Univ. of Connecticut Board or Trustees Chair Larry McHugh said that UConn donor Robert Burton and his family are "back in the fold" with the school, as they "have agreed to move past their differences and continue theirlongstanding relationship," according to Zac Boyer of the HARTFORD COURANT. McHugh and Board of Trustees Vice Chair Tom Ritter "metwith Burton on Wednesday." McHugh said in a statement, "I felt that it was important to pay a visit to them and have a dialogue. I am very pleased that in a very short period of time he and his family were able to reconnect with UConn." Burton, who last month asked the school to return a $3M donation, said in a statement, "I'm not going to let one experience changethe relationship my family and I have with UConn." Boyer noted that experience was the "hiring of a new football coach on Jan. 14." Burton, who claims to have contributed more than $7M tothe school, was "incensed over the hiring of Paul Pasqualoni ... because he was not consulted on the decision." Burton's letter to UConn AD Jeff Hathaway was "derided nationally as both incredibly self-serving and remarkablydelusional." It spurred "conversation as to the role of a donor within anathletic department -- if there should be one at all." The letter also"seemed to create support for Hathaway, the opposite of Burton's intent." Burton "had developed a close relationship" with former football coach Randy Edsall, and he was "adamant in the letter that Edsall's departure had to do with Hathaway" (HARTFORD COURANT, 2/12).
