Alumni Social recap

[Classof72/74]

This discussion of perception of university priorities and funding has been very enlightening.

 

Here's a few additional points to consider: in the current framework the campus does not have long-term leadersjip (i.e. no president to set his/her agengda; Officer in Charge Herbst is, at this time, in a temporary assignment, with all that implies); the campus does not have long-term leadership in fund-raising/deveopment (Deborah Read, who was brought in as VP in this area during the Hall tenure, left at the end of spring semester); check the status of another high-priority capital project for the campus, the new building for the School of Business (much fanfare about the first donor, but still no firm funding, ground-breaking, etc). As was also stated there's a price sensitivity to adding more fees to the student financial load; anecdotal evidence suggests that students DO decide, especially when choosing among competing SUNY schools, on the basis of small differences in cost, and last time I checked Albany was on the high-end among SUNYs.

 

Together these factors may explain why planning, and fund-raising, for the football stadium seem to lack focus.

 

There may be a new football stadium coming, but IMHO it won't be as soon as many hope, and it will be an uphill struggle all way. Stating the obvious ?

[danefan]

I'm not being a pessimist, but lets just throw something out there.

 

Should the University be realistic and evaluate the actual probability of this happening?

 

Say the real ground breaking is 7 years. Is it really possible to continue playing in the horrid conditions that now exist?

 

Why not spend $7mm and renovate University field? Put nice bleachers on the hill side and call that the "home side" (side note - it gets more sun anyway which is kind of nice in November). Then start filling the stands with 7,000 a game and I can guarantee more fund raising will be available.

 

I'd love a great new stadium, but I what we have now will begin to hurt recruiting more and more. When you are competing with top level FCS teams for recruits we have no shot. We haven't had that problem yet, because we haven't recruited consistently against the CAA and other top FCS schools. But now armed with scholarships its a whole new ball game.

 

I'm not saying its time to pull the plug on the stadium project, I guess I'm asking when that time is?

 

Any thoughts?

[alum73]

I think it would be a waste of 7 million as the 2010 plan has a different use for the bowl. If we had 7 million to spend on the upgrade it is a large part of the amount we need to det the state to fund another large portion. I'm really tired of the pessimism on this thread. It takes a lot of work and time to raise the kind of money needed to do this stadium. The SUNYs have just recently begun doing the kind of development work the the privates and other states have done for many years. Our endowment funds are miniscule compared to other institutions. The stadium is just one of the projects on the drawing board. I'm confident that it will get done. It might take longer than we want, but it will happen.