People
Half the campus was designed by Bottom the Weaver, half by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Benton had been endowed with one to begin with, and had smiled and sweated and spoken for the other.
— Randall Jarrell • Pictures from an Institution
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The campus is described as divided between two named points of reference. The next contrast concerns how each half was obtained: one endowed, the other associated with smiling, sweating and speaking. The wording reads as a dry joke about the conspicuous effort behind acquiring institutional resources.
Context reviewed