"I would think that our community of supporterswould be somewhat distinct from others and whenthere would be some opportunity for overlap weshould be competitive," says Vice President forFinance Robert H. Scott. "But we have the bestschool and therefore the best opportunity toattract donors."

Other Harvard officials say that thecompetition for donations is, in fact, minimal.And they deny critics' charges that universitiescompete with each other to have the largestcapital campaigns.

"I don't think that in landing on this numberthat they're going to make it higher than [that ofanother university] simply to make it higher,"says John P. Reardon '60, executive director ofthe Harvard Alumni Association.

Stanford's Associate Vice President forDevelopment Stephen Peeps adds that schools oftensee a successful fund drive by another school as asign that they too can raise more money.

"There has been a kind of pace-settingatmosphere to all this," says Peeps, who helpedmanage Stanford's recent five-year, $1.2 billioncapital campaign. "It raises the sights foreverybody. That's different, I think, thancompeting with each other. It has the effect ofsetting a new benchmark."

Other fundraising experts suggest that highstakes campaigns can force an institution likeHarvard to set higher goals, if only to maintainits reputation.

"There's a perception that you have to be atcertain levels to be playing the big leagues,"says Frederick C. Nahm, senior vice president forplanning and development at the University ofPennsylvania.

But Harvard officials emphasize that they areworking on setting realistic goals, not shatteringfundraising records.

After all, they say, any amount even close tothe $2 billion dollar goal being considered willput Harvard's last capital campaign record--$350million, set in 1986--to shame.

"Did you ever hear what Senator Everett Dirksenonce said?" asks Scott. "He said, 'A billion here,a billion there, and pretty soon you're talkingabout real money."

Gady A. Epstein and Ira E. Stoll contributedto the reporting of this story.