Boston University’s School of Law set plans to construct a new building after executive Sumner Redstone donated $18 million for a new law building, officials said.
Redstone’s donation, announced Thursday afternoon, is entirely earmarked for the construction of the building, said LAW Dean Maureen O’Rourke. The building will house classrooms and moot courtrooms, as well as a study space, lounge, dining area and room for the transactional law program.
“We have been trying to address what are truly pressing facilities needs for quite some time now,” O’Rourke said. “Mr. Redstone’s donation will allow us to provide our students a top-notch facility and to put even more effort behind fundraising for priorities in addition to the building, particularly for financial aid.”
The five-story, 93,000-square-foot facility, which will be named the Sumner M. Redstone Building, will be constructed between the Law Tower and Mugar Memorial Library, according to the LAW press release.
Redstone is executive chairman of the board for Viacom Inc. and CBS Corporation. He joined BU’s law faculty in 1982 and helped establish courses in entertainment law and intellectual property, the release stated. He sponsors the Redstone Film Festival, which is annually held by the College of Communication.
The executive’s daughter, Shari Redstone, is a LAW graduate.
“School of Law is one of the finest institutions of legal scholarship in the world and deserves a home that will enable it to continue to innovate and build on that legacy,” Redstone said in the release. “I could not be more pleased to provide this gift that will benefit generations of future students.”
BU President Robert Brown said the donation comes at a crucial moment in LAW’s history and will have an impact in two main ways.
“First, it will permanently link the school with the Redstone name, which will forever set a high standard for our work in legal education and scholarship,” he said in the release. “And second, it means that our long-deferred dream of transforming the School of Law campus can now begin with the ground-breaking for this new building.”
Planning for the expansion and renovation began in 2006, O’Rourke said. Officials aimed to raise $20 million before breaking ground on the project.
“We had raised $14.6 [million] in pledges and cash,” she said. “Mr. Redstone’s gift put us well over the top of our break-ground goal.”
BU spokesman Colin Riley said a number of amenities and resources will be moved to the new building once construction is completed.
“After they do the addition, they’re able to then move in a lot of the class space, moot court [and] study space,” he said.
Riley said plans for renovation have existed for years, and Redstone’s donation allows progress to be made.
“We’ve been looking at this over time and the law school has worked very hard to raise funds for this,” he said. “This donation, this gift in particular provides them with the ability to move forward.”
The new building will be open for classes in the fall of 2014, at which point the existing law tower will also undergo extensive renovations, the report stated.
“It will undergo an extensive renovation and the upper floors will be used for offices so they’ll have modern offices for the faculty and staff,” Riley said. “The exterior [will be] maintained and they’ll be renovating it to modernize it and to make it designed to achieve student activity at lower floors.”
The goal of the construction is to update LAW’s campus while maintaining its history.
“Together the two buildings will provide the functionality, comfort and convenience of a modern educational facility while preserving the iconic architectural tradition in which the school was built,” the report stated.
Riley said the donation is a great gift to the BU community.
“This is a terrific gift for the law school, and I’m sure the faculty and students and staff are really excited that they’re able to upgrade that facility,” he said. “The faculty is highly regarded and continually ranked among the best in the country.”
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