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CLASS NOTES

Storming the Dorms for the Senior Fund

By Michael Foss '03

It’s 9:30 on a Monday night, and I’m one of a group of 10 Columbia seniors going door to door in Hogan Hall, a largely senior dorm at 114th and Broadway. With us is Leo the Lion, and as Hogan residents walk past, they glance suspiciously at us, wondering what brings a figure that they usually only see at football and basketball games to their dorm this late at night. We get to the first suite on our list and knock loudly. The door opens and a bewildered senior says hello, wondering who we are and why we’re at his door.

The Columbia Lion joins members of the Class of '03 Senior Fund Committee for a recent dorm storm.

We explain to him that it’s all part of the 2003 Columbia College Senior Fund. After the Class of 2002 made Columbia history by setting a record for class participation, with more than 50 percent of the class contributing to its Senior Fund, the Class of 2003 committee set an even loftier goal of 70 percent participation. Reaching that goal is not going to be easy, but the group of 40 seniors is committed to making it happen. We realize how important alumni giving is to making the College such an incredible school — and to keeping it that way — and we have a desire to give something back both before and after we graduate.

As I write this, it is April 1, and graduation is 51 days away. The Senior Fund stands at 43 percent participation; we have 270 gifts to go before we reach our goal. April would be a busy month for committee members. Being part of the Senior Fund is a lot of fun, as we’ve developed some highly creative fund-raising events ranging from dorm storms, where we go door to door in senior residence halls, to phone-a-thons, where we call seniors while scarfing down pizza provided by the Alumni Office. Every two weeks, we show up at Lerner Pub, a seniors-only party in the basement of Lerner and a successful place to convince seniors to make gifts, not least because we hand out pint glasses emblazoned with the Columbia College crown, which tend to be put to good use almost immediately. Even Dean Austin Quigley has been known to down a beer out of a Senior Fund glass. Senior Fund members pass up few opportunities to solicit gifts from friends and classmates; one committee member showed up at a recent swim test-pool party held in Uris Pool to collect gifts from seniors.

Returning to that night in Hogan, the senior fund gets another gift, bringing us a little closer to our goal. By the time the night is over and we retire from our midnight dorm storming, we’ve collected 40 more gifts. Tired, but feeling successful, we head to the West End for a celebratory toast to what we who storm the dorms know will be the most successful Senior Fund in the history of Columbia College.

Michael Foss '03 majored in history and economics and was a co-chair of the 2003 Senior Fund Committee.

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