On Monday, Yale University celebrated gay writer and activist Larry Kramer and his recent donation to the university-over a million dollars-to fund programs for gay and lesbian studies.

The gift has been four embattled years in the making. In 1997, Kramer offered Yale a gift of about $5 million to fund a professorship in gay studies. The school balked, saying it would be unable to sustain such a position for financial reasons.

Kramer responded by calling Yale, where he graduated in 1957, a "homophobic institution."

This year, Kramer's ire seems to have cooled.

As part of a compromise with Yale officials, Kramer has agreed to donate his political and literary papers to Yale's Beineke Library.

At Monday's reception, Yale President Richard C. Levin welcomed Kramer's gift, saying his writings will join those of Gertrude Stein and others in the university's collection.

In addition to the papers, Larry Kramer's brother Arthur, also a Yale graduate, is giving the school $1 million.

That money will go toward transforming Yale's Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies (FLAGS) into the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies.