Page "Stanford University" Paragraph 26

Jane Stanford's actions were sometimes eccentric.

In 1897, she directed the board of trustees " that the students be taught that everyone born on earth has a soul germ, and that on its development depends much in life here and everything in Life Eternal ".

She forbade students from sketching nude models in life-drawing class, banned automobiles from campus, and did not allow a hospital to be constructed so that people would not form an impression that Stanford was unhealthy.

Between 1899 and 1905, she spent $ 3 million on a grand construction scheme building lavish memorials to the Stanford family, while university faculty and self-supporting students were living in poverty.

However, in 1901, she transferred $ 30 million in assets, nearly all her remaining wealth, to the university ; upon her death in 1905, she left the university nearly $ 4 million of her remaining $ 7 million.

In total, the Stanfords donated around $ 40 million in assets to the university ( over $ 1 billion in 2010 dollars ).