November 27, 2006
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Dear President’s Circle Member,  On
Friday, October 13, Anne and I gathered in Seymour Library’s
Muelder Reading Room along with more than 150 alumni and friends of
Knox College who share a common connection—like you, they are all
members of the President’s Circle. In fact, I saw many
of you at this annual event.At this Homecoming reception, I took the opportunity to thank a very special group of the President’s Circle—those donors who also are members of the Lincoln-Douglas Society, the recognition society for those who have given $100,000 or more in their lifetime. I was honored to present the Lincoln-Douglas Society members at the reception with a wonderful set of hand-sculpted bookends featuring the likenesses of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Physician and trustee Fay Stevenson-Smith ’64, whose interest in art was kindled by Knox Professor Harland Goudie, designed, sculpted, and underwrote the production of the bookends.
If you are already a member of the Lincoln-Douglas Society and have not yet received your set of bookends, don’t worry. Members of the Advancement staff will personally deliver them to you in the coming months. The reception was one of the many highlights of Homecoming weekend, which drew a record number of alumni and friends back to campus. Read more about Homecoming weekend. At the end of October, the College finalized details of a wonderful transformational gift from Knox alumni James and Judith Farver, both Class of 1961. The Farvers have entered into two gift agreements with the College. The first of the agreements memorializes the Farvers’ intention to fund a $1 million endowed chair in honor of late Professor of Mathematics Rothwell Stephens. The chair will be fully endowed in time for the Farvers’ 50th Reunion in 2011. The second agreement memorializes the Farvers’ intention to make a $ 4 million estate gift to endow the Farver Scholarship Fund. Most exciting to me is the fact that Jim intends to be actively involved in sharing his story and feelings for Knox with other alumni and friends. Beginning early next year, he will work to persuade others to join him in helping Knox, as he told me, “to chart a course towards financial impregnability.” Yes, the quotes are correct—those were Jim’s words. I couldn’t have said it better, Jim. As for other fundraising news, as of November 20, the Knox Fund has received $650,756, compared to $574,276 at the same time last year. Total fundraising is $4,003,229, compared to $1,607,227 last year. Donor numbers continue to look good—1,368 compared to 993, representing a 38 percent increase. As of November 20, 2005, the College had received 833 applications for admission. This year, the College has received 1,159 as of this same day. The momentum in enrollment and fundraising seems to be holding, and, indeed, building, thanks to the strategies and hard work of Paul Steenis ’85, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission, Beverly Holmes, vice president for advancement, and their staffs. The Senior Staff and I continue to monitor stress points we hear about from the College’s enrollment of 1,350 students on a campus once thought to be appropriate for only 1,200 students.The leaders of the Student Senate have advanced a list of complaints said to be caused by “overcrowding.” Two stress points that are of particular concern to me are the experiences of first-year students who share rooms with upper classmen and the stress on faculty advising. We’ve converted underused spaces into new student rooms and hired more faculty, and I’m convinced the experience of our students will lead to outstanding retention once again next year. Retention for this year stood at 90.4 percent, an increase over last year’s rate, and a great tribute to everyone on campus. I will continue to monitor the stress points and to ask Paul to manage towards an entering class of 340 new students next fall, subject to reassessing that goal at the beginning of Winter Term, and moving it down.
Looking forward to next year, the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees approved an increase in the comprehensive fee of 4.9 percent for academic and fiscal year 2007/2008. This figure was recommended to me by the Institutional Planning Group (IPG), which is co-chaired by Tom Axtell, vice president for finance and administrative services, and Lawrence Breitborde, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College. The IPG includes representatives from the faculty, staff, and student body. This relatively moderate increase follows the College’s current pricing strategy of moderate increases in the comprehensive fee, while carefully managing financial aid to maximize net tuition revenue. The pricing strategy also takes into account the College’s mission of providing access to a Knox Education, regardless of a student’s financial means. The increase also was endorsed unanimously by the Student Senate, which applauded Tom Axtell after he made his presentation to the student group. At its February Board meeting, Knox will welcome four new trustees—Mary Kent Knight ’60, Gary Jacobson ’77, Deborah DeGraff ’80, and Brett Tilly ’95. Mary, who has served the College in a variety of capacities, including as Admission, Advancement, and Career Development volunteer, will join the board as an Honorary Trustee. Both Gary and Deborah will serve four year terms as General Trustees, and Brett, who has just completed two years as Chair of the Knox Alumni Council, will replace George Eaton ’80 as ex officio board member. Please join me in welcoming these dedicated Knox alumni to the Board. As a reminder to those of you who have an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and who hate to pay income tax unnecessarily, you can take advantage of a recent change in the tax laws and make a gift to Knox using your IRA assets. If you’re age 70 1/2 or older, Uncle Sam will allow you to use up to $100,000 of your IRA this year and again next year to make a gift to Knox WITHOUT HAVING TO INCLUDE IT FOR INCOME TAXES! Up to $200,000 tax free to do something great at Knox College—what an opportunity! A number of alumni have already taken advantage of this rare tax benefit to make substantial gifts to the College. If you would like to join them but need more information about this limited offer, contact the Office of Advancement at Knox, and they can get you started before the end of the year rolls around. And finally, I would like to close with a story that demonstrates how the sense of philanthropy among Knox’s young alumni continues to grow. On Sunday, November 19, Knox received a $1,000 online donation from Drew Bazan ’03. Within the next 10 minutes, Aaron Hook ’03 made an online donation for $1,001. Within the hour, Drew had made yet another donation of $500, stating, “I cannot be upstaged by Aaron!” Not only did this friendly competition raise more than $2500 for the Knox Fund, but it also proves that Knox’s young alumni continue to be leaders in giving. Please join me in thanking Drew and Aaron for their generosity and for their leadership. Thanks to you as well for your leadership in giving and devotion to Knox College. Anne and I wish you a wonderful holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Sincerely,  Roger Taylor ’63 President P.S. This will be the last fancy President’s Circular e-mail you receive until next spring. Megan Scott, director of advancement communications, who helps produce this newsletter—i.e. makes it look fancy—will be out of the office on maternity leave until early March. You’ll still hear from me on important Knox updates, but they’ll be in a standard e-mail format. The pictures will return in March!
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