The $30 million donation made to build Dauterive Hall in 2012 was just one of many donations to the University of Southern California made by Dr. Verna Dauterive and her husband, Peter Dauterive, who met on campus.
That dream will finally become a reality when USC celebrates the grand opening of Dauterive Hall, USC’s first interdisciplinary building for the social sciences, on Wednesday. The building was made possible with a $30 million gift from Dauterive, which is among the largest ever bestowed by an African-American to a U.S. university.
Her gift to USC was only recently surpassed by that of another African-American, Andre Young, more popularly known as Dr. Dre. Young and Jimmy Iovine made a joint gift of $70 million to establish an academy in their names in 2013.
Dauterive graduated from USC with a master’s in 1949 and later a doctorate in education, eventually holding a faculty position at USC’s Rossier School of Education. She also served as the superintendent’s coordinator of integration programs with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Her husband graduated from the business school and went on to make his mark as president and CEO of Founders Saving & Loan Association.
As the coordinator of integration programs, Dauterive witnessed the inequality among schools, even in the same district. She said that the most important lesson she learned from that experience is that true educational equality is not easily achieved and certainly cannot be achieved simply as a result of a court decision.
“Court decisions alone will not bring about equal opportunities for all; they simply will not,” she said. “The great American dream, in my opinion, can be achieved and will be achieved only when all races of people, White and non-White, will approach this problem cooperatively, on the basis of mutual understanding, respect for human rights, and consideration for the dignity of the individual.”
In addition to their distinguished professional careers, the Dauterives were consistently generous as USC alumni. The hall is one of many gifts.
