Donor intent: After 150 years as bastion of free education, NY's Cooper Union may start charging tuition, depending on court's interpretation of charter.
"The interpretation of a more than 150-year-old document ensconced in a Greenwich Village library is causing a furor in academia as its author's intention is battled over in court. The document outlines the trust that established Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, the Manhattan arts-and-engineering college—and is at the heart of a legal fight over the decision by the school's administration to charge undergraduate tuition this fall for the first time in the school's history." -- Peter Vilesky, the Wall Street Journal
