Capital Campaign Falls Flat, Cuts UC Ties

The Undergraduate Council’s Capital Campaign—conceived last spring in an effort to purchase property for a new student center—closed the summer having raised $700 toward the effort.

The campaign narrowly covered expenses with the help of an initial sum of $3,000 from the UC surplus budget and $4,000 in miscellaneous donations solicited before the summer began, but failed to meet the ambitious goals laid out in May.

On Thursday, UC President Andrea R. Flores ’10 announced in an e-mail to the student body that the campaign would no longer operate under the auspices of the UC, and would continue its operations as an independent organization.

During the last meeting of the academic year, the Council narrowly voted 15-13 to begin a 16-month effort to purchase the multi-million dollar 45 Mt. Auburn St. property for use as a student community center.

The tense meeting left the council’s leadership divided with UC Vice President Kia J. McLeod ’10 coming out in strong support of the proposal, even after Flores had publicly expressed reservations about the cost and the feasibility of the plan.

The UC initially hired four non-UC student staffers, who received a small stipend for their work. By mid-July, none of the four student staffers remained working full-time for the project, according to Joshua J. Nuni ’10 in an e-mail over the UC-General list on July 15. The campaign efforts were sustained through volunteer work for the rest of the summer.

According to a financial document obtained by The Crimson, the campaign only raised enough funds to cover the operating expenses for the summer—totaling $8,050.

“When the UC voted for the capital campaign, there was the expectation that money would be raised this summer,” said Flores in an interview with The Crimson yesterday. “The campaign was not successful because there was no money raised.”

Flores added that she was “concerned that the sponsors of the legislation did not work as passionately to implement the project as they did to pass the project.”

But Nuni, who spearheaded the proposal in the spring, insists that although the capital campaign did not raise funds for the purchase of the property, the work done over the summer was important for building the “foundation for a successful project.”

“We didn’t really solicit donations [this summer] because we weren’t ready,” said Nuni in an interview on Sunday. “We didn’t really recognize how much work had to be done to make [fundraising] a feasible operation.”

According to Nuni, the students working on the campaign took about a month and a half “to get to the point where we could articulate our vision in a concise, compelling way.”

Summer work on the capital campaign included outlining management changes, meetings with Harvard alumni, the administration, and student group leaders to garner support for the project.

In addition the group met with a local architect, construction companies, and real estate agents to discuss potential options and plans for the physical building including the proposed acquisition of 45 Mt. Auburn St.

After the upcoming elections for this year’s new UC representatives, the Council will vote on a proposal that transfers the management of the Student Community Center Capital Campaign to the separate, non-profit Student Community Center Foundation, which will eventually manage the operations of the student center rather than the College administration. It is expected to be comprised of students, faculty, alumni, and community members.

—Staff writer Melody Y. Hu can be reached at melodyhu@fas.harvard.edu. —Staff writer Brittany M. Llewellyn can be reached at bllewell@fas.harvard.edu.
—Eric P. Newcomer contributed to reporting for this story.