William R. Harvey, president of Hampton University in Virginia, and his wife Norma have made a $108,403 gift to the university. The gift will be earmarked to support a wage increase for all university employees who earn less than $9 per hour.
As a result of the gift, 121 full-time employees who made less than $9 per hour had their wages increased to that threshold.
In 2011, the Harveys made a similar donation to increase all employees salaries to at least $8 an hour. Over the past 13 years, the Harveys have donated more than $2.3 million to the university.
“Over the last several years, Norma and I have made donations to increase the wages of hourly support staff. While everyone at Hampton already earns more than the minimum wage, we wanted to show our gratitude to those staff members who work hard and serve the campus behind the scenes,” said President Harvey.
