Two Selected To Head Gift Fund

Paul M. Soper ’06 and Brooks E. Washington ’06 were selected last Monday to serve as the class of 2006’s gift chairs.

Soper, who is also a Crimson editor, and Washington went through a competitive application and interview process and were chosen by the Harvard College Fund and First Class Marshal, Tracy “Ty” Moore II ’06.

The Senior Gift is a yearlong fundraising endeavor to raise money for a contribution to Harvard from the current senior class. Usually, Senior Gift money goes either toward financial aid or toward the unrestricted fund, which provides money for projects that otherwise might get sidestepped, such as wireless internet or fitness equipment.

For Soper, the possibility of contributing to the financial aid system is especially important.

“Every Harvard student talks about real education coming from peers and I don’t know if that would be possible if Harvard didn’t have such a great financial aid system,” Soper said. “Knowing that the Senior Gift helps fund that is even more reason to want to be involved.”

The Senior Gift initiative is run by the Harvard College Fund but Soper and Washington will also be members of the Senior Class Committee.

In the coming month Soper and Washington will be undertaking a big recruiting effort to enlist approximately 100-200 volunteers from the senior class to serve on the Senior Gift Committee.

While they and their committee will be primarily responsible for Senior Gift projects, the rest of the Senior Class Committee will also be involved in their efforts.

The gift committee will work with Hoopes Wampler, director of college alumni programs at the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), and Blake Walsh, HAA alumni gift chair. But Walsh said that he is primarily a staff liaison, with the students taking charge in planning and coordinating events.

Houses compete with each other to achieve the highest senior gift participation level. The Senior Gift Committee also puts on events throughout the year.

Soper and Washington have already made one change from last year, reducing the length of the House competition by starting after spring break instead of before it.

“In previous years, it just became too tiresome from both the standpoint of the

volunteers and the students being solicited,” Soper said.

Washington said that students are more willing to get involved by the end of spring break.

“Most seniors are done with their serious schoolwork and are mostly looking to have fun and enjoy their last few days on campus,” Washington said.

Washington also said that many of their ideas will involve planning more fun events that allow for greater participation from the class.

Last year, two Harvard seniors began an alternative campaign to protest the University’s investment in a Chinese oil company that has ties to the Sudanese government linked to the genocide in Darfur.

The campaign—Senior Gift Plus—urged students to give their Senior Gift donations to their initiative instead.

Soper said the controversy over last year’s Senior Gift motivated him to get involved.

“It gave me an incentive to be a part of this new gift committee because I really believe that the Senior Gift is an important contribution to Harvard,” he said.

While the gift will be an significant contribution to either the financial aid fund or unrestricted fund, according to Washington, it also has other importance.

“It is a chance to say thank you for everything that the Harvard community has given us and to show our appreciation for Harvard,” he said.