Senior Gift Donations Drop By 50 Percent

With Commencement only two days away, seniors are preparing to leave Harvard--and it seems many are prepared to leave the University in the lurch.

The annual Harvard-Radcliffe Senior Gift the first alumni donation collected from each graduating class, dropped nearly 50 percent from $39,000 last year to approximately $20,000 for the Class of '98.

"We've tried reaching out to as many people as possible, but many factors played a role in this year's dollar drop," said Peggy V. Hsia '93, director of the Senior Gift.

She cites seniors' preoccupation with personal pursuits such as these, the bustle of Commencement Week activities and general ambivalence about the Harvard experience as primary reasons for low participation.

"It is just a difficult time to ask people for money...seniors are already in debt, and they just want to get out of here," Hsia said.

According to Senior Gift co-chairs Steven R. Hill '98 and Alice S. Lee '98, who is a Crimson editor, the process began back in December 1997 when they met with the gift chairs from each House to solicit volunteer agents.

The 181 agents, approximately 14 per House, went through a training process in which Hill and Lee encouraged a more personal approach to this year's fund-raising.

"We are very volunteer-driven," Hsia said. "It's all about students reaching out to each other and rallying their support for Harvard-Radcliffe."

The group's increased efforts this year included designing a Web page, bi-weekly letters from Hill and Lee, a personal letter from Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and frequent e-mail messages from House agents.

Hill says despite these efforts, the significant drop in contribution was in part a result of "our own organization because some Houses were definitely not as mobilized as others."

However, Hill emphasizes the importance of theoverall participation aspect.

"It is an educational effort to get peoplefamiliar about the process of alumni giving toHarvard," he said. "What we are looking for is notactually the sum of money, but the rate ofparticipation."

According to Hsia, approximately 30 percent ofthe senior class contributed money.

Kirkland, Eliot, Adams and Mather Houses hadparticularly high rates of participation over theeight other Houses.

The Senior Gift organizers suggest a minimumcontribution of $10.

This year's average contribution was $25, withthe highest donations in the $2,000 range.

This year's drop in senior contributionfollowed the struggles of last year'sHarvard-Radcliffe Senior Gift due to theAlternative Senior Gift Fund (ASGF).

The ASGF was established by a group of seniorswho wanted to with-hold their donations from theUniversity until it reaches certain goals forFaculty diversity.

Because the Class of '98 did not participate inASGF, however, organizers are looking for otherreasons why seniors chose not to donate.

Hsia said all House agents were trained to askreluctant seniors why they were refusing to give.

"A lot of the seniors I have talked to are atthe stage when they begin to question the worth oftheir overall Harvard experience," said Julie K.Schultz '98, co-chair of volunteer agents forQuincy House. "There are a lot of complaints, butevery one seems to be unhappy with differentthings."

"I feel that the Class of '98, in particular,perceives the University administration to beunresponsive and callous about student concerns,"said First Marshall Philip R. Kaufman '98.

"The problem occurs when students believe thatthere is a pattern of the administration workingagainst student interests instead of for them.Trust is lost," Kaufman said.

However, Hill reports that "people tend to useHarvard's $11 billion endowment as their excuse.

They think that there is no way their smallcontribution could make a difference in the bigpicture."

Hsia, Hill and Lee all said that there arestill ongoing efforts to solicit contributionsuntil the June 30 deadline

However, Hill emphasizes the importance of theoverall participation aspect.

"It is an educational effort to get peoplefamiliar about the process of alumni giving toHarvard," he said. "What we are looking for is notactually the sum of money, but the rate ofparticipation."

According to Hsia, approximately 30 percent ofthe senior class contributed money.

Kirkland, Eliot, Adams and Mather Houses hadparticularly high rates of participation over theeight other Houses.

The Senior Gift organizers suggest a minimumcontribution of $10.

This year's average contribution was $25, withthe highest donations in the $2,000 range.

This year's drop in senior contributionfollowed the struggles of last year'sHarvard-Radcliffe Senior Gift due to theAlternative Senior Gift Fund (ASGF).

The ASGF was established by a group of seniorswho wanted to with-hold their donations from theUniversity until it reaches certain goals forFaculty diversity.

Because the Class of '98 did not participate inASGF, however, organizers are looking for otherreasons why seniors chose not to donate.

Hsia said all House agents were trained to askreluctant seniors why they were refusing to give.

"A lot of the seniors I have talked to are atthe stage when they begin to question the worth oftheir overall Harvard experience," said Julie K.Schultz '98, co-chair of volunteer agents forQuincy House. "There are a lot of complaints, butevery one seems to be unhappy with differentthings."

"I feel that the Class of '98, in particular,perceives the University administration to beunresponsive and callous about student concerns,"said First Marshall Philip R. Kaufman '98.

"The problem occurs when students believe thatthere is a pattern of the administration workingagainst student interests instead of for them.Trust is lost," Kaufman said.

However, Hill reports that "people tend to useHarvard's $11 billion endowment as their excuse.

They think that there is no way their smallcontribution could make a difference in the bigpicture."

Hsia, Hill and Lee all said that there arestill ongoing efforts to solicit contributionsuntil the June 30 deadline