Payton Memorial Guestbook Entry

Bob brought me to IUPUI in 1991 to join with the Center as a member of the Department of Economics.  But I had met him years earlier, when he was with the Exxon Education Foundation attending an Independent Sector Spring Research Forum where I was presenting my work on optimal fundraising.  He had one question for me: "Could the Ku Klux Klan use these methods to further their mission."  Wow.  I never thought my research would evoke ethical issues.  He challenged orthodoxies -- in philanthropy, for sure but also in current notions regarding higher education and the liberal approach.  I often disagreed.  But too few are willing to challenge established wisdom with grace and civility like he did, and that is what I will remember about Bob.