Two years ago, Fairleigh Dickinson University announced its plans for a new campaign to advance capital projects at both the College at Florham and the Metropolitan Campus. FDU Now, a $50 million enterprise, has several initiatives that will affect student life in the future, but for now, the plans have been put on hold because of the economic recession, according to Vice President of Advancement Richard Reiss.

As announced in the March 21, 2007 issue of The Metro, money from the FDU Now campaign will be put towards the Monninger Center for Learning and Research, a cutting-edge facility that will replace the current library at the College at Florham. The Monninger Center will include work spaces for both individuals and groups, brand new technological advances and an auditorium for large group presentations. The site for the center is currently marked by a sign by the library stairs.

Construction was set to begin on the center this spring, according to campus Provost Kenneth Greene, but the ground-breaking has been delayed, mostly because there have been stalls in fundraising over the past year. Reiss attributed the freeze to the worldwide economic crisis. He said bonds are a major part of the project’s financing, and there has been less lending reported in the past few months.

“The Monninger Center is being constructed through a combination of donations and borrowed money. The borrowed money comes from the sale of bonds,” he said. “The university was forced to delay the construction until the bond market opens up. This has affected not only FDU, but universities across the country that have had to delay major construction projects.”

The recession has also affected the donations that are fueling the campaign. While the goal for FDU Now is $50 million, the university has only raised $38 million so far, and fundraising was set to end in 2010. Individuals (mostly alumni), corporations and philanthropic foundations have all been giving to FDU, but donations have slowed this year.

“Sixty-five percent of the donations that come to the university are from individuals and the vast majority of those individuals are alumni. The university gets 25 percent of its gifts from corporations and 10 percent from philanthropic foundations,” said Reiss. “We still see some opportunities ahead but in general, people, companies and foundations are giving less. We have lost a few high-end donors but I believe that is only temporary. We are also seeing fewer gifts to the Fund for FDU, which is our unrestricted giving.”

Even though giving this year has slowed, donations that were promised in the past are still being sent to the university.

“Over the past few years we have received many multi-year pledges toward FDU Now,” said Reiss. “All of those pledges are being honored and paid on time.”

Other proposals that were included in the FDU Now campaign are a new student union at the Metropolitan Campus, several endowments – including scholarships for students – and updated facilities for athletics on both campuses.

The College at Florham in particular includes plans to build a new tennis complex and softball field, according to the campaign’s Web site on fdu.edu. A separate annual fund for athletics on both campuses will also make sure that facilities will be continually updated and maintained.

Along with new facilities, the Web site also promotes a plan for increasing the funding for the global learning initiatives program so the university’s mission can continue to grow.

To promote donations, FDU has created Leadership Giving clubs, as a way of getting donors to give more money to the university.

According to the Web site, club membership rates start at $100 (to join the Century Club) and end at an annual membership fee of $25,000 to join the President’s Circle. There are six other clubs in between that people of varying spending power can join.

Although each club has its own page on the FDU Now Web site, it seems they are just categories made to label how much people can donate any given year. According to Reiss, higher level donors are invited to special university events.

While plans for the Monninger Center and other projects have been put on hold, Reiss is still optimistic. Even though construction of the center has been delayed, it should start up again within a year. He hopes to still have FDU Now completed by 2010 and then to start another campaign for university advancement.

“Since the inception of FDU Now, giving to the university has quadrupled,” he said. “Our goal is to complete FDU Now in 2010 and prepare the university for its next major capital campaign shortly thereafter.”

MAGGY PATRICK
Editor-in-Chief

Last year, the administration announced FDU NOW, a campaign meant to improve the College at Florham community, as well as the Metropolitan campus in Teaneck. At the College at Florham, a new library, which is to be called the Monninger Center, will be built, while the Metropolitan campus will get a new student center.

The buildings will be funded entirely by donations from alumni and other organizations. At this time, $30 million has been raised with a goal to raise at least $50 million by the ground-breaking ceremony, according to College at Florham Provost Kenneth Greene.

The plans for the Monninger Center were presented to the Florham community last month in Lenfell Hall. The purpose of the new library is to create space for individual or group work and rooms for seminars. The students will also be provided with the most up-to-date technology and research capabilities, said Greene.

Staples of the current library, like the Orangerie, will be updated accordingly, allowing rooms for students to relax in without worrying about disrupting other students studying.

“The Orangerie will become an area for students to relax in, and the current reference area will be transformed into a 160-seat auditorium,” said Greene.

As of this point, there has been no date set for the ground breaking of the Monninger Center, according to Greene.

“The date depends on how quickly we can get the schematic drawings done of the Monninger Center, and how quickly the Florham Park Board of Adjustment approves our plan,” he said.

Although upperclassmen will probably not see the new library while they are still students here, the FDU NOW campaign is also raising money for endowment, student scholarships and developments in the athletic centers on both campuses, according to Greene. He thinks the College at Florham will benefit, in particular, from the new library.

“The center will improve academic life for current students,” Greene said. “And, hopefully, attract future students.”

MAGGY PATRICK
Published in the May 1, 2008 issue of The Metro

By now, almost every student who attends Fairleigh Dickinson University has at least heard of the new historic campaign to transform the FDU of today into the FDU of tomorrow. Professors are talking about it in class, and some parents are even taking out their checkbooks; but so far, many students have been left scratching their heads and asking themselves the question, “What are we getting out of this?”

“All I’ve heard about is the new library they’re building,” says sophomore Allison Pisciotta. “Meanwhile, I sleep on a stained mattress and have a broken heating system.”

Pisciotta isn’t the only one to complain. Some of the freshman buildings were still without air conditioning this year, and while the university is raising millions of dollars for the new Monninger Center for Learning, students are wondering if they will even see the fruits of this 50 million dollar campaign before graduation.

The answer is, probably not. According to President Adams’ February update on the campaign, the university has so far accumulated approximately $24 million dollars, and the campaign is set to run straight through 2010.

Vice President of Advancement Richard Reiss doesn’t think that current students will benefit from the improvements directly, but the campaign will help upcoming graduates in the future.

“Although students may not see the results of our efforts while they are enrolled at FDU, they can be proud of the fact that their FDU degree will grow in value and recognition as fundraising initiatives strengthen the university.”

While some students are fuming that nothing of substance ever gets done on campus, Provost Kenneth Greene wants to reassure students that things are accomplished every year through a $1.5 million dollar Capital Projects Grant.

“Faculty and students complain that some things are wrong,” stresses the provost, “but we do things that many people don’t know about, which ultimately create a better environment on campus.”

When asked what specific projects have been created, Provost Greene was able to compile a list of tasks that were completed in the past year, and will continue to progress over the summer break.

“We made improvements to the Wroxton Room, put all new furniture into the Student Center, and made improvements to the pub and the game room for students to enjoy,” he says.

This summer, more will be done to create a better environment for new as well as continuing students at the College at Florham.

“Soon we will be starting to redecorate the Orangerie, update the chemistry labs to benefit students, and repair the heating and ventilation in the Dreyfuss building,” Greene explains. “We will also be repairing the roof on the Twombly buildings as well as adding air conditioning units, which will cost $200,000. In addition, $90,000 will be contributed to new furniture for the students’ use.”

Even though there is a significant amount of work being done, many students can’t help but wonder how the provost and advancement office decide upon projects to spend the university’s money on.

“I’m part of a Campus Council,” says Greene, describing the process. “Students as well as staff make up the council, so everyone has a say. Representatives from organizations such as The Metro, the Florham Programming Committee and the Student Government Association all are on the council to contribute student input.”

Some students are still frustrated with problems in the dorms that are seemingly being overlooked by the council and the money that goes through their hands. While Greene sympathizes, he stresses that most of the problems are related to facilities, and he agrees that something must be done soon to improve the problems.

“I know students get frustrated because things aren’t getting done,” he says, “but leaky faucets and broken locks are problems that can be fixed by facilities. There are times when students call and think that the workers never show up, but many times they do and there’s no record of communication. We’re working on that.”

While some students are caught up in the fact that most of us won’t see the fruits of the FDU NOW campaign, others are looking forward to the future and believe that the improvements to the university will ultimately be positive.

“I actually really do believe that the new center will be good for the campus…The library we have now, although it ‘does the job,’ really does not have the capacity to fulfill all the new technological advances the campus needs,” says KC Ogbanna, who was featured in the FDU Magazine article on the capital campaign. “Overall, I think this new center will be very beneficial to FDU life on this campus.”
So what else is this $50 million campaign for? The Monninger Learning Center is not the only project that President Adams and his staff have been working on. According to Greene, several projects are connected to the FDU NOW campaign.

“In addition to the Learning Center, a new athletic center will be built by the soccer fields to include tennis courts and a new softball field so we can host matches here on campus,” he explains. “On top of that, some funding is meant for scholarships as well as an endowed chair to help with the advancement of the university.”

Reiss stresses that the plan has been in the works for years, and that what students and alumni are seeing now are just the beginning stages of the campaign.

“One of the first things I did when I arrived at FDU in 2003 was hold several meetings with faculty, staff and others to identify the most pressing philanthropic needs of the university,” he says. “As projects were identified, we matched the needs with potential donors to see if we could actually raise the dollars.”

Many students are wondering how $50 million is actually raised, and whether that will lead to an increase in FDU’s already steadily rising tuition.

“Although I personally think the campaign is a good idea, no one really has any idea where the money is coming from,” says sophomore Lorena Chouza. “I think most people are scared that they will hit our pockets hard.”

That isn’t so. The campaign is being funded strictly by donations from alumni and other corporate sponsors - nothing will come out of tuition costs to fund the improvements.

“The Office of University Advancement reaches out to alumni, parents, corporations, foundations and many others to secure donations for FDU. We try to match the university’s needs with the interests of donors,” Reiss explains. “Much of what we do is talking to alumni and friends one-to-one, with President Adams playing a key role in major gifts programs and solicitation. We also do direct mail, phone-a-thons, and a considerable amount of grant writing.”

Although there is an ongoing process to accumulate more funding for the school besides the capital campaign, Reiss is concentrating on FDU NOW to make the university a better place.

“Our goal is to conclude the campaign in 2010. We have yet to identify what new projects we will be funding for at that time,” he says. “However, we are always looking to increase our unrestricted support for the fund for FDU, garner more scholarship dollars and increase the university’s endowment.”

At the end of the day, the improvements that are set to take place in the following years will certainly make FDU a better place to be. Current students just wish it was happening sooner.

MAGGY PATRICK
Published in the March 21, 2007 issue of The Metro