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The Spectator
Senior Gift to Aid in College Sustainibility
by Thomas Yarnell '10News Editor
October 09, 2009
The Class of 2010 hopes to make Hamilton a greener campus. The Senior Gift Committee unveiled the Class of 2010 Environmental Endowment Fund on Thursday, Oct. 1 at their kick off event in the Fillius Events Barn.
According to the 2010 Senior Gift website, the fund "will help Hamilton achieve its goal of using 100 percent sustainable energy on campus by allowing the College to purchase sustainable products that will help it most in the future." The fund is also intended to help make all future construction projects environmentally friendly.
Senior Gift Committee Co-Chair Valerie Valant '10 revealed the class gift with the help of her fellow committee members. On her signal, committee members held up individual letters that spelled out "Environment," garnering applause from the audience of about 25 people. Valant then turned over the podium to President Joan Hinde Stewart.
Stewart expressed her appreciation for the gift. She said that she was "thrilled" with the gift's environmental focus and that the Senior Gift tradition exemplified the consistent commitment Hamilton receives from its alumni. "Hamilton is the college it is only because of the generosity, the loyalty, of the alumni," Stewart said.
The President then introduced Greg Robitaille '85. She described him and his wife Beth Pfitzenmayer Robitaille '85 as a testament to the devotion of Hamilton alumni. Robitaille, a new member of the Hamilton College Board of Trustees, said that the Class of 2010 should think of the Senior Gift as their legacy. "What really matters is through your efforts, you're connecting your classmates to this college," he said.
Following Robitaille's remarks, Valant presented the committee's main goal. Valant and her Co-Chairs, Megan Bumb '10 and Julia Pollan '10, along with the 31 other committee members, want to set a new record for Senior Gift participation. The gift is created through donations from current seniors, their parents, alumni and trustees. The number of seniors that contribute to the gift, however, has become the true measure of pride for Senior Gift committees.
The Class of 2007 holds the current record for participation, as 97.6 percent of their class contributed to their gift. The 2010 Senior Gift Committee is shooting for a 98 percent participation rate from this year's class. That would earn them the President's Cup, the trophy awarded to the current participation rate record holder.
For some extra motivation to achieve their goal, the Board of Trustees has issued a challenge to the Committee. If the Committee can meet certain participation benchmarks by certain dates, they will receive increasing increments of donations from the trustees.
If the Committee achieves a 25 percent participation rate by Oct. 25, for example, the trustees will give an additional $1,000 to the Environmental Endowment Fund. If the Committee can meet the trustees' challenge's throughout the year, they will accumulate an additional $10,000 for the class gift.
In a subsequent interview, Valant stressed that although this year's gift is an endowment fund, the amount of money raised is not the top priority.
"I really would love to accomplish our overall goal of 98 percent participation by the senior class, and be recipients of the President's Cup for the highest level of class participation in the Senior Gift Campaign," Valant said. "But more than that, I really want to get every member of the senior class informed, involved, and excited about the fund. The Senior Gift is not a campaign to 'donate money' to Hamilton, but rather [to] give seniors an opportunity to show the school how much their four years have meant to them through a gift towards their 2010 class gift."
Since the inception of the tradition in 1982, the Senior Gift has ranged from a scoreboard for the Bristol Swimming Pool to the stone sign at the bottom of College Hill Road. Every gift since 2003, however, has been some form of fund or scholarship, indicating a trend that favors flexible funds over tangible monuments.
The class of 2008 also gave an Environmental Endowment Fund, but it is likely that the 2010 gift will differ from the 2008 gift. The 2008 gift annually awards a grant to a Hamilton student or organization pursuing research or a project on sustainability.
As of right now, the 2010 Senior Gift Committee is still in the process of gathering feedback from administrators and the senior class to determine exactly how they would like the College to use their endowment. Valant believes that such flexibility is one of the distinguishing characteristics of this year's gift.
"[A] unique feature of this Endowment is that we, the senior class, can write our own guidelines and regulations for the Fund," said Valant. "That will not happen until later in the year, but it makes the senior class gift that much more personal to each 2010 student."