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Boeing donates $1.5 million to Allen University to create Boeing Institute on Civility

Staff Report //November 16, 2020//

Boeing donates $1.5 million to Allen University to create Boeing Institute on Civility

Staff Report //November 16, 2020//

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A rendering shows a concept for The Boeing Institute on Civility at Allen University. (Image/Provided)Boeing Co. and Allen University have teamed up to establish the Boeing Institute on Civility at the Columbia liberal arts institution.

The aerospace company committed to donate $1.5 million to renovate the historic Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital — which operated from 1952 to 1973 to care for African-American patients — where the institute will be housed.

Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital, which operated from 1952 to 1973, is on the National Register of Historic Places. (Photo/S.C. Department of Archives and History)“The reach of The Boeing Company is particularly compatible with the University’s aspiration to demonstrate that service to the greater good does not stop in one’s own community, but has the obligation to be expansive,” Allen University president Ernest McNealey said in a statement. “While the Institute is the centerpiece of the Waverly Project, all aspects of it will confidently pursue a better future and honor those who did so in the past.”

The institute will serve as a national hub for teaching and programming that focuses around how to handle disagreements and face differences of opinions in nonviolent manners.

The renovated and expanded hospital also will include the South Carolina African American Hall of Fame and a memorial for the Emmanuel Nine, victims of the 2015 shooting at downtown Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church.

Three of the victims, Sen. Clementa Pinckney, class of 1995; the Rev. Daniel Simmons, class of 1967; and Tywanza Sanders, class of 2014; were graduates of Allen University.

“The Institute on Civility will become a powerful catalyst for helping to promote thoughtful, civil discourse,” Boeing president and CEO David Calhoun said in a statement. “Empowering students and the broader community to debate public issues with civility and respect is an important step on the journey to developing lasting societal solutions.”

Allen University broke ground on the restoration in January and expects renovations to be complete around April 2021.

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