Here’s another story to save in the “no good deed goes unpunished” file. According to the Daily Tar Heel, developer Michael Meldman is making a donation to UNC-Chapel Hill’s Institute for the Environment. The amount isn’t noted, but it’s substantial enough to endow a professorship with his name on it. So what does Meldman, whose company is developing a resort in the Bahamas that is opposed by environmentalists, get in return for his generosity? This scolding from the institute’s director, Doug Crawford-Brown:

“He’s at least open to the idea of reducing the environmental impact,” Crawford-Brown said. “I think we clearly have some work to do with him.”

If Mr. Meldman’s work is so distasteful and at odds with UNC’s idea of what is appropriate environmental policy, then why in the world is the university accepting the cash? Crawford-Brown should reject the money.