Last week, Ohio State sent an e-mail to graduating seniors asking them to pledge $20 for the 2007 Class Gift, a 16-foot university seal that will be placed in the great hall of the Ohio Union.
According to the e-mail, OSU’s goal is to raise $40,000 for the gift. The new Ohio Union will open in 2010, allowing generations of future Buckeyes to tread on the class of 2007’s gift.
The Lantern believes the university’s idea for this gift is self-serving and, for lack of a better word, lame. Gifts in the past have gone to more worthwhile causes such as: a relief fund for war orphans in France (1918); handicapped accessible vehicle for students (1979); Young Scholars Program (1990); and the beautification of Mirror Lake (2005).
The Lantern believes it is wrong for OSU to further ask students for money in order to promote themselves. The gift’s only discernible value is self-promotion of the university – something no future student can tangibly use.
The class gift started in 1891 when graduating seniors placed five elm trees on the Oval. The gift committee has taken on several forms since then, and just last year the university asked students to vote on the class gift and students decided to replace the benches on the Oval.
The Lantern understands that it is important for the university and its students to promote the university as best possible, but we believe the gift should have been more useful such as the 1982 gift of the Sphinx plaza around the sun dial on the east side of the Main Library.
