"To our astonishment, he announced with absolutely no warning that Time Warner had decided to endow a chair," Gates said.
University spokesperson Rebecca Rollins declined to put a dollar value on Time Warner's gift, but she said that endowments of this type are generally at least $3 million.
President Neil L. Rudenstine said he was equally enthused by the development.
"Nothing could be more celebratory, nothing could be more profoundly right, nothing could make a president more cheerful," Rudenstine said.
"Black people did two things when they came to this country," said Gates. "They prayed to God and they sang."
Robinson Professor of Music Robert D. Levin '68--no relation to Gerald Levin--said he thought the endowment was important from a musical point of view as well.
"African-American contributions to American culture in the field of jazz stand on the highest peak of musical achievement this country has produced," Levin wrote in an e-mail message.
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