I work in a library. I've learned though our ethics training that we can't accept cookies from patrons because that might be seen as bribery. There's a strange requirement to accept food: you have to eat it in front of the giver. So we can't take cookies, but the legislator can be fed by lobbyists.

I can’t speak to your state laws, but at the federal level, giving certain officials free food would be a felony, unless it was finger food provided at a “widely attended event.”

Which naturally includes junkets to posh resorts.

So just take one cookie and eat it right there.

I don't think these are the same thing. Donating to the Sherriff's reelection campaign is a lot closer to a bribe than donating to a university, because the Sherriff is benefiting personally a lot more than the head of a university is from a donation to the school.

It would be more analogous if the donations were somehow made to the Sherriff department's budget.

Getting doners is a big part of a university president's "re-election campaign". Everyone has a boss they need to impress.