Senior Gift Fund Important

To the editors:

Geoffrey C. Upton's column "Think Twice Before Giving" (Opinion, March 3) underestimated the importance of the Senior Gift and the efforts of more than 200 senior volunteers involved. More disturbing, however, is how the opinion minimized the significance of the Class of 1999 Scholarship Fund.

Let us start by addressing Upton's concern that the Senior Gift is an attempt to brainwash students into supporting the University out of habit. Rather, it is a campaign to educate seniors about the necessity of alumni contributions and to raise money for our class's first gift to the College.

To deal with another of his points, Upton is not the first person to express concerns regarding the Memorial Hall tower. He is correct that $4 million is being spent on the project; however, Harvard is not paying for it out of its budget. Several alumni donors gave the money specifically for the purpose of rebuilding the tower. The University did not allocate this money, nor could officials redirect the funds.

In terms of the Class of 1999 Scholarship Fund, it is important to realize that Harvard is the only school in the country that has a need-blind admissions policy for both national and international students. The Class of 1999 Scholarship Fund is an amazing opportunity to support this policy and help ensure its existence into the future. No other graduating class has had the chance to establish such a scholarship fund. We enjoy this unique opportunity because ten generous alumni donors have agreed to match our class gift to financial aid. How better to demonstrate our gratitude to Harvard then by helping future students attend the university?

As most students are quick to point out, Harvard is not perfect. However, as a whole, the University is superior. Whether students realize it or not, what they enjoy at Harvard is possible only because of previous graduates have supported the College. The donations of alumni and senior donors are important and should not be taken for granted. ANN E. SCHNEIDER '99,   JONATHAN C. LOCKER '99   Feb. 11, 1999 The writers are co-chairs of the Senior Gift Fund.