One couldn’t blame Missouri University for having a few painful donor tremors in view of its hassle about the new basketball arena and the criminal conviction last week of Kenneth Lay, an MU alumnus, on all counts of conspiring to hide the Enron financial condition in 2000 and 2001.

The Houston verdict involving Lay and Jeffrey Skilling is seen as a major victory for federal prosecutors who spent four years building a criminal case against the men, once considered business visionaries. Both could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Huge contributions are welcomed by any university and are usually taint-free. Not so in the case of two MU gifts.

A well-known family gave Missouri $25 million to help build a new basketball facility, but one of the stipulations was that the name of Norm Stewart, longtime Tiger coach and former player, would not appear on the premises. Stewart’s support among colleagues, friends and alumni was too forceful and ultimately the family allowed his name to appear on the court in the new hall – something entirely appropriate.

Then the family chose the name of Paige, their only daughter, to be the focal point of the arena label, the same as that of Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas University. That move was made. However, it turned out the young woman, who had never attended MU, had a “ghost student” do much of the work it took for her to get a diploma from Southern California. The resulting embarrassment saw her name surrendered in favor of Mizzou Arena. Big money talked, but not quite the way the donor family and school intended.

The Ken Lay debacle also has a longtime status at MU. Seven years ago, he donated $1.1 million in Enron stock to his alma mater. One of the results was the establishment of the Kenneth L. Lay Chair in Economics. Twenty-eight MU professors urged officials to reject the Lay donation soon after Enron filed for bankruptcy in 2001. MU did. It was even suggested the money be returned if Lay was judged guilty “of serious issues.”

Not long ago, Lay asked MU to send unspent money from his gift for Hurricane Katrina relief. The school refused. Then a Lay attorney asked the school to refund the money so Lay could pay legal bills stemming from the trial. The school denied him again.

Apparently some funds from the stock gift still exist, which could be used to finance an economics teaching chair, but not with any connection to Lay or his ignoble legacy. It will not find its way back to the Lay coffers and it is quite appropriate that be the case.

Missouri University still draws derision because of the many bungles it committed in regard to the Mizzou Arena. There is sure to be a new flood of barbs about the Ken Lay relationship to the school and the virtual scam he apparently tried to carry off at his alma mater.

As MU has discovered, sometimes it might be terribly wise to look gift horses in the mouth.