College eyeing $500 million goal Anticipated five-year campaign would break records

Author: Derek Schlickeisen

The College may launch the largest fundraising drive in the history of liberal arts institutions next fall, according to President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz and others in the administration. If successful, the campaign would raise nearly $500 million over five years in order to fund objectives outlined in the recently adopted Strategic Plan.

The campaign, which the Board of Trustees will likely endorse in May, would require a significant expansion of the College's donor base beyond existing alumni, parents and friends of the College. To accomplish this expansion, Liebowitz said that the College would look to those who agree with its mission in a changing world.

"Where this campaign could distinguish itself from all others is by expanding our network of prospective donors outside of the College," Liebowitz said. "We are engaging people who understand that the world is now global, and would support institutions like Middlebury that have internationalized their curricula and focus on both linguistic and cultural competency."

Though the anticipated campaign comes on the heels of three highly successful years of efforts to increase the College's endowment, the $500 million mark would signify the largest capital campaign in the history of liberal arts colleges. Wellesley College in Massachusetts set the current record in 2005 when it completed a campaign to raise just over $470 million.

"This is obviously a very ambitious goal for the College," Liebowitz said. "We're talking about something that is unprecedented for a liberal arts college."

Ann Crumb, associate vice president for College Advancement, explained that the College is now in a pre-campaign phase dedicated to ensuring that $500 million represents an appropriate goal. Liebowitz confirmed that this "silent phase" of the campaign has already yielded over $200 million in pledges.

"The President and others are speaking with many of our trustees and potential donors who are closest to the College to discuss the impact their financial support could have and determine their level of funding," said Crumb.

Rather than simply adding to the College's endowment, pledges from the new campaign would also support a host of initiatives approved last spring in the new Strategic Plan. In addition to construction projects like the one now underway for the Donald E. Axinn '51 Center for Literary and Cultural Studies at Starr Library and another to build an environmentally friendly power plant on campus, Liebowitz and the trustees hope to increase direct financial aid grants by up to $2,000 per student, add at least 25 new faculty positions and to construct new housing for the completion of the Commons system.

"The College needs a highly successful campaign to achieve the strategic goals that have now been embraced by the President and the Board of Trustees," said Dean of Planning and Secretary of the College John Emerson, who chaired the Strategic Planning Committee last spring. "We need a successful campaign if we are to continue Middlebury's rise to the very highest ranks of liberal arts colleges."

Liebowitz and others emphasized that the College hopes to reach out to both new individuals and other institutions in seeking support for initiatives like improved student aid and study abroad efforts.

"I am committed, as I said from the start of my presidency, to building relationships with other institutions and collaborating with them to help us achieve our goals of providing our students with the best possible educational experience and our alumni with the strongest network for their post-Middlebury lives," said Liebowitz.

Other institutions, Liebowitz explained, might range from neighborhood organizations like the Harlem Educational Assistance Fund to major universities, which together would provide the support necessary to further improve diversity on campus and expand internship opportunities abroad.

Emerson said that this early phase has gone well.

"Middlebury is already off to a very strong start in the forthcoming campaign," Emerson said. "There are many alumni and friends of the College who generously support the College and who are deeply committed to the College and especially to its students."

Challenges do remain, however, and those involved in the process readily acknowledge.

"One particular challenge is in making our loyal supporters and potential contributors realize that much of our fundraising needs to be in the form of gifts to endow important initiatives in perpetuity," Emerson explained. "When we add a faculty position, we will be committed to it indefinitely and we need the resources to support it in the long run."

According to Liebowitz, each new professorship requires an added $2.5 million in endowment to support.

An official announcement of the campaign and its exact monetary goal is expected for the fall of 2007.