July 27, 2001

Local Legislator Asks Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. for Donation to Troubled City

The $360-million gift to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from an anonymous donor caught the attention of Robert E. Mirch, a county legislator.

A member of the Conservative Party of New York State, he dashed off a letter to Shirley Ann Jackson, president of the institution, the day after the gift was announced in March, "to propose the use of a small portion of this contribution ... to make needed infrastructure repairs" to the financially crippled city of Troy, where the college is