The Faculty of Law at the esteemed University of Toronto has made the decision to return a donation from Amazon worth US$450,000, following reports that the origins of the funding were undisclosed. Despite exercising the university’s rigorous commitment to academic freedom, institutional independence and integrity, it was noted that important questions had been raised about the transparency surrounding the donation. This information was confirmed by Jutta Brunnée, the dean of the law school, in a statement.
The donation was originally earmarked to fund research into antitrust and competition issues. Interestingly, this comes at a time when the Canadian government is casting a critical eye over the practices of e-retailers with regards to potential anti-competitive behavior.