CFA Makes Commitment to Capital Campaign

By Martin D. Snyder

The California Faculty Association (CFA) has made a major commitment to the Campaign for the Common Good, the AAUP’s ten-year, $10 million capital campaign. In July, the CFA sent a check for $25,000, making it the largest collective-bargaining chapter contributor to the campaign. John Travis, CFA president, considers it money well spent. “We think of it,” he says, “as an investment in the future of academic freedom, shared governance, and collective bargaining in California.” While the CFA is the first collective-bargaining chapter to complete a $25,000 gift to the campaign, it is not the only chapter to make a pledge at that level. The AAUP chapters at Oakland University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Rhode Island have all pledged $25,000 to the campaign. Donors at the $25,000 to $49,999 level become members of the campaign’s Beatrice Konheim Society.

Why are $25,000 contributions so important? The answer is simple. Last fall, National Campaign Committee member James Rogers, chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada, pledged a matching gift of $250,000 to the Campaign for the Common Good. Payable over ten years, the gift will allocate $25,000 to the campaign each year that the AAUP receives a like gift of $25,000; the gift will pay $50,000 each year the campaign earns at least two gifts of $25,000 or more. In other words, each $25,000 chapter contribution doubles to $50,000 thanks to Rogers’s generosity. “We are pleased and proud that our own chancellor would take the lead in this national campaign,” Frank Hartigan of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, an AAUP affiliate, told the NFA newspaper in November.

Money contributed by Rogers, by generous state conferences, collective-bargaining and advocacy chapters, and individual members builds the Association’s Endowment Fund. At present, the Association’s day-to-day operations depend almost exclusively on the dues of its 45,000 members. The AAUP has no general endowment fund; its dedicated funds are restricted and constitute less than $1 million combined. Thus, the Association survives on a budget that provides little margin for emergencies or special initiatives. The problems now faced by higher education are myriad and complex. They require new and often costly responses. Without a secure financial base, the Association’s ability to engage in the critical educational issues of our time is severely hampered, and its future as a trusted and independent voice for American faculty is uncertain. The strong support of every member and friend of the AAUP is critical for the viability of the Association.

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