Next fundraising drive put on hold inde_¶ nitely

The University's proposed $4 billion fundraising campaign was put on hold this week as bigger economic fears put its feasibility into doubt.

The campaign announced last September under the name Carolina Big" was touted to be the largest fundraising campaign in the school's history.

""These are tough times and it just isn't the right time to announce something that big"" said Matt Kupec, vice chancellor for University advancement. With what's going on in the world"" sadly that project is very much on hold.""

Kupec's comments come at a time when the state's unemployment level is rising and state tax revenue is down — a situation which has led to cutbacks at the University.

The campaign" which was still at very early stages of development was not set to be rolled out for several years.

Sallie Shuping-Russell a member of the Board of Trustees highlighted the infancy of the campaign when she stated in an e-mail that the project has been the subject of a few general discussions but no official campaign plans have been presented to the board.

Board of Trustees Chairman Roger Perry who sits on the University advancement committee overseeing fundraising said that because the campaign is at such an early stage" he did not believe the decision would ultimately delay the campaign.

""The campaign is constantly being reassessed and when the time is right" we will continue" he said.

He went on to say the Board of Trustees has complete confidence in Kupec's judgement and Kupec would decide when the timing was right to restart the campaign.

The campaign would have sought to raise $4 billion during an eight-to-10-year period and was designed to keep UNC on par with its peers. It would have provided large sources of funding for the School of Medicine, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Kenan-Flagler Business School and many academic departments.

Despite the decision to put the campaign on hold, Perry noted that the economic crisis was not significantly affecting the University's ability to raise funds.

We are still having a very good year. We are bringing in close to $25 million a month"" Perry said. In the face of the economy that's pretty good.""



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.