Photo by Elisabeth Seidel for The Lafayette

The McCartney dorms are all named for street on which they reside, McCartney Street.

The McCartney name was restored to all buildings in the off-campus apartment complex last month following the cancellation of the donation that renamed part of it “Tator North.”

“I think I was misled,” donor Ken Tator ‘63 said. “Flat out, in my opinion, misled.”

Tator and his wife, Maureen Tator, committed to the donation in 2023: $2 million in five years for the renaming of the McCartney North apartment building to Tator North, and an additional $500,000 as part of an estate plan to support their existing scholarship fund.

The name change lasted less than two years when Ken Tator discovered that the changes to the apartment building were short of what he expected, after the Tators had paid almost $800,000 of the donation.

Tator’s qualm largely lies with a lack of name signage on the building, contrary to his initial impression of the agreement with the college.

“I expected every entrance going into that building to be called ‘Tator North’, and apparently, it was only the north entrance,” Tator said. “That was the confusion, and perhaps I was wrong on that, but that was certainly my understanding.”

Aside from maintenance doors inaccessible to students, the apartment building has two main entrances: the north, which displays the building name and a dedication plaque to the Tators in the breezeway, and the south, which has not contained any references to the name of the building. The building also hosts the college bookstore — which is not mentioned in the donation agreement — on its first level.

“In recognition of this contribution, Lafayette agrees to name the north entrance and upper three floors of the residence hall,” reads the original gift agreement between the Tators and the college.

“The name ‘Tator North’ will be displayed on the exterior of the building,” the document continues. “There will also be recognition of the generosity of Kenneth ’63 and Maureen Tator within the interior of the building.”

The donation was negotiated between the Tators and former Associate Vice President of Development Adam Stauffer, according to Tator.

When asked if the division of advancement disagrees with Tator’s interpretation of the terms of the donation, newly-hired Vice President of Advancement Sean Scanlon wrote in an email that “As a matter of policy, we do not typically publicize the details of donor agreements. However, we do strive to provide proper recognition to donors for their gifts.”

Tator said that he discovered this perceived lack of signage during the summer of 2024, leading to the cancellation of the remainder of his donation shortly thereafter.

“I still had to give a total of $2,500,000 to have one entrance, north entrance, called ‘Tator North,’ and all the rest of the entrances weren’t going to be called anything, and I thought that was wrong,” Tator said.

The signage was not changed until about a year later, in August.

“The College’s goal was to create awareness of the change prior to the start of the semester,” Scanlon wrote when asked about the year-long timeline.

“We are working with the Tators to appropriately recognize their generosity to the College and we look forward to welcoming them home to campus during our Bicentennial celebration,” read a statement from college spokesman Scott Morse.

Tator also said that Lafayette College is no longer included in his will, but that he will continue to annually donate $10,000 to the college, which contributes to the scholarship fund named for him.

“I’ll give $10,000 a year because I enjoy Lafayette College, and Lafayette College is a good school,” Tator said.

The physical name on the building was changed on Aug. 15, followed by an announcement in the Lafayette Today on Aug. 17.

Several students said that they had noticed the plaque dedicated to the Tators at the north entrance of the building, but expressed indifference towards the changes.

“I’ve kind of been confused about the whole thing,” said Lucas Davis ‘26, a resident of the building, adding that he also did not “really care very much” about the name change.

“I always thought of the buildings as McCartney,” said James Pfaff ‘26, another resident.

Tator expressed mixed feelings about the building that was briefly in his name.

“Lafayette did a good job on that building, but you go into the bookstore, you have no clue that it’s a Tator North building,” Tator said. “And I felt that that was the wrong, wrong thing.”