Hanszen snatches Senior Gift victory

By Josh Rutenberg     3/12/09 7:00pm

Taking the adage "what you give is what you get" literally, Hanszen College beat out the competition last week by claiming victory in the Senior Gift Giving challenge.Hanszen senior Ted Wieber said a number of different factors pushed Hanszen to lead the competition.

"I am thoroughly thrilled by our senior class participation," Wieber said. Hanszen's senior class had a 53.6 percent participation rate, which he believes will set a good precedent for future senior classes at Hanszen.

Wieber also attributes some of his college's success to alumni partnerships, such as Alumni Association President Robert Taylor (Hanszen '74), who was Hanszen's assigned alumni challenger.

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The Rice Annual Fund, which accepts donations from seniors, parents and alumni to fund scholarships, college life, campus beautification and various other activities, raised an all-time high of $6.35 million last year, according to Lauren Minor, Assistant Director of Annual Gifts.

The Senior Gift Giving challenge began in January and ended on Feb. 27. According to the Rice University website, parents and alumni may continue until March 19 to donate as part of the College Battle, which is an annual event that pits colleges against each other to see which college has the highest percentage of participation from seniors, students, alumni and parents. Right now, Baker College is in the lead with an overall giving participation rate of 4.9 percent. Hanszen is trailing with 4.8 percent, and Jones College is within reach at 4.4 percent, according to Evan Morgan, Associate Director of Annual Gifts.

"What's really cool is that parent participation is nearly 2 percent higher than alumni participation," Morgan said. "It shows that parents are really getting involved."

The college with the highest average giving participation will receive $1,000, the Sammy Cup and a special memento designed by Rice architecture students, not to mention bragging rights.

This year each college was matched with an alumni challenger, who will match the donations made by seniors. This amount will go toward each college to pay for pre-determined college renovations or acquisitions. The use of the donation varied between colleges, with some like Brown, Sid Richardson and Will Rice using the money to renovate existing infrastructures while others like Hanszen, Lovett and Martel putting the money towards buying new items, such as grills and lockers. Minor said the Senior Gift Giving is a tradition and that the new incentives added to the competition's success.

"This year we included parents and seniors in the challenge," Minor said. "We also had different alumni step up and put matching funds towards the annual fund and the colleges. I think that was an incentive for seniors, and showed alumni support for the school."

Wieber agreed that the involvement of alumni made the competition more successful.

"[Taylor's] incentives for Hanszen were a big help in encouraging Hanszen's seniors to give," Wieber said.

These incentives were loaded, inducing Hanszen seniors to give more than the other colleges. For each senior that made a five-year pledge, Taylor agreed to donate $50 directly to Hanszen's college Cabinet. If 75 percent of seniors participated, Taylor promised to install a new grill at Hanszen.

Taylor said he was pleased with the new twist and its encouragement for the senior class.

"I am very proud of the Hanszen seniors for stepping up and making the commitment to the Annual Fund challenge," Taylor said. "I believe it is important to give back to the university and support its purpose. [The Annual Fund] provides so much of what we love at Rice, such as support for the college system, undergraduate scholarships, library resources, study abroad programs and visiting professors, just to name a few."

The Senior Gift Giving challenge and the College Battle are two distinct events, and while the winner of the College Battle is yet to be determined, Hanszen, Jones and Baker currently hold a significant lead above other colleges.

Minor was pleased with this year's results, but said there are still ways to improve turnout, citing an earlier start to the program .

"We are also trying to reach out to students by sponsoring events," Morgan added.

The Rice Annual Fund has partnered with RPC to put on Beer Night and the Beer Debates next week. The Rice Annual Fund has subsidized imported drinks on Beer Night for one dollar. Also as part of Beer Night, any alumnus or senior who donated to the Rice Annual Fund will receive a free beer.

Wieber said that of all the challenges he faced, getting into the right mindset was the most difficult obstacle to overcome.

"From personally going through this process, there is an element of feeling guilty for harassing your friends to give," Wieber said.

He also noted there are personal reasons for seniors to give.

"US News and World Report uses alumni donations to determine college rankings," he said. "A higher participation rate reflects better on Rice, and gets students a better degree."

According to Morgan, US News and World Report rankings base alumni giving as the percent of living alumni holding a Bachelor's degree from a university who gave to their school during the year prior to the rankings. US News and World Report claims that this is an indirect measure of student satisfaction.

"Rice used to rank higher when alumni giving was also higher," Morgan said.

In 2005, Rice's alumni giving was 39 percent, but has dropped to 35 percent in recent years, Morgan said.

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