Nonprofits
The door swung wide open and a dozen faces turned my way. The interview was for a science education story, but now it felt like a surprise party and I was the guest of honor. I had never been greeted for an interview by so many people. Here was a crowd around a long table. At the head was a woman with a big smile welcoming me to Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. My traveling companion, a consultant experienced in representing charities, private foundations, and other nonprofit organizations, took this in stride and spoke right up. He introduced us as representatives of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, which at the time was the nation's largest philanthropy, a $5.2 billion enterprise. The Institute had given this relatively small college, which led the nation in sending black students to medical school, a $1.8 million grant to support its undergraduate science program. Xavier, the only historically black Catholic university in the United States, was doing something extraordinary. We wanted to tell the story. As a science writer for the Institute, I had made arrangements to interview the faculty member who ran the program and a few participating students for anecdotes to enliven the story. I thought I had made this clear on the telephone weeks before the trip, but the program director had other ideas. She had built an itinerary that could have stood as a first-class defense of the grant. Faculty members, support staff, anyone who could bolster the case for funding was in the room. After meeting with the group, I was to speak with the university president and others, later I would have a chance to talk with students. It was going to be a long day. It was also going to be a waste of time. We were there to gather specific information for a news article. We were not there to monitor progress under the grant. We had no money to offer them, and we were in no position to cut their funding. Finally, as this began to sink in, the teachers headed back to their classrooms.