University of Virginia Library

The Fund Drive

On the front page of today's newspaper is
a letter from President Shannon urging each
member of the University community to
contribute generously to this year's United
Givers Fund campaign. The University's goal
this year is $54,000, which would seem a
rather low figure for a school with some
5,000 employees and over 10,000 students.
But in reality the students don't contribute
much to this fund drive largely because they
are never directly solicited. It is the
University's employees who each year come
up with the major part of the school's portion
of the UGF.

Years ago the Student Council asked that
students be solicited only once a year for
charitable causes. The result was the Cavalier
Fund Drive which each year around Christmas
canvasses the dormitories for funds, of which
never more than $1,000 is donated to the
United Givers Fund, which supports some 25
agencies ranging from the Salvation Army to
the Retarded Children's Association.

We think that most of the students at the
University are affluent enough to contribute
to both the United Givers Fund and the
Cavalier Fund Drive, although to hear some
students talk one wonders why they don't
apply for food stamps. These same students,
we might add, always seem to have a few
dollars to spend on a movie, a couple of beers
or a trip down the road.

To give to the United Givers Fund a
student will have to take the initiative,
because he will never be directly asked to
give. Students may mail their contributions to
either of the co-chairmen of this year's fund
drive, Ralph W. Cherry in 113 Peabody Hall,
or John M. Stacey in M 4 Main Hospital
Building.

The relations between the University and
the Charlottesville community have
deteriorated exceedingly over the past year.
Perhaps a healthy contribution to the UGF by
students will show the town residents that we
are not out to destroy Charlottesville.

But there are certainly better reasons to
give. All of the agencies supported by the
UGF are, in our opinion, worthwhile. The
UGF is directly responsible for aiding those
less fortunate than ourselves. Students are
after all essentially selfish beings, intent on
getting those degrees which will put them in a
higher earning category. To give a few dollars
to make Charlottesville a better community is
not asking a great deal. The retarded children
or the mentally disturbed who will benefit
from the donations of University students will
probably never know where the money came
from. But after all, isn't that the highest form
of altruism?