Interview with Lee F. Browne - Caltech Oral Histories

Browne–34
starts.” Anyway, this kid got so angry with me. He said, “I don’t want you to ever do anything
for me.” And I said, “You mean again, because I’m the one that got you the Carnation
scholarship.” And then he just went to pieces. He went on to flunk the course and left.
COHEN: Can people giving a scholarship put that kind of—
BROWNE: Yes. They can do anything they want to. There was a black lady here who was the
financial aid director. I’ve forgotten what her name was. She showed me a letter once. This
was not going against Caltech’s wishes or business, because I was involved with her in getting
students and helping and making recommendations about students. She showed me a letter
where this white guy had given $700,000, but in the letter [he stated that] he didn’t want any of it
given to non-white students.
COHEN: Can they do that?
BROWNE: So she wouldn’t sign off on it, and they fired her.
COHEN: Because of that?
BROWNE: Yes. Because they can do that.
COHEN: Because it’s a private school?
BROWNE: Yes.
COHEN: But they do take federal money.
BROWNE: Not much, not much. For instance, the IRS used to come to me and say, “Now, tell
me something about these programs. Are you sure that they’re doing what they’re supposed to
do for all of the citizens?” And many, many times I saved Caltech by saying, “Look, half of the
kids that I recommend for admission here are admitted, independent of their sex or their race or
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