Modifying Dean Valentini’s initiative

At the town hall meeting held by Columbia College Student Council and Spectator last month, Dean Valentini proposed his “3, 2, 1” fundraising initiative. The plan would encourage graduating Columbia College seniors to donate a full percent of their incomes to the College in the three years after their graduation. Our new Dean deserves kudos for his innovative thinking—and the late night Bwog comments, for that matter. However, to be feasible and to accomplish more than just raising money, his proposal needs to be reworked.

Most glaringly, “3, 2, 1” is insensitive to the sizable portion of recent grads who will pay considerably more than 1 percent of their annual incomes for their Columbia education long after graduating. On top of already onerous student loan payments, the Dean’s tithe is simply too much to ask. The proposal also faces logistical issues: What about students who matriculate directly into graduate school, or those who struggle to find employment? The College can ask such alumni to donate 1 percent or 50 percent—the results will be equally unsatisfactory.

To achieve something significant, we need a “3, 2, 1” plan with a smaller target. Instead of 1 percent, the College should ask grads to donate $50 per year for their first three post-grad years. To drum up that cash, all students have to do is stay in one night to save up what they would otherwise spend on dinner, drinks, and a movie. Those of greater or lesser means can always donate more or less.

A successful initiative also should be about more than money. It should foster alumni connections with the College, reinforcing what meant most to us about our years here. To that end, the “3, 2, 1” plan should be run so that recent alumni can donate directly to specific programs, student groups, or departments. If one professor in particular changed your life, donate to her or his department. If you care deeply about maintaining a socioeconomically diverse student body, earmark your money for financial aid.

These specific donations will remind alumni what was most important to them during their college years, keeping them in touch with Columbia as they transition away from the community. As an ancillary benefit, class-wide targeted giving will serve as monetary feedback for administrators. It will allow them to see what areas of the College are making the biggest impact on students, as well as which areas could use improvement.

Since “3, 2, 1” encourages students to show CC the money, it is only fair for the College to respond in kind. If Dean Moody-Adams’ resignation proved anything, it was the administration’s opaque and furtive treatment of the College’s finances. Donors now demand transparency from nonprofit organizations, and they have come to expect that recipients will maximize the real-world impact of every dollar donated. Why should the College be any different?

As such, the College should begin far broader public disclosure of its finances. The University already releases annual audited financial statements—a fascinating read if you are procrastinating in Butler. However, this budget is consolidated. It does not present a financial breakdown for individual schools. The University’s “Annual Operating Budget Policy” (which is slightly less fascinating) states that deans and department heads have to submit individual budgets as part of the University-wide reporting process. The College and its departments should publicly release the financial reports they are presumably already preparing for the University at large. Such a reform would impose no real onus on the College—since it would just be a matter of disclosing data already collected—but it would demonstrate transparency and perhaps spur giving from more than just recent alumni.

Dean Valentini’s honest and engaging approach with students has been a welcome change, and it has given me hope for a better, more student-oriented College administration. A “3, 2, 1,” initiative with the modifications outlined above would be a strong step in that direction.

The author is a Columbia College senior majoring in English and concentrating in business management.