Seton Hall University students attend classes in Kozlowski Hall and pass through the L. Dennis Kozlowski Rotunda on their way into the campus library.

Whether those campus facilities keep their names may depend on a jury deliberating today in New York.

Kozlowski, the former chief executive officer of Tyco, is on trial in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on charges that he and fellow executive Mark Swartz looted their company of $600 million.

The jurors, who will get back to work on conspiracy and larceny charges they have been deciding since June 2, indicated last week they were close to a verdict on some of the 31 charges.

Seton Hall officials have watched the case closely. If Kozlowski is found guilty, they face a familiar dilemma: What does a school do when a campus building bears the name of a convicted felon?

Kozlowski, a Seton Hall graduate, was once one of the South Orange university's most generous donors. The former Tyco chief gave the school millions and sat on its board of regents for more than a decade.

Officials at the Roman Catholic university would not say yesterday whether they will strip Kozlowski's name from the library rotunda and the six-floor academic hall if he is found guilty.

Seton Hall's naming policy allows the university's board of regents to decide if and when a name should be removed from a building.

"We can't speculate on what they would do," said Thomas White, a Seton Hall spokesman. "The current naming policy ... does not oblige the board to act in any way."
The regents are not scheduled to meet again until September for a board retreat, White said.

During Kozlowski's first trial, which ended in a mistrial last year, some Seton Hall students said they were embarrassed that the business school and other departments were housed in a building honoring a man whose name conjures up images of corporate scandal.

Kozlowski, a Newark native, made headlines during his first trial when he was accused of spending company money on lavish parties and other purchases. Those included a $2 million birthday party and a $6,000 shower curtain billed to the Bermuda-based company with operational headquarters in West Windsor.

The Setonian, Seton Hall's student-run newspaper, advocated removing Kozlowski's name.

"On a campus where many of the buildings are named after saints, is that the kind of image the university wants to cultivate?" the student newspaper said in an editorial shortly after Kozlowski's indictment.

Building names are a touchy subject on the campus that Business Week magazine dubbed "Seton Hall of Shame" in 2002 for having not one but three major buildings bearing the names of disgraced corporate executives.

The trio included Kozlowski Hall, Walsh Library (named after former Tyco board member Frank Walsh, who pleaded guilty in 2002 to concealing a $20 million bonus) and Brennan Recreation Center (named after convicted First Jersey Securities founder Robert Brennan, who is serving time for bankruptcy fraud and money laundering).

All three buildings were named well before the donors -- who all served on the university's board of regents -- were accused of any crimes.

In 2002, Seton Hall's board voted to pull Brennan's name off the recreation center, saying it was "in the best interests of the university." The university did not announce any plans to return the $11 million that Brennan reportedly pledged to the school.

At the same closed-door meeting, the Seton Hall board also adopted new guidelines on naming buildings. The board did not disclose the details.

When Walsh pleaded guilty in the Tyco scandal a few weeks later, Seton Hall officials said the board would weigh whether to remove his name from the library.

But Walsh, who avoided jail time, appears to still be in Seton Hall's good graces. His name remains on the library and he was invited to help organize a fund-raising campaign for the university last year.

Whether Kozlowski gets the same treatment at his alma mater remains to be seen.
Seton Hall is not the only higher education institution that has had to reconsider naming a building or accepting a gift.

In recent years, the University of Missouri, the University of Michigan, Mississippi College, Brown and Harvard have been among the schools facing questions on whether to remove a name from a building or return a donation from a scandal-plagued corporate executive.

In nearly all the cases, the school decided to keep the money and the name.

The University of Missouri still has a chair in economics named after donor and alumnus Kenneth Lay, the disgraced former chairman of Enron, who is awaiting trial. The professorship in his name is expected to remain vacant until a jury decides his fate and university officials weigh their options.

At the University of Michigan, the architectural school, medical library and part of the campus hospital are named after A. Alfred Taubman, the former chairman of Sotheby's auction house who later served a jail term for price fixing.

The university decided to honor its original agreement with Taubman and keep his name on all three buildings, despite calls from faculty and students upset about associating their school with a felon.

"We are committed to retaining his name," University of Michigan spokeswoman Julie Peterson said, without apology.