Promises to Keep

The College has raised the goal of its Will to Excel capital campaign from $425 million to $500 million. The recommendation by the executive committee of fundraisers to increase the target by $7 5 million was approved by the Trustees in October, at a point when only 71 percent of the five-year campaign had elapsed, yet 86.5 percent of the original target had been achieved in gifts and pledges. The campaign dead-line remains June 1996.

The campaign has benefitted from some unexpected gifts, principally the $30 million donated for a major addition to Baker Library byjohn W. Berry '44, George W. Berry '66, the Loren M. Berry Foundation, and George F. Baker III. But in one important area the campaign is noticeably behind planned levels: the endowment of arts and sciences, where, through September 30, only 53 percent of the $203 million sought had been raised.

James Wright, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and acting president of the College during President Freedman's sabbatical put it this way: "This campaign is about serious needs, identified as the result of serious planning. This increased goal creates the room to support those unmet institutional needs both in and out of the arts and sciences that were part of our original campaign plan."