By James Lomuscio
On the surface, it seems like an unlikely match: a conservative, Christian, mostly Republican university and a woman who describes herself as “a Democrat, liberal, and I’m Jewish.”
Laure Sudreau-Rippe: giving back in a big way. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The match seems even more unlikely when one considers the enormity of Westporter Laure Sudreau-Rippe’s recent gift to Pepperdine University’s School of Law—$3 million. The money goes to establish an endowed chair, the first to be given by a female alumna.
True, the law school is different from the undergraduate school, Sudreau-Rippe says, but there was something about the school’s overriding message that she saw reflected her own faith—giving back.
“People right now who have the ability to give back and to help people should,” she said. “But they’re not doing it. There’s a general sense of that in our country in hard times.”
She says gratitude to her alma mater that “has given me so much,” was the impetus behind the endowment, announced last week by the university. Though the gift seems staggering, even by Westport standards, Sudreau-Rippe says, “when you endow a chair, it’s always those amounts.”
“I’m a French national, and it was the fact that they admitted me, that I passed the California bar, and that I made lifelong contacts with people,” said Sudreau-Rippe, 40, a 1997 alumna who moved with her family to Westport in 2003.
Ronald Phillips, former dean of the law school, had asked Sudreau-Rippe “to be the first female to endow a chair.”
Sudreau-Rippe said she immediately thought of her former Pepperdine professor and mentor Janet Kerr to be the chair’s first occupant. She said that Kerr has dedicated her career to “helping women through micro finance opportunities,” and that she has championed the cause of women in law.
“Janet started micro finance through Pepperdine,” Sudreau-Rippe said. “In working with the financial institute, she helps women achieve their dreams, which could be anything, including going to law school.
“That was something for me that I wanted to recognize,” she added. “The chair itself is for professionals who’ve overcome hardships in order to become lawyers and for law professors whose leadership and focus is dedicated to helping people, whether it be poverty law, pro bono work or civil liberties.”
A native of France, Sudreau-Rippe initially received a law degree from the University of Paris X Nanterre School of Law, before moving to Los Angeles in 1993. She enrolled in Pepperdine in 1994.
She moved to Westport in 2003 upon taking a job as legal counsel to a private company, which she did not name. She and her husband William have five children: Brad, Amy Cloe, Lucas and Juliette.
“I love Westport,” she said. “I looked at it, and I liked it. It was the mix of people, the beach and art-oriented people.
“I really believe this town offers the best of both worlds,” she added.
“…upon taking a job as legal counsel to a private company, which she did not name.”
James, you are a longtime professional journalist and I’m sure you agree that the business affiliation/source of wealth is quite relevant in a story about a major, publicized donation.
So you could have gone on Google and found that affiliation to be Louis Dreyfus (for both the donor and her husband), and asked your source to confirm.
If donors really want to keep their business affiliation private, they have the option of making an anonymous donation, or at the very least, not participating in any activities to publicize the donation.
But, once the press is involved, it’s their duty to print the relevant facts.
PETER