Falling Short

At both Mass. Hall and the University Development Office, the success story of the year is the Capital Campaign. Six years of networking and persuasion has reaped rewards--$500 million more than University officials expected. But the bounty did not extend to two key areas--areas that are of specific importance to students.

One was the much-needed renovation of Widener Library. Although Widener is the third largest library in the world, the musty stacks are far from being the University's most glamorous philanthropic cause. So officials say they were not shocked to find that funds weren't exactly pouring in.

"We knew it would be hard to renovate Widener," Rudenstine says.

But he adds it was the other shortfall that was a little more surprising. For years, the University and College have been criticized for their high student-faculty ratio.

And so the campaign aimed to fund 40 FAS professorships, each valued at $3.5 million--the highest price for an endowed professorship at any University.

But donors able to give that much money tended to give to other areas, not professorships, Rudenstine says. And so the campaign concluded with only 25 of the 40 positions funded.