Today is the annual Smith Tower climb for Pomona seniors. Seniors have all been notified about this through flyers put in their mailbox, and are all invited to come up and get a unique view of Pomona from the top of the tower. A lame (and tiring) tradition, perhaps, but a bonding experience, maybe a day to remember, and a novel addition to a Friday afternoon, nevertheless. However, the sheet specifies that this tradition is not open to all seniors–only those who have given donations to the senior gift. Seniors who have not yet donated are being asked to bring a minimum five dollar donation in order to join their classmates in climbing the tower.

Although the concept of a senior gift is a good one, our donations are repeatedly being solicited by playing on our assumed fears of exclusion and through tactics of directed peer pressure. At the end of our senior year, when we are trying to get in those last few Tuesdays at Table Manners, and hang out as much as we possibly can despite pressures of theses, oral examinations, and the like, senior bonding moments should not be disrupted because of a strategy on the part of the gift committee. Although I still think it crude, I would accept the positioning of one representative from the annual gift drive stationed at the door of the tower, asking for voluntary donations. But to specify an amount that students must donate, and to force them to donate at all, is contrary to the spirit of the school. From talking to many seniors, the way in which gifts have been solicited has turned off many otherwise certain donors.

The Office of Annual Giving has concocted a master plan. From the list of seniors chosen for the Senior Gift Committee, it seems clear that the intention was to place strategic agents provocateurs within a diverse assemblance of social groups, in order to target as many seniors as possible through peer "coercion." Earlier this semester, a sheet was distributed to all seniors, listing the names of the seniors who have donated to the gift fund, and insinuating that, if one’s name is not on the list, one should feel shame. There is no reason why we should be constantly reminded of who has contributed to the senior gift fund and who has not, and it is not the Office of Annual Giving’s place to use the names of those who have donated to solicit other donations through peer pressure (everyone’s doing it–are you??) without asking for the donors’ consent.

Don’t attempt to pit us against each other. Some of us have a lot of money. Others of us do not. Some of us feel Pomona is a worthwhile cause, and others of us do not. Regardless, these personal conditions are no one’s business but our own. We’re just trying to be open and honest with each other, and have one last good time before we say goodbye. We all have enough awkward undertones and reasons for strained relationships. We want to get over these, not embrace them, and it is not the place of the Office of Annual Giving to give us any more reasons to potentially resent each other, even if just a little bit. Admissions are need-blind at Pomona, and issues of financial aid are kept as confidential as an individual desires them to be. The annual gift drive should be run with more consideration to the seniors as individuals, and less consideration to the seniors as walking checkbooks.

Sincerely,

Nora Lawrence

Editor-in-Chief