Senior Class Narrows Down Gift Options to 3

Seniors can vote on the gift Oct. 30.

The first option would create an Undergraduate Library endowment of at least $20,000 that would raise money to keep the library's resources current.

"The idea is keeping a new library new," said Rob Albright, senior class vice president, saying the money could help keep the library up-to-date in a quickly changing world.

Another part of the first option would allow seniors to select quotations that would be engraved into the 12 new benches outside the Undergrad. A plaque inside the library would memorialize the class's gift.

"We would be the first class to give to the new library," Albright said. "We are really the only class to remember both the old and new Undergrad."

The second option would create an artistic glass etching on the four large windows of the Campus Y building.

Albright said the etching would depict a scene memorializing Sept. 11. The gift would also include a glass showcase for art to be put in the Campus Y lobby. Excess money from the fund raising would be given to Campus Y renovations.

Although no definite plans have been made, the project would conceivably cost a minimum of about $25,000, Albright said.

The third option is a special need scholarship, which would be given through the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid.

"Like the library, we will try to raise a $20,000 endowment for the scholarship," said Emily Stevens, young alumni director with the Office of Development. "Five percent of whatever we raise will be given out each year in the scholarship."

Stevens added that at this time there is no name for the scholarship and that it is too early to know what the scholarship would cover or what the criteria for awarding the scholarship would be.

Albright said class officers are still meeting with people in the financial aid office to work out the final details of the project.

Senior class officers will solicit money from seniors and their parents. Fund raising for the project has already begun, but Senior Class President Paymon Rouhanifard said the bulk of the fund raising will be done in November and December.

Albright said they are off to a good start, having already raised about $6,000 from previous senior class fund-raisers such as the sale of senior T-shirts.

The ideas were chosen from an array of suggestions from both faculty and students. The senior marshals heard ideas from several dozen students in the Pit and at Fall Fest last month.

Seniors will be able to vote on the ideas online through Student Central from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and at several on-campus locations, Rouhanifard said.

Albright said they are hoping for a higher voter turnout than in past years with the voting taking place on the same day as Homecoming elections.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.