Because of recent developments in the WCAL endowment issue at St. Olaf, the Kierkegaard House Foundation, on May 14, 2007, asked the college to consider amending its 2003 Pledge & Endowment Agreement with the Foundation and to commit that it would not sell the rare book collection in the Kierkegaard Library and that it would use the Kierkegaard Library endowment funds (and its sub-accounts) solely to support the Kierkegaard Library and its visiting scholars.

On May 29, 2007, two days before the deadline for the Kirkegaard House Foundation $485,000 pledge-grant under the terms of the Pledge and Endowment Agreement with St. Olaf, the college responded to the Foundation and refused this reasonable request, stating: “St. Olaf does not wish to entertain any amendments to the 2003 Agreement.”

As a significant donor to the college, and as the principal donor of the rare book collection in the Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Howard Hong '34 considers the WCAL endowment issue a direct analogy. He is very concerned that a future administration might sell the highly valuable rare book collection in the Kierkegaard Library (the largest in the world and assessed in the millions of dollars), and then argue that since the Kierkegaard Library no longer exists, that the college be permitted to use the funds in the Kierkegaard Library endowment (and its sub-accounts) for purposes other than what the donors requested.

This was a reasonable request of a significant donor, but the college would not yield and states that the Board of Regents must have total discretion as to how it might, in the future, use Kierkegaard Library endowment funds.