Rendell solicits funds from U. alums

Edward Rendell's campaign has discovered the guiding principle to the University's $1 billion capital campaign -- University graduates have money to give away. Rendell, who appears set for a landslide victory tomorrow, has been receiving a steady trickle of campaign money from University alumni throughout the campaign, campaign manager David Cohen said yesterday. And a few weeks ago, the campaign committee sent out a letter to "people who graduated with Ed and Midge" asking for money. Both Rendell and his wife are University graduates. Cohen said it was impossible to determine how much money University alumni have given to Rendell's campaign. But he said a few alumni had given "substantial amounts" and that alumni had been instrumental in helping raise money. Cohen said a University alumnus helped organize a Rendell fundraiser in Chicago this summer which raised between $15,000 and $20,000. Director of Alumni Relations Doris Cochran-Fikes said last week she had not heard about Rendell's attempts to raise money from alumni. Cochran-Fikes added that the Rendell campaign had not requested a list of the Rendells' contemporaries. The alumni office does not give out the names and addresses of alumni to people who are not affiliated with the University and only to University affiliates who need the information for alumni events. "We do not disclose information," she said. "It is our job to protect the privacy of alumni." But she added that the Rendells could have obtained a list of alumni another way.

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