There is a long and interesting story in the New York Times about a brewing scandal at the Milton Hershey School, described as "a boarding school for at-risk children and one of many gifts bequeathed by the chocolate magnate to the community that bears his name."
Here's how the Times frames the story:
"Thanks to a historic gift by M.H.S.’s founder, the Hershey Trust Company has an endowment of $12.3 billion and an ownership stake in Hershey Company, giving it control of the candy dynasty behind Kit Kat, Reese’s and Hershey’s Kisses, to name a few.
"With Hershey now the subject of a $23 billion takeover bid, the trust is enduring one of its periodic turns in the klieg lights, and the timing is hardly ideal. A leaked internal memo has revealed back-stabbing, allegations of insider trading and the threat of something called a 'suicide parachute.'
"All of this is happening as a dubious deal to buy a golf course continues to reverberate and as critics charge that members of the trust’s board are more interested in earning hundreds of thousands of dollars on Hershey-related boards than in helping needy children ... Perhaps it is naïve to expect that a treasure as immense as $12.3 billion could sit anywhere without producing at least some acrimony and intrigue. In a way, this is a tale about human nature, and how great gobs of cash evince both the best and worst of it. While the money is earmarked explicitly for disadvantaged children, its fate is decided by grown-ups. And while they may care deeply about the school, at the same time some are being enriched financially, and others — mostly elected officials — have shown motivations more political and economic than scholastic."
You can read the entire story here.
Here's how the Times frames the story:
"Thanks to a historic gift by M.H.S.’s founder, the Hershey Trust Company has an endowment of $12.3 billion and an ownership stake in Hershey Company, giving it control of the candy dynasty behind Kit Kat, Reese’s and Hershey’s Kisses, to name a few.
"With Hershey now the subject of a $23 billion takeover bid, the trust is enduring one of its periodic turns in the klieg lights, and the timing is hardly ideal. A leaked internal memo has revealed back-stabbing, allegations of insider trading and the threat of something called a 'suicide parachute.'
"All of this is happening as a dubious deal to buy a golf course continues to reverberate and as critics charge that members of the trust’s board are more interested in earning hundreds of thousands of dollars on Hershey-related boards than in helping needy children ... Perhaps it is naïve to expect that a treasure as immense as $12.3 billion could sit anywhere without producing at least some acrimony and intrigue. In a way, this is a tale about human nature, and how great gobs of cash evince both the best and worst of it. While the money is earmarked explicitly for disadvantaged children, its fate is decided by grown-ups. And while they may care deeply about the school, at the same time some are being enriched financially, and others — mostly elected officials — have shown motivations more political and economic than scholastic."
You can read the entire story here.
- KC's View:
