Passing The Plate Again

Just as it seems they had finished cleaning up the cake plates from the Centennial celebration two weeks ago, Radcliffe administrators have already brought out the collection plates for another important part of the school's Centennial celebration.

Radcliffe's Century Fund drive which begins this year, is supposed to help "shore up the foundations" of Radcliffe, Hope W. Wigglesworth '48, director of development and alumnae affairs for Radcliffe, said this week.

Radcliffe has a lot of shoring up in mind: the goals of the fund are to raise $10 million for endowment and capital improvement, to increase grants from corporations and foundations to $3.5 million, and to double alumnae annual giving to $1 million by 1985.

Radcliffe is seeking sources high and low from the ranks of alumnae, corporations and foundations.

Radcliffe probably won't have much trouble finding something to do with all that money. The Observatory Hill Athletic Complex near the Quad is finally under construction, but Radcliffe still has a ways to go to raise the $2 million price tag on the building.

The fund drive will also finance a Center for Continuing Education at the Cronkhite Graduate Center, as well as renovations for Agassiz House theater.

The increased alumnae giving should help Radcliffe meet its obligations under the 1977 Joint Policy Agreement with Harvard. That pact calls for Radcliffe to increase its annual contribution to undergraduate financial aid to $1.4 million.