Word: gifting
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Alas, the envelope contained nothing more than a letter from Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles kindly beseeching members of the Class of '99 to give to the Senior Gift. Referring to himself eruditely as a "mendicant" (reminding us, perhaps, of our imminent admission to the company of learned and privileged Harvard-educated men and women), Knowles asked seniors to listen intently when cornered this week by classmates looking to get into our wallets...
Obviously Knowles and company aren't actually after your dollars. A donation of $10 or $20 doesn't do more than light a classroom in the Science Center for half an hour. Rather, Harvard wants us to give to the Senior Gift for symbolic reasons. First, the Development Office hopes seniors will give now and so begin a "pattern of giving" that will continue throughout our (presumably long and prosperous) lifetimes. The idea is that donating to Harvard now gets you into the habit, and before you know it, you're writing a check every year...
Seniors lobbying on behalf of the Development Office proudly trumpet the fact that our gifts, matched by other donors from earlier classes, will go to financial aid in the form of a "Class of '99 Scholarship." But unless the College is about to abandon need-blind admissions, it seems likely that an additional scholarship might only free up dollars for other projects. Moreover, the fact that so many of us are so disinclined to give unrestricted gifts--"Well, if I give, it will be to financial aid," is commonly heard among seniors these days--indicates the general and rightful displeasure...
What is particularly grating is the Senior Gift program itself. First there are the fancy brochures and letters on Senior Gift stationery we all received--way to be frugal. And what about the banquet the Development Office threw at the Charles Hotel for the 200-plus student volunteer solicitors, complete with open bar? Sounds like an organization in dire need of cash...
Elvis himself is convincingly presented as a Jekyll-and-Hyde type character, capable of both shocking brutality and lavish generosity, who expected his every whim to be fulfilled but who struck many as gentle and insecure. The gift that seemed to compel many of the people who surrounded him to stay around even after he had treated them cruelly many times was an intensity which, when applied to his personal relationships, manifested itself as an ability to make the other person feel as if she or he were the most important person in the world to him. In the studio...