I was taken aback by some of the comments in Alex Silverman’s letter in Thursday’s Daily Orange. I am very respectful of his opinions regarding the senior class giving campaign, which are shared by some other students. I, for one, have no certainty of what is coming my way in roughly 50 days. I am not employed, and for the last four years, I have paid full tuition at SU.

There are, however, a few issues I would like to bring up in response to Alex’s letter. First, the campaign, ‘Class Act,’ is being chaired by me and Carlye Eder, both SU seniors, so his suggestion that a $36,000 employee resign is unnecessary. Second, we are not trying to create a feeling of guilt, but one of celebration.

Last year, students from the Class of 2009 decided to bring back senior class giving, after a lapse of more than three decades. The idea did not come from the Office of Development. This year, once again, students approached the Office of Development to establish a campaign.

We are not implying the College of Human Ecology is ‘winning’ by any means; I think it is amazing that our smallest college has the highest participation. Also, it’s great that SU’s library, a sometimes ignored university unit, has received several gifts from students. Furthermore, between Tuesday, when our last e-mail went out, and Friday, 13 seniors made a gift. I invite Alex and others to look at some of the feedback provided by students about why they chose to give on our Web site (classact.syr.edu).

I understand that Alex is a student in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where he probably benefited from a new, state-of-the-art building. Now, if it was not for the generosity of the Newhouse family and many, many other donors, such an opportunity would not have been possible for any Newhouse student.

Lastly, I would like to point out that SU is not unique in this venture. The Class of 2009 at Georgetown University had 55 percent participation in senior class giving. There are many other universities I can point to with even higher participation rates, but I thought I would bring to light the example of a Big East conference rival. And as a reminder, this is about participation and believing in an institution that gave us such a great experience, not about how much people give individually.

It may sound cliché to some, but I do not think I will ever be able to give back to Syracuse University what it has given to me: a quality education, four years of amazing experiences, tremendous friendships and, yes, the willingness to give.

This is why I choose to say ‘thank you’ to all who give to SU.
Go Orange!

Muss Akram
Campaign co-chair
‘Class Act’ 2010, SU senior class giving

Published on March 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm