responsibilities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This is crucial. The Hales should do what they want with their money. They earned it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But nothing is stopping any institution from requiring donors to honor everyone or honor no one at all. A university probably wouldn\u2019t draw attention from People magazine for turning the Hales\u2019 money away, but it would make an excellent case study for its applied ethics department.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Graduation day dawned on May 16 at the Franklin, Mass., home of Emma Yell and her partner, James Ristaino, but the rain was so heavy that it was hard to tell. They had both hoped to cross the stage that day and receive their University of Massachusetts Dartmouth degrees after years of combining coursework with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[313,316,314,317,318,315],"class_list":["post-643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loan","tag-billionaire","tag-dartmouth","tag-gave","tag-graduates","tag-missed","tag-umass"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}