$10 for Harvard

Ten dollars can buy a variety of things in Harvard Square: one t-shirt from the bargain basement at Urban Outfitters, two burritos, six cups of coffee, or ten copies of Spare Change newspaper. It is also the amount seniors are asked to give to “Senior Gift,” the Class of 2011’s combined contribution to the Harvard College Fund. HCF raises current-use money which goes wherever it is needed most, whether that be financial aid or maintaining the Malkin Athletics Center.

Senior gift, in general, is a good idea. Harvard College is an institution worthy of our support because it largely succeeds as a mechanism for social justice. By the numbers, few schools do as much to empower the middle and working classes. Harvard has embarked on an ambitious financial aid initiative that has brought scholarship to portions of the population that only decades ago were nearly shut out of higher education. Harvard’s broad financial aid program, which strives to prevent students from graduating indebted, has combated the recent hyperinflation of college fees that has mired many young students in debt and forced others away from college completely. Harvard not only promotes socioeconomic mobility but it provides young people who will surely become leaders of industry and politics with valuable critical-thinking skills and exposure to peers from different backgrounds.

Nevertheless there are, of course, arguments against giving to the College. Some people are hesitant to give because of negative experiences during their four years here. Indeed, the Class of 2010 at Dartmouth achieved a 99.9 percent participation rate, with the one holdout being a student who wrote that she did not believe that Darmouth provided a net positive experience to its undergraduates. Additionally, some wish to give to causes that work for social justice in different ways than Harvard does, such as the Red Cross or Oxfam. Others may find it very difficult to give $10. These reasons are personal and legitimate, so no one should ever be harassed into giving to Senior Gift.

This seems obvious, but the line between positive recognition and excessive pestering can be difficult to define. While it is okay to list the names of students who have donated in a House dining hall, it is not okay to sit outside a dining hall with the names of students who have not given and entreat them to when they swipe in for dinner. While it is okay to poster the doors of students who have donated, it is not okay to ask their roommates to join them to give. In the end, it is the attitude that giving is a choice, not a duty that makes Senior Gift a positive experience for all involved.

A separate issue is the stratification of seniors into regular donors—who give $10—and those in the Associates Program—who give $250 or above. Simply put, this program should not exist. The ability to give $250 as a college student with no income largely reflects one’s pre-Harvard financial background. It is strange that the College tries its utmost to erase socioeconomic barriers within the student body, through financial aid, making all students buy a full meal plan, providing grants for the summer, and in numerous other ways, yet condones a program of divided undergraduate years. This program is particularly harmful because it is implemented at the end of senior year, at a time when students are especially anxious over their career, and possibly making life choices that will yield them less money than their peers. While we understand the value of stratified giving after college, where it is a useful tool for rewarding those who will make big gifts to the school, one’s four years at Harvard should remain sealed off from these realities as much as possible.