The Richard F. Fenno Fund was established in 1994 through a gift from the Honorable Lewis A. (Class of 1966) and Mrs. Nancy G. (Class of 1967) Kaplan in 1994. Both Judge Kaplan and his wife wanted to honor Professor Fenno for his major contributions to the fieldof political science and his outstanding reputation as a teacher and scholar. Income from the fund is used to support the acquisition of serials and other materials relating to the study of government and law.
“A few years ago I sentenced a thief who had stolen a good deal of materials from the rare book room at Columbia. In my opinion departing upward from the US Sentencing Guidelines to impose a sentence higher than would have been warranted by the monetary value of the thefts alone, I wrote the following: ‘Great research libraries are repositories of our social, cultural, and scientific heritage. Their rare books and manuscripts are vital to understanding the world and often are irreplaceable objects of study for scholars who add to our knowledge of ourselves and our environment.’ The reference is to my decision in United States v. Spiegelman, 4 F. Supp. 2d 275 (S.D.N.Y. 1998).”
— The Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan. University of Rochester Class of 1966.
