Donor’s descendant demands University of Richmond pay back $3.6 billion after school strips slave-holding ancestor’s name from building

Robert C. Smith, the great-great-grandson of the namesake behind University of Richmond's T.C. Williams School of Law, sent a five-page letter on January 30th to university President Kevin Hallock, challenging the school to "demonstrate" their virtue by returning the money, reported the New York Post.

Williams, who was a wealthy 19th-century tobacco businessman, was discovered to have owned slaves when the university reviewed tax records that showed his businesses were taxed for 25 to 40 slaves. Personal tax records showed that Williams was taxed for owning three slaves, the school said. Williams attended Richmond College from 1846-49 and was a trustee of the school in the 1880s.

This violated a policy school officials adopted in September, according to The Free Lance-Star. The new rule prohibits the university from naming any entity after "a person who directly engaged in the trafficking and/or enslavement of others or openly advocated for the enslavement of people."

"We recognize that some may be disappointed or disagree with this decision," President Hallock and the board wrote in a letter at the time. "We also recognize the role the Williams family has played here and respect the full and complete history of the institution."

However, Williams' descendant is demanding the "woke" school give the family their endowment.

"We know in 1888, he gave $10,000 to re-establish the Law School and at his death in 1889 his estate contributed $25,000 to the Law School," Smith wrote. "A conservative estimate of these gifts, just from the end of the War to his death, exceeds $65,000."

Williams' estate has "regularly" donated to the school since his death, the Post reported.

"The university's endowment is $3.3 billion," Smith continued. Since you and your activists went out of your way to discredit the Williams name, and since presumably the Williams family's money is tainted, demonstrate your 'virtue' and give it all back."

"I suggest you immediately turn over the entire $3.3 billion endowment to the current descendants of T.C. Williams, Sr. We will use it all to fulfill the charitable purposes to which it was intended. We will take a note back for the remaining $300 million, providing that it is secured by all the campus buildings and all your woke faculty pledge their personal assets and guarantee the note," the angry descendant added.

Smith also noted that the school could've just attributed the law school name to T.C. Williams Jr. instead if they wanted to try and keep the name.