After a week of nationwide fund-raising, the “LSU Forever” campaign delegation has returned to campus with news of what they are calling “unprecedented levels of support.” The campaign, which culminated with a banquet at LSU’s Lod Cook Alumni Center on Friday, also hosted similar events in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Houston, all areas chosen for their high number of LSU alumni. Over the course of those events, the campaign collected $175 million from over 1200 alumni donors. At a press conference Monday, LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe said the money will be used to advance the Flagship Agenda, a seven-year, $750 million plan designed to help the University reach, or exceed, national averages in student enrollment, professorships and technology updates. Based on the support received on the last week, O’Keefe said he sees the number as one that is within reach. “From University officials to alumni donors, everyone involved believes in the Flagship Agenda and supports this fund-raising campaign as the way to advance that program,” O’Keefe said. “First and foremost, this is done to benefit current LSU students and invest in the education of future students.” The fund-raising effort, which was privately funded through the LSU Foundation, Tiger Athletics Foundation and LSU Alumni Foundation, is the second major phase of the Flagship Agenda, one that will build upon past campaigns and work to establish a more reliable base of financial support among national donors. To facilitate this, National Alumni Committees have been created in areas with prominent high concentrations of LSU alumni, including Atlanta, Dallas, Tampa Bay, San Francisco and Denver. With former Louisiana Representative Henson Moore overseeing the committees and LSU alum and political commentator James Carville acting as national spokesman, LSU Forever Project Coordinator Beverly Major said the effort demonstrates the unique spirit and dedication of LSU alumni to the growth of their alma matter. “The amount of alumni turnout and donor support we received was astounding, much higher than anticipated,” Major said. “Each night went extremely well, and I believe everyone left with a feeling of accomplishment and hope for LSU’s future.” With an average of 300 alumni in attendance, each event featured presentations by O’Keefe, LSU System President William Jenkins and representatives from each University college as well as refreshments and live music. The University denied claims that it raised any money. “The money was donated on a voluntary basis,” O’Keefe said. “We didn’t twist the arms of our supporters.” One supporter is Maux Ahalabi, president of the LSU Alumni Association in Washington, D.C., and a key coordinator in the fund-raising event that took place at the Army and Navy Club on June 21. Ahalabi, a 2001 LSU Graphic Design graduate, said the turnout was the result of a newfound sense of pride in a University that he believes has turned the corner. “When I first came there, LSU was a place where people settled to go if nothing else was available to them,” Ahalabi said. “Now, LSU is a nationally-recognized University and people actually want to go there.” O’Keefe said attracting new students to LSU is one of the Flagship’s main goals, in addition to adding 150-200 additional faculty positions, increasing laboratory space by 50 percent, and increasing funding, technology and staff to the LSU Law and Mass Communications to push those programs into the nation’s top 25 percent. Michael Ruffner, LSU vice chancellor for communications and university relations, said major construction projects such as the LSU School of Business and Chemical Engineering Plant will also receive major portions of the funding, although much of it will go to increasing LSU’s standing as an academic University. “It’s remarkable LSU has been able to keep up with its peers considering that we have so much less money to spend than they do,” Ruffner said. “If we can do so much with little, imagine what we can do with a larger endowment.” Ruffner said LSU, a school of 35,000 with a $262 million endowment, is lagging behind other “peer universities” such as the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia and the University of Minnesota, all of which have endowments in excess of $1 billion and student body populations of 60,000 or greater. “They’re our peers in the sense that prospective students are deciding between us and say, the University of Texas, a school with an endowment of over $4 billion,” O’Keefe said. “And in another sense, those are the schools whose standards we’re trying to match or exceed. Of course, the only way to do that is to advance a focused, overarching program like the Flagship Agenda, and I believe our donors understand that.” While University officials and alumni donors may be on the same page, many LSU students were confused by news of a fund-raising effort. Rajneesh Kambham, an LSU Computer Science graduate student, said he’s only vaguely aware of the Flagship Agenda and its intended uses. “I’ve heard a little about the Flagship Agenda, because it’s sometimes mentioned on the PAWS web site,” Kambham said. “But I would like the University to tell me more.” Others, like sophomore mechanical engineering major Matt Chemin said he’d never heard of the program, but believes changes are needed at LSU. “I think the Physics department is terrible. Any program that can help improve that is fine with me,” Chemin said. In addition to the private donations, the University also received an additional $3.2 million in state appropriated funds for specific use in the Flagship Agenda, a move that O’Keefe said will help LSU make a major step forward toward a greater level of national prominence. Major said she believes its the first step in many for an expanding University. “Right now, we’re in the process of trying to allocate the money to specific needs,” Major said. “There’s no doubt this program will change the future of LSU and definitely for the better.”
—–Contact Joe Ehrich at [email protected]