GATES
SEATTLE (AP):
FOR HIS father's 80th birthday, Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates decided on something close to the old man's heart - US$33.3 million to endow scholarships to law students who commit to careers in public service.
The five students a year who receive the William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholarships covering tuition, academic costs and living expenses at the University of Washington, must work at least seven years after graduation at non-profit organisations or government agencies or pay back the entire sum - roughly US$100,000 - as a loan.
The gift is the largest for scholarships in school history, university president Mark A. Emmert said. The first applications are due in February, followed by an announcement of the recipients in April.
"It's really a singular programme in the country, maybe beyond," Emmert said. "I think it will stimulate a lot of interest nationally in the whole field of public-service law."
Gates Sr., a Washington law graduate and longtime pro-minent lawyer and civic activist, said he had no inkling of the programme before it was announced Wednesday, the day he turned 80, at a meeting of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - even though he is chairman of the charitable group.
"I was stunned and absolutely delighted. It was a very emotional moment," he said. "You just look around at what happens in the world, and so much of it is a consequence (of) the activities and the convictions of the public sector," he said. "The people who run the attorney-general's office, the people who run the Salvation Army, those people are having, in my judgement, more to do with how our society runs and the immense success of our society than the people who are devoted to the private sector."
