Given the sheer amount of information within the strategic plan, one article would not suffice in accurately covering it. This article will be the first of multiple articles by the Daily Campus Editorial Board analyzing the strategic plan.
Over winter break, the University of Connecticut announced their intention to move forward with implementing a 10-year strategic plan. The plan had three main pillars promoting holistic student success: expanding the university’s research impact and helping Connecticut thrive. Throughout the creation of this plan, the university engaged with over 10,000 people: students, faculty, staff, alumni and industry partners,among others.
There are four key performance indicators outlined specifically by President Radenka Maric for the next 10 years. Those indicators include increasing the university endowment to $1 billion, achieving a 90% six-year graduation rate, obtaining $500 million in research funding and reaching carbon neutrality by 2030.
At the beginning of the Fall semester, UConn announced a fourth consecutive year of record-breaking funding, amassing $157.9 million in donations to the endowment. In previous articles, The Daily Campus Editorial Board has pointed out how growth of the endowment does little by way of affordability and student welfare across the board, exemplified by the fact that the cost of living at and attending UConn has increased year after year.
Maric has made it clear that fundraising increases to the UConn Foundation, the private, non-profit organization responsible for managing the endowment, are a priority for success. The Daily Campus Editorial Board has shown the lack of transparency within the UConn Foundation and how its structure shirks democratic input. For example, donors have full discretion over where the money goes instead of the current students and employees of the university. While it is reasonable that donors should have a say where their own donations go, we must reiterate the importance of dialogue between those providing resources and those most in need of them. Given the fact that the UConn Foundation is not beholden to public records requests, the information gap concerning how the endowment is invested will only grow should the Foundation meet its ambitious goal.
Despite the over 1,200 funds for donors to choose from, according to the Foundation’s website, the daily benefits to students from these donations are limited to scholarships or research grants.
For example, despite a commitment to responsible and sustainable investments, environmental activists at UConn have long alleged that the Foundation has directly and indirectly invested millions of dollars worth of the endowment into fossil fuel companies.
In addition, the UConn Foundation has received millions of dollars from military manufacturing giants Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky and Raytheon. The Daily Campus Editorial Board has pointed out how while UConn promotes human rights, they gladly take millions of dollars from the very companies worsening human rights crises around the world. Despite stating carbon neutrality as one of the main indicators of success, UConn will continue to receive millions of dollars from the military-industrial complex and the fossil fuel industry, two of the worst sources of pollution globally.
The race to increase funds to the endowment by UConn could lead to the receipt of gifts from corporate donors whose enterprises directly conflict with UConn’s stated goals. Students should be asking how a university can have a goal to reach carbon neutrality while accepting millions of dollars from some of the world’s worst polluters. The Editorial Board has pointed out UConn’s consistent pattern of coming up short on their goals regarding sustainability. Using a billion dollar endowment as an indicator of success could yet again contribute to the university’s pattern of coming up short in regards to the climate.
Two things can be true at once: Fundraising is a valuable fountain of resources for academic departments, aspiring researchers and UConn as a whole; and growth in itself is not a measure of welfare for a university and those who live, learn and work at it. The Daily Campus Editorial Board hopes that individual donors will consider that working to solve the affordability crisis of American universities through their gifts is just as valuable as giving back to the academic program that nurtured them. We also ask members of the UConn community writ large to understand the limitations of philanthropy as an agent of change, and to be vigilant should the university’s ideology of endless financial growth deepen our dependence on harmful industries.