Sen. Allen to decline Marshall Fund award

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said he will decline an award from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund after organization donors threatened to pull funds.

Allen, who sparked controversy Aug. 11 when he referred to a volunteer for his Democratic rival, Jim Webb, as "Macaca" -- a type of monkey and a derogatory term used against dark skinned people by Europeans and Asians -- was nominated for the community leadership award after he introduce legislation brining $250 million in computers and information technology to historically black colleges, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reported Friday.

"I regret that there are those who would put their personal or political dislike of me ahead of the needs of deserving students, and I do not want to be the cause of any controversy which could in any way harm the efforts to help these young people," Allen said in a written statement.

The fund had announced Allen as a recipient of the award Aug. 3, before he made the comments toward S.R. Sidarth, who is of Asian-Indian ancestry.