With the likes of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and former President George W. Bush pouring buckets of ice over their heads in support of ALS awareness, surely top business schools are getting in on the action as well, right?
At Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, it began with one section (Section 4) challenging another (Section 5). That section upped the ante, challenging the entire rest of the class, as well as all of Fuqua’s MMS Cross Continent students. So on August 13th, Team Fuqua did the #ALSIceBucketChallenge as one.
After donning matching blue Duke-emblazoned shirts, the entire group dumped buckets of ice and water over their heads – noting that they had decided as a class both to donate and take the challenge.
As many were still screaming from the shock of the cold, three representatives for the class came forward to nominate three other business schools: UVA’s Darden School of Business, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and UNC’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business.
The Ice Bucket Challenge is part of a campaign to raise awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Since July 29th, the ALS Association and its 38 chapters have received a staggering $31.5 million in donations, the association reported today. During the same period last year (July 29th to August 20th), it raised $1.9 million. This year’s record-setting donations have come from existing donors as well as 637,527 new donors.
Those who are challenged are supposed to have ice water dumped over their heads and then challenge others to do the same—or to make a donation to fight ALS—within 24 hours. Fuqua, in challenging Darden, Wharton and Kenan-Flagler, changed the rules a little, giving its rival schools a week to complete the challenge.
To learn more about ALS or the Ice Bucket Challenge, visit the ALS Association website
