Campaign's goal is raised to $1.3 billion

Drive hit $1 bil. over summer In October 1989, the University set out on a campaign to raise $1 billion. The University gave itself five years to reach nine digits. When the University hit the $1 billion mark this summer – a year and a half ahead of schedule – the Trustees just decided to keep the campaign going. Their new goal: an additional $300 million by December 1994. To date, the campaign has raised $1.161 billion, said Virginia Clark, vice president for development and alumni relations. Raising $1.3 billion would break the record for a higher education fund drive by $100 million, Clark said last night. Currently, though, Cornell University is conducting a $1.5 billion campaign and Harvard University is aiming to reach the $2 billion mark. The University plans to use part of the extra $300 million to endow 23 more faculty chairs, Clark said. It currently costs $1.25 million to endow a faculty chair at the University, and a record 127 faculty chairs have made that investment during the campaign. Eight million dollars is slated to help the Minority Permanence Fund reach its campaign goal of $35 million, Clark said. On the undergraduate level, the Minority Permanence Fund finances scholarships for minority students. Fifteen million dollars is expected to be used for undergraduate financial aid, bringing the campaign total for undergraduate aid to $121 million –E$36 million more than the University's original goal of $85 million. Twenty-one million dollars is slated to fund research, and $45 million will be used for campus projects, such as building the Revlon Campus Center and renovating College Hall and a number of University classrooms. Ninety-four million dollars will be used to help the University's schools meet their individual campaign goals, Clark said. Several fund-raising records have already fallen by the wayside during the campaign. Walter Annenberg's gift of $120 million this summer set the new record for a single cash gift. The University broke another record by receiving 2,500 donations between $25,000 and $100,000. The success of the campaign underscores a major change in the University's fortunes during the tenure of former President Sheldon Hackney. When Hackney became president in 1981, the University's endowment was only $218 million. By comparison, Princeton's endowment topped $1 billion, and Harvard's endowment was over $2.5 billion. The University's endowment has increased more than five-fold since then, though it still lags behind many Ivy League college endowments on a per student basis.

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