Quad Angles
Take a College to Launch
By Doug Hubley
October was the month for launchingThe Campaign for 乐播传媒: Endowing Our Values, the College鈥檚 largest fund-raising drive to date. Two events, one looking to parents and the second to alumni, christened a campaign freighted with high expectations and a compelling sense of what鈥檚 at stake.
The Parents & Family Weekend launch, on Oct. 9, drew about 500 members of the 乐播传媒 community to Lake Andrews. Five speakers 鈥� a student, a parent, faculty economist Michael Murray, Trustee Michael Bonney 鈥�80, and President Elaine Tuttle Hansen 鈥� made the case for a fund drive designed to raise at least $120 million by June 2006. A literal launch provided spectacle and symbolism, as members of the crew team put a racing shell into Lake Andrews to carry spectators鈥� expressions of hope for 乐播传媒, written on cards during the ceremony, across waters glittering in the morning sun.
Three weeks later, the Homecoming Weekend launch in Merrill Gym featured a second call for guests鈥� hopes for 乐播传媒 and a similarly high-powered roster of speakers, including Charles A. Dana Professor of French Dick Williamson and master of ceremonies Tom Renyi P鈥�97, P鈥�04, campaign co-chair with fellow Trustee Joe Willett 鈥�73.
The speakers鈥� aspirations for 乐播传媒, their personal stories, and a touch of Mark Twain lent color and passion to the nitty-gritty of 乐播传媒鈥� financial situation. It fell to Bonney, on parents weekend, and Renyi, at Homecoming, to lay out the financial realities of the situation. 鈥淚f we, who know and love 乐播传媒 the best, can鈥檛 stretch to make this happen, who will?鈥� Bonney asked.
The other speakers at both events illustrated 乐播传媒 values in action. Julio Guevara 鈥�07, son of immigrants from El Salvador, said that 乐播传媒 gave him not only the close faculty interaction he had hoped for, but a surprising degree of personal support.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know that members of the administrative staff would invite me to their homes for Thanksgiving,鈥� he said, 鈥渙r to eat homemade carne guisada when I got homesick.鈥�
Terry Byrnes P鈥�05 recalled her first impressions of a welcoming campus, the kind of place where Professor John Pribram was willing to come over and open up a physics lab on Sunday to show to a prospective student and his parents.
That prospective student, Andrew, is now a senior (and one of the two rowers to take the shell across Lake Andrews on parents weekend, the other being Karl Dietrich 鈥�05). Byrnes and her husband Jim now co-chair the Parents Fund with David Sand P鈥�05.
The Byrneses didn鈥檛 hesitate to take on that responsibility, she said. 鈥淲e believe that the 乐播传媒 values are important not only to our student, but to the students that follow him.鈥�
Michael Murray, Charles Franklin Phillips Professor of Economics, detailed the important contributions students are making to a research project he鈥檚 involved with. 鈥淲hen students are engaged in original research at the edge of knowledge, they tend to have a rich understanding of where new knowledge comes from,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne of my focuses for 乐播传媒 in the future is to continue to have the resources to afford students this kind of opportunity.鈥�
Harmonizing on the subject of 乐播传媒, Bonney and Renyi explained that The Campaign for 乐播传媒 is about the basics: compensating faculty at levels competitive with its peers; maintaining academic excellence; ensuring that such excellence stays accessible to an increasingly diverse student body by strengthening financial aid; and addressing long-postponed facilities needs, such as student housing and a new dining commons.
Through a greater contribution from the annual 乐播传媒 Fund, the drive will also reduce the operating budget鈥檚 dependence on tuition fees. Most important, after years of 鈥渄oing more with less,鈥� the Campaign for 乐播传媒 would boost the endowment to a level that can support 乐播传媒 quality and values for the long haul. (For an in-depth explanation of the endowment issue, see page 22.)
鈥淲e spend virtually the same dollars on instruction and financial aid as our peers, but our annual budget is much, much smaller,鈥� Bonney said 鈥� with the result that other needs, such as facilities, have gotten short shrift.
鈥淲e cannot 鈥� we cannot 鈥� sustain this.鈥�
Starting with Mark Twain鈥檚 apprenticeship on a Mississippi riverboat, President Hansen at both events inspired listeners to imagine the transformation 乐播传媒 could achieve through The Campaign for 乐播传媒. Campaign planners, she explained, realized early on that 乐播传媒 鈥渕ust match the culture of academic rigor, independence, open exchange and service with an equal culture of philanthropy.鈥�
鈥淎long with our New England values went pride in our independence, self-reliance, and polite reluctance to talk about money,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut pride of another sort, pride in our extraordinary level of accomplishment, now motivates us to mount a campaign for the support that an institution of this caliber requires and deserves.鈥�
Hansen鈥檚 hopes for 乐播传媒? 鈥淥n our watch, let us secure for future generations a 乐播传媒 that is stronger, more flexible, better-endowed,鈥� she said. 鈥淥n our watch, let us make it possible for 乐播传媒 to flourish as a place where young people of great promise learn indelible lessons.鈥�
Referring back to Twain, she said,
鈥淥n our watch, let us be lightning pilots 鈥� sure, courageous, undeterred navigators for one of the greatest colleges ever founded, our 乐播传媒.鈥�