How Swarthmore College plans to use the Kemps' $20 million gift

Swarthmore College will use part of a $20 million gift it received Saturday to provide financial aid to a cadre of "global scholars" from the United States and other countries.

The $8 million, which will create the Global Scholars Program, will support students who have both financial need and an interest in global leadership, president Rebecca Chopp said.

"Financial aid is a core value for us, and we want to become more of an international school," said Giles "Gil" Kemp, a 1972 alumnus, who along with his wife, Barbara Guss Kemp, made the gift. Kemp is chair of Swarthmore's board of managers.

About 10 percent of Swarthmore's 1,550 students are international, and about 45 percent of its students study abroad during their undergraduate years, Chopp said. The college offers aid to international students, but the new program will expand that aid, she said.

An additional $7 million will go toward renovating the college's Clothier Hall, restoring the 83-year-old building's floor plan to one level and creating a large gathering space, including a café. The building's second floor, which was added after initial construction, has poor acoustics, Chopp said. Clothier currently houses several small spaces, including a pool room and bookstore.

"Our vision is to open this up," Chopp said, noting that it was adjacent to beautiful gardens.

The remaining $5 million was not earmarked for a specific purpose but for the college's overall initiatives. The gift comes as the college prepares for its 150th anniversary and the launch of another capital campaign.

The Kemps have made substantial gifts to the college in the past, exceeding $33 million including the new one. Kemp began giving the year after he graduated. "I got a small bonus," he said, "and wanted to pay back a merit-based scholarship I had received."

His gifts included funds for a residence hall named for his grandfather and an endowed professorship in the natural sciences named for his father.

Kemp, of Scarsdale, N.Y., graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology. He holds Swarthmore's cross-country outdoor mile record of 4:15.5, set in 1970. He subsequently earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

He is founder of Home Decorators Collection, direct sellers of home furnishings and accessories, and led the company until 2009, three years after it was purchased by the Home Depot.