Claim: A university serves ice cream at every meal because a benefactor who donated a large sum of money stipulated that a portion of the funds be used for that purpose.
FALSE
Variations:
As
usual, this legend is told about a number of different colleges and universities.
Origins: Although many institutes of higher learning do indeed make ice cream available with every meal (either in a school-run cafeteria or a residence hall dining room), none of them does so specifically because a benefactor stipulated they do so as a
condition of his bestowing money upon the school. This tale tends to circulate in tandem with the "grieving benefactor imposed
a
Last updated: 9 June 2011
![]() | Sources: |
Mann, Elizabeth. "The First Abridged Dictionary of Harvard Myths." The Harvard Independent. 9 December 1993 (pp. 10-11).