Donor sues U. for collection's return

The University has William Reich's $500,000 donation and has no intention of giving it back. Last year, William Reich donated his father's collection of more than 100 16th- and 17th-century English and Continental imprints. Also included were books, manuscripts and letters written by his father, Henry Reich, Jr., a well-known New York poet and writer of the 1920s. An appraiser valued these materials at $500,000. In exchange for the donation, Reich claims the University made an oral contract to assign graduate students to write their doctoral dissertations on his father's work. As of December, the University had not made any such assignments. Reich's attorney, Robert Gidding, said Reich's gift was given with the intention that the books be used by students for scholarly work. "[Reich's] understanding was that the gift was conditional," he said. The University denies that the stipulation in the contract ever existed. "No such promise was ever made," said Ronald Krauss, who works in the University's General Counsel Office. "The University is entitled to keep the donation." When Reich found out about the alleged breach of contract, he sued the University to get the collection back. He currently wants to give the collection to the University of Miami. Administrators there said they would assign students to write about his father's work. Reich is also suing the University for any costs of transporting the collection to the University of Miami, attorneys' fees and payment of any damage to the collection. Van Pelt Library Director of Special Collections Michael Ryan said he received the materials last April. "The manuscripts are not catalogued yet," he said. "But the books [by Henry Reich] are." Ryan said he was not aware how frequently the books were being used. The trial is currently in a discovery phase, in which the attorneys exchange evidence. Lawyers for both sides agreed the case would not come to trial anytime soon.