Wrong Tactics

IT WAS A SATURDAY afternoon. I was about to go outside to sit in the sun when the phone rang.

"Hello," I said.

"Hi, this is Bitsy. (I have changed her name to protect her reputation.) I'm calling about the Senior Class Gift..."

There was a pregnant pause which I quickly filled by explaining that I had planned to give money directly to my department and extracurricular activities instead of the class gift.

"Well," she said, "You can give $25, $50 or $100. And because we know graduating seniors don't have much money, of course you can give a smaller amount."

Maybe she hadn't heard me. "I am not going to give to the senior class gift," I repeated.

"A lot of people actually just give $5 or $10," came her quick repartee. The sun was fading and I was getting a little annoyed. I went into great detail about my plans for the small amount of money I might have--plans wich included not giving it to the senior class gift.

"Why don't you think about it some more," she said. "You really might want to give some, just for the numbers. You know there is a House competition and I am sure you want Dudley House to win."

"Thank you," I said, surrendering the argument. "Goodbye." If I had ever been uncertain about my decision not to give to the Senior Class Gift, Bitsy made up my mind once and for all.

THERE are many reasons for my decision to abstain from this fine Harvard tradition. The most obvious is that I have already given enough to Harvard, at least for now. This school has gotten more than $80,000 from my family over the past four years, and I know they didn't spend it all on me. And while I have gotten a lot from my college experience, there were some things notably missing.

The Senior Gift Committee might, for example, use some of Harvard's money that wasn't used for a good escort service. Or the money Harvard didn't set aside to hire Women's Studies faculty members. Or the funds Harvard has saved by not having a a student center.

But beyond this obvious reason, and even beyond the fact that I--like many of my classmates--am about to go out into the world with no money and significant debt and can hardly afford to start making donations yet, I am not giving to the Senior Class Gift because I don't like its tactics.

The Senior Gift campaign is one of the most coercive fundraising efforts I have ever seen. The entire campaign is designed to play on peer pressure and our sense of obligation to our friends in the last months of college.

Each House has a senior gift committee. The members of these committees divide up the house residents according to who knows whom, so that students are usually solicited by their friends.

The Committee members head out to launch their attack armed with the knowledge that this--like other intramural sports--is something every house wants to win. In fact, the winning house--Kirkland this year--gets an ice cream bash and a congratulatory advertisement in The Crimson.

The pressure this puts on senior gift committee members to solicit is matched only by the pressure it puts on their friends to give. It is one thing to say no when the Red Cross calls you on the phone as part of a huge, virtually anonymous solicitation list. It is quite another thing entirely to say no when your roommate, blockmate or best friend asks you for money. Harvard knows this well and the Senior Class Gift operates under this assumption. I have many friends who have said, "I didn't want to give and I wasn't planing to give, but I didn't feel like I could say not to my good buddy Bitsy."

If the first solicitation attempt is not effective, the House committees meet to discuss those individuals who chose not to give and to evaluate the best means for a second or third or fourth attempt.

And several members of these House gift committees have told me that the meetings sometimes get quite nasty, as seniors unwilling to give money are attacked for lacking in house spirit or being lousy friends.

THESE TACTICS make me ill. I recognize that many fundraising campaigns are run the same way. But the fact that these are widely used strategies does not make them more palatable. You can choose your charities, and I'll never give to a charity that tries to coerce me.

All of this is not to say that I will never give money to Harvard. In fact, I feel quite indebted for my education here. There are many campus organizations I plan to contribute to both now and when I actually have real money to give.

But I will give on my own terms and to the organizations of my choice. And when Bitsy calls me again in 25 years to ask me how I'm doing, do I remember so-and-so, guess what they're doing now, and wouldn't I like to give money to fair Harvard through our reunion class gift, I will say no then, too.