This year’s senior class gift will be to renovate the broken fountain in front of the Student Services Building and turn it into a student gathering area.
If the fact that there even is a senior class gift comes as a surprise to you, it’s probably because the last two senior class presidents dropped the ball on the project-the classes of 2004 and 2005 ultimately gave nothing back to the school. Rather, the money that was supposed to be used for a senior class gift was rolled over into the general fund for the next school year.
Congratulations are in order for Senior Class President Lissy Black for doing what her two successors did not. She and her committee members came up with a feasible idea and are actually using ASUU funds to implement it.
The fact that only one senior class president in the past three years has managed to fulfill this major duty speaks poorly of ASUU in general-and the practice of bequeathing a senior class gift, specifically.
Many students have noticed various plaques around campus commemorating classes of the past. Seeing what students from the 20s, 30s, 40s, etc., gave to the U can be interesting-but the fact that the practice has become so hit-or-miss in recent years suggests that it is going out of style.
If senior class presidents aren’t going to come up with feasible class gifts, maybe we should do away with the tradition altogether and use the money for something that betters suits students of the 21st century. We could create scholarships, or donate the money to charitable foundations.
If future administrations choose to keep this tradition, it would be nice to see more thought being put into the senior class gift.
The senior class president has two main functions: planning Homecoming Week and thinking of a senior class gift. He or she has an entire year to come up with these projects-so why is this the first year in the past three when a graduating class will give something back to their school?
Students should also be more involved in the process of choosing the senior class gift. Perhaps next year’s senior class president should poll student opinion on this matter during Fall Semester in order to come up with the most meaningful gift possible.
Ultimately, the tradition of leaving behind a senior class gift is a nice one-but if senior class presidents aren’t going to take it seriously, we should come up with a more practical use for this money.