Campaign to kick off in January
By Blair Busch
Staff Reporter

With one fund-raising campaign finished and another just starting, TCU still needs $19 million to finish paying for two new buildings, according to university records.

The university needs $4 million to finish paying for the Steve and Sarah Smith Entrepreneurial Hall and $15 million to pay off a loan to build the University Recreation Center.

Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Bronson Davis said a building project can begin when the total goal amount has been pledged, but the university does not have to have the cash at hand. Money to guarantee the maintenance of the building is incorporated into the goal for each project.

“When we open a new building, there is always an increase in the operating budget,” Davis said.

Davis said the fund-raising goal for a project is based on the price of construction, the money it costs to endow the maintenance of the building and the additional costs of carrying a loan until all the pledges are paid in full.

For instance, if a building costs $5 million, an additional $1 million is sought for a maintenance endowment and $200,000 is added to carry a loan until all the pledges are paid. The fund-raising goal for the $5 million building then becomes $6.2 million.

In January, TCU will begin a seven-year campaign to raise $230 million. The university will not build a new building until they get the money for it, Davis said.

Among the proposed projects are a School of Education Building, Brite Divinity Academic Complex, Center for Texas Studies, Ed and Rae Schollmaier Practice Complex, KinderFrogs School, the MBA Center, Dr. Stan Block Endowed Chair, distinguished lecture series, football turf field, Diversity Initiatives, Student Media Center and the Jerita Buschman Theater renovation.

Construction of the basketball practice facility started in July. The school has raised $452,200 for the facility and has outstanding pledges of $4.5 million.

“We usually take pledges for five years, and so outstanding pledges represents money that has been committed, but not yet paid,” Davis said.

Athletic donors have given $190,100 toward the $1.5 million turf football field project. The Board of Trustees approved immediate construction on the project Nov. 7.

The fund-raising goal for the School of Education building is between $10 and $12 million. The school has raised $505,021 toward that goal.

Education students would like to have classes in their own building instead of being spread out in other buildings across campus, said Stacy Davidson, a senior early childhood development major.

“A new building would provide the opportunity for the (School of Education) to start their own school,” Davidson said. “It would be a demonstration to the students that we are being taught to be excellent teachers.”

A new Student Center is one of the projects under consideration and is estimated to cost more than $25 million. No money has been raised for the project yet, according to university records.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Don Mills said the university is still deciding about whether to make renovations to the existing Student Center or to build a completely new facility.

The most expensive current project for the second phase is the Center for Texas Studies. The center will cost more than $21 million and the university has only received a little more than $2 million for the project.

The Center for Texas Studies was established during summer 2002 in an effort to better archive the state’s history. History professor Gene Smith and Mary Volcansek, dean of the Add Ran College of Humanities and Social Sciences, started the center.
Smith would not comment on how the $21 million will be used.

Cornell Thomas, professor and special assistant to the chancellor, said the university’s Diversity Initiative has a goal of $2 million to create a Center for Inclusiveness. Donations and pledges toward the center total more than $200,000.

The center would provide scholarships, hold annual conferences on inclusiveness and sponsor workshops and seminars to broaden the perspectives of students and residents in the Fort Worth community.

“It will be unique to the university,” Thomas said. “I don’t know of any other university that has a center like this.”

Davis said he has hopes the new campaign will meet its goal ahead of schedule.

“This is supposed to be a seven-year campaign, but we will be halfway through raising money by the beginning of next fall,” Davis said.

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