In a year when support was supposed to diminish, University officials announced to the Board of Visitors on Saturday that the University's Capital Campaign had its second best year ever, surpassed only by 1995, the campaign's official kickoff. Vice President for Development Robert D. Sweeney brought up the possibility of raising the campaign goal, but the Board did not take action.
Campaigns are full of changes and twists and turns.
With a little more than half of the campaign completed, officials had expected the campaign's momentum to let up after the kickoff year's push. Officials said it is typical for a campaign to dip a bit in the middle because of decreased interest. Casteen told the Board that intense fundraising might become a fixture at the University because of decreasing state support. Sweeney said the campaign's future still rests in the availability of large donations. Although the University's campaign ranks high among public institutions for fundraising, and second only to the University of Michigan in alumni giving, some officials want to raise their standards even further.