Photo laure sudreau rippe net

By James Lomuscio

On the surface, it seems like an unlikely match: a conservative, Christian, mostly Republican university and a woman who describes herself as “a Democrat, liberal, and I’m Jewish.”

The match seems even more unlikely when one considers the enormity of Westporter Laure Sudreau-Rippe’s recent gift to Pepperdine University’s School of Law—$3 million. The money goes to establish an endowed chair, the first to be given by a female alumna.

True, the law school is different from the undergraduate school, Sudreau-Rippe says, but there was something about the school’s overriding message that she saw reflected her own faith—giving back.

“People right now who have the ability to give back and to help people should,” she said.

“But they’re not doing it. There’s a general sense of that in our country in hard times.”

She