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Perelman name removed from Residential College 7

Residential College 7
Residential College 7, formerly known as Perelman College
Zack Shevin / The Daily Princetonian

In December 2018, the University announced that the seventh residential college would be named Perelman College following a $65 million donation by Revlon CEO Debra Perelman ’96 and her father, CEO of MacAndrews & Forbes Inc. Ron Perelman, through the Perelman Family Foundation.

Now approaching its completion in the fall of 2022, this residential college will no longer be named after the Perelman family.

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The residential college, which is currently referred to as Residential College 7, will be located south of Poe Field and east of Elm Drive, next to Residential College 8. Residential Colleges 7 and 8 were announced as part of the University’s 2017 campus expansion plan that will expand the undergraduate student body by 125 students per class, thus increasing the undergraduate population by ten percent.

The name Perelman was removed from the residential college in June, according to Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss.

“The University has terminated the gift agreement with the Perelman Family Foundation, Inc. to name a residential college because the Foundation has not made payments due under that agreement,” Hotchkiss wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian. 

“However, we remain grateful for the Perelman family’s long-standing support of the University, including its support of the Ronald O. Perelman Institute for Judaic Studies,” he continued.

Residential College 7 has not yet been renamed. Residential College 8 also remains unnamed.

An anonymous source told The Daily Beast that the Perelmans did not make any payments towards their $65 million pledge. The source said that the University declined a request to determine a different payment schedule.

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As reported by Bloomberg, Ron Perelman sold much of his assets in 2020 due to financial challenges caused by the pandemic.

“Like most American businesses, MacAndrews and Forbes and its portfolio businesses were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic,” Ron Perelman said in a statement to Bloomberg. “As a consequence, we quickly took significant steps to react to the unprecedented economic environment that we were facing.”

The Perelman Family Foundation declined to provide comment for this article.

Editor’s Note: This piece was updated on Aug. 25 at 10:50 p.m. to include additional details about Ron Perelman’s financial status.

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