Gift Chair Decries "Let Someone Else Do It" Attitude, Asks Ed Board to Organize AIDS Charity Fund
By Doug Bernstien '03
Senior Class Gift Committee Co-Chair

Editor:



Last week we heard from the Editorial Board of The Student Life in an article titled "The Senior Gift Sucks." While the hard-working members of the Senior Class Gift Committee did not appreciate being labeled as "shameless, money grubbing tools of the establishment," we were glad that the Board brought up many important issues.

Before we can establish (in Pomona-speak) a meaningful dialogue, some facts should be agreed upon. While the editorial asserted that students on the Senior Class Gift Committee "have not contributed anything except for their youth credibility," the reality is that we hold weekly meetings in an effort to conduct a year-long campaign that is part of a tradition stretching back over 100 years. Our efforts are entirely voluntary. Also, contrary to the idea that "there is nothing organic" about the Senior Gift, this Pomona tradition remains, as always, a student initiated, student administered project. For the Editorial Board of our campus newspaper to make such allegations without even cursory research is a negligent abuse of power and demeans the Board's credibility.

It is unfortunate that the Editorial Board threw out the first letter from our Committee. Had they read to the end, they would have realized that we are not, at this time, asking any students for any money. Rather than guilt-tripping students into begrudgingly shelling out cash, we would like to inform seniors about what the Gift is and why we believe it is important. We are also working hard on some creative ideas for the gift, mostly focused around providing scholarships and financial aid for future students. But it's all a moot point if the senior class can't get together a Gift in the first place.

Every year the senior class hears from a couple nay-sayers who think there's something original to the notion that Pomona has a large endowment and so our money is better given to AIDS charities. In fact, the Senior Class Gift Committee encourages students to give to any charities that they deem important. I suggest that the Editorial Board organize the collection of a gift to be presented to an AIDS charity.

I also encourage seniors to abandon the presumptuous "let someone else do it" attitude and realize that the money that supports our education has to come from somewhere. In fact, money comes from a number of sources, including various foundations that use alumni and senior participation rates as a measure of student satisfaction. That's why we're not asking for huge amounts of money - we want our class to come together and show that we are appreciative of our education. The Senior Gift is not just a practical fund-raiser. It is a symbolic acknowledgement of our gratitude to Pomona.

Furthermore, Pomona's large endowment is not something to complain about. There's a reason why our school is at the national forefront of financial aid and need-blind admissions. There's a reason that we have all kinds of resources at our fingertips. It's because we have money, and because Pomona College recognizes that the needs of the college are the needs of the students. Past classes have realized this, and every year they continue to step up to the plate to help out their nameless and faceless successors. Last week's editorial suggests that Pomona is an elitist money machine and that we should therefore withhold our gifts. This is a fallacy in logic. How is an institution supposed to become more accessible to all people by being stripped of the money that covers the hidden costs of student education? Do you know why so many colleges are "need-aware?" It's because they don't have the financial resources to guarantee 100% of need, as Pomona does. And that directly impacts what socio-economic groups can even apply, let alone attend, those institutions.

Even if we all paid full tuition ($34,750), that would not cover the cost of operating Pomona College ($61,000 per student, based on the past year's fiscal expenditure of $93 million). Now that we are seniors, many of us are mature enough to realize that our continued support is critical to Pomona's long-term financial survival. To suggest that we just keep milking our endowment forever exposes the childish idea that our needs will always be met regardless of our passivity. Perhaps it is time to wean ourselves of this naiveté and cynicism. I suggest that, rather than throw up our hands in frustration at "the establishment," we realize our own importance and accountability as seniors at one of the finest institutions in the country. The Senior Class Gift is about exercising our importance as a class, and showing an appreciation and an awareness of the added riches that we take as departing alumni of Pomona College.