Senior disorientation week was non-existent. One of the most active members of Senior Class Council was forced to resign. Infighting has continued to be a problem. The Class President has basically doled out patronage positions on campus to her friends as resume enhancing birthday gifts. Is anyone surprised that Senior Class Council and the Class Gift Committee got it all wrong with this year's class gift? I'm not.
But before I begin my critique of the Gift Committee, I'd like to point out something they did right. Whatever the class gift may be, or could have been, it should be dedicated to the memory of Chris Elser and Linda Trinh and I applaud the Committee for taking the step they did to ensure that there will be plaques in their honor placed at the site of the gift.
However, that being said, I'd like to go on record as saying that I think the idea of a stained glass window is horribly unimaginative and lacks the spirit of what a class gift should be. There are two fundamental tenets to any class gift, both of which are violated by the concept of a stained glass window.
First, a class gift should be something that the Senior Class leaves behind to benefit future students at the University. The Hopkins Gazette has written of the class gift that, "It is an annual tradition that the graduating class raises money from its members to fund a project that will in some way improve the campus life they leave behind."
On a campus in which the administration is often unresponsive to student life concerns, the class gift has historically been a way for the Senior Class to try to improve the campus for the benefit of future students.
Second, the class gift should be something that students in the Senior Class are excited about. Something that motivates us to open up our checkbooks and give to the University and something we can remember and come back and visit for years to come. A stained glass window neither provides any tangible benefit to students through improving student life on campus,nor is it very exciting. How many students will even recognize or be affected by a stained glass window? I'd guess, few if any -- the tangible benefits of a stained glass window are extremely limited.
As for senior excitement about the gift, most seniors I have spoken with think it is absurd to spend $10,000 on a window and are considering withholding their gifts from the fund and/or giving to the University Endowment instead. If this ultimately is the case for a large number of students it will provide a sad commentary on the state of the gift program.
But ultimately, one good measure of evaluating the gift is to measure it against past class gift programs -- all have benefited the lives of students directly. The class of 2002 gave money for the game systems in E-Level. In 1999, the Senior Class gave money for the tables and chairs outside of Caf?? Q. In 1996, the Senior Class purchased new gym equipment for the Athletic Center.
The idea of a stained glass window simply does not measure up to the creativity and utility of these past ideas.
Finally, beyond the issue of what the class gift actually is, there is a problem with the way money is being solicited. The tagline for the Class Gift Committee has been that "Your contribution of $20.05 would turn into a donation of $80.20 to our senior class gift!" It is italicized on the cards they are giving out. However, without reading the entire paragraph one might not realize that you have to commit $20.05 for three years to Hopkins in order to get the matching funds.
But wait, there's more. Since by the end of the year the window will have been paid for, you aren't committing to give money just to the class gift, but also to other programs in the University.
The idea is that if they can get you to start giving now you are more likely to keep giving as you have established a norm of giving money to the University. It's a scam meant to rope you into giving more money over many years than you initially realize. Like when you see something on TV or in a store and you can pay in "easy monthly installments." It is a pretty sketchy way of doing business.
But in the end, it is fitting that in soliciting money for a gift that is not in the best interest of the student body, the Committee would adopt a program that is misleading and not in the best interests of seniors.
Once again, they got it all wrong.
-- Eric Wolkoff is a senior political science major.
