Alumni
The $100 Million Goal
The president makes the case for Lake Forest College’s largest and most ambitious campaign in our history.
By Stephen D. Schutt
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| Photo by Jon Kent/Kent Creative |
Most of us know the story of how Lake Forest College came to be. A group of Presbyterian ministers took the train from Chicago in search of a place to build an institution of higher education. They disembarked about 30 miles north of the city, hiked through dense trees to a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, and proclaimed the area Lake Forest — the new location for a university and a town. Soon after, they formed an association to sell tracts of land near the railroad to fund this bold and visionary endeavor. This first campaign would put their plans to build a school in motion.
Over the next 150 years, the College would grow from a single building located on the site of the Durand Art Institute to a 107-acre swath of land with more than 30 buildings of varied architectural styles amidst deep ravines, wide green lawns, and majestic trees. The stunning and serene landscape would provide the ideal setting for a learning environment with a strong tradition in the liberal arts, where students could interact with an outstanding faculty, revel in developing their own ideas, live together in a close and diverse community, and grow into responsible citizens.
As the campus evolved into what it is today, Lake Forest College experienced cycles of growth and retreat, punctuated by the economic, political, and social changes of the times. Over the years, however, important attributes of the College remained consistent — small class sizes, faculty accessibility, an array of co-curricular and athletic activities, increasing opportunities to live alongside students from around the world, and strong connections with Chicago — all supporting the College's conviction that, as our mission statement says, "education ennobles the individual."
A century and a half after the founders first envisioned a college by the lake, it is both necessary and appropriate that we launch The 150th Anniversary Campaign for Lake Forest College. This historic campaign will provide the fuel we need in our drive to become one of the leading liberal arts colleges in the nation.
Our goal — to raise $100 million by 2012 — is the largest and most ambitious campaign goal in College history. But we have developed strong momentum in the last several years that warrants this effort. Since 2000 the College has enjoyed unprecedented growth:
Applications have grown by 60 percent to more than 2,200 annually, and this year we welcomed 1,427 students from 45 states and 65 countries.
We have recently invested $50 million in campus facilities, including several renovated residence halls; the Donnelley and Lee Library with its "smart" classrooms and cafè; the Mohr Student Center with its central gathering spaces for students to socialize, eat, study, play games, and hear music; Buchanan Hall on South Campus; and Farwell Fieldís new stadium and playing surface.
The College has been nationally recognized for its innovative use of Chicago in its curriculum, led by the new Center for Chicago Programs that facilitates academic experiences and internships in the city and brings notable speakers, artists, and performers to campus.
Premier graduate schools and prestigious employers are admitting and recruiting our graduates, including Harvard Law School, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Yale University doctoral program in History, Abbott Laboratories, JPMorgan Chase, National Park Service, Victory Gardens Theater, American Medical Association, and Leo Burnett, to name a few.
With all this success, why do we need to raise more money? Because success is not free, and we aim to continue to succeed. In todayís higher education marketplace, the College competes against scores of other schools across the country for the talented, accomplished students and faculty we desire to recruit. Lake Forest's success in this competitive environment has surprised many because, almost without exception, other schools have a lot more money. As The Wall Street Journal recently pointed out in a feature article on our achievements, Lake Forest College's $75 million endowment is much smaller than the endowments of many peer schools, and our alumni giving rate is only half the national average.
To illustrate this point, it is helpful to look at two other fine liberal arts colleges that are comparatively close to Lake Forest and with which we regularly compete — Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Both are roughly the same size as Lake Forest, both recruit students from across the country and other nations, and both also have built several new buildings and completed other attractive campus improvements in the past few years. The similarities with Lake Forest end, however, when finances are compared: Kenyon's endowment is $165 million, and Lawrence's is $200 million.
The nationally accepted practice is for a college to spend 5 percent of the value of its endowment every year, on the assumption that investment returns will cover this rate of expenditure. This means that every single year Kenyon and Lawrence, respectively, have $4.5 million or $6.3 million more to spend than Lake Forest on academic programs, faculty compensation, campus improvements, and student scholarships.
Lake Forest College is exceptionally good at stretching a dollar. Some 40 librarians in the Oberlin Group, a prestigious national organization of liberal arts college librarians, recently toured our state-of-the-art Donnelley and Lee Library and were stunned to learn it was completed for only $18 million. In similar fashion, the College wins national praise every year for the generous financial aid we make available to students who need it. Thrift and efficiency have now carried the College as far as possible; however, significant new funds must be raised if our progress is to continue.
In 2005, a group of dedicated faculty, staff, students, and alumni embarked on a strategic planning process to chart the goals and strategies necessary to propel the College steadily forward. Approved by the Board of Trustees later that year, the Five-Year Plan charted important new ways to enhance the student experience, increase the accomplishments and satisfaction of faculty and staff, recruit highly qualified incoming students, and increase alumni engagement. It also highlighted the need for a strong financial condition to achieve these goals.
The College has begun this campaign to accomplish the Five-Year Plan with a full understanding of the realities of higher education today. Prospective students and their parents consider the availability of modern facilities, state-of-the-art technology, and strong financial aid packages when they choose a college. Outstanding new faculty evaluate the same things when deciding where they wish to teach. To continue to attract the students and faculty the College must have in the years ahead, we need adequate resources.
The 150th Anniversary Campaign will increase our endowment to $120 million, closer to our peer group average. A larger permanent endowment will generate the sustainable annual revenue the College needs to build on its Chicago initiatives, increase support for faculty and academic programs, provide more student aid, and continue improving the campus.
In particular, the campaign will permit the College to expand its music and theater facilities and also build new fitness and sports facilities for the many students who want to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
A final, vital campaign goal is to increase alumni donations to the annual fund. A strong annual fund provides the core foundation of financial stability for an institution of our size and supports the essentials, including faculty and staff salaries, equipment, software, books, upgraded computer networks, and more.
By achieving these goals, we will sustain our current momentum and add tremendous benefits to the College community as we continue to matriculate, educate, and graduate students from all over the world and provide them with an outstanding liberal arts education. Like our founders, we believe in the future of Lake Forest College. To secure this future, the time to act is now.
Stephen D. Schutt is the president of Lake Forest College.