Cornell gets anonymous $100 million donation

Calling it an "extraordinary commitment [that] will play a major role in our goal to make Cornell the best research university for undergraduate education in the world," Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings announced the donation of a $100 million gift to the university on Friday. The donation -- which Rawlings announced during his annual state of the university address -- was made anonymously. The gift is expected to be used for an overhaul of the Ithaca, N.Y., school's campus, a part of eventual plans to spend half a billion dollars by 2009 to change many aspects of undergraduate life. The gift matches the highest ever donation made to Cornell. "Last year at this meeting, I pledged that Cornell would invest up to $400 million in undergraduate education over the next decade," Rawlings said during his speech. "We are well on our way to meeting -- and even exceeding -- that original commitment." According to Cornell spokesperson Linda Grace-Kobas, the donation equals approximately half of the $200 million administrators plan to spend to transform Cornell's West Campus into a "new living-learning community for sophomore and upper-division students." The transformation of West Campus will include the renovation of residential buildings, university support for faculty in residence halls and other programs in residence halls, including opportunities for seminar discussions and guest lecturers. "This magnificent pledge? gives us a solid path, not a narrow and tenuous rope bridge, along which to develop the plans for the transformation of West Campus," Rawlings said. As part of its $500 million fundraising effort, the school wants to put $200 million towards a Scholarship Challenge Campaign, allowing Cornell to maintain its "historical commitment" to need-blind admissions. "Our success in this campaign will allow us to maintain Cornell's need-blind admissions and need-based financial aid policies? without compromising our ability to invest in faculty and academic programs and to keep tuition increases in check," Rawlings said. The university has so far raised $136 million toward that goal. Rawlings also announced progress on previous plans to build two new residence halls and a new community commons on North Campus to provide a "living-learning experience" for entering freshmen by 2001. A complete renovation of the existing community center on North Campus was completed over the summer at a cost of $12.5 million. "[These investments enable] us to move forward in strategic research areas and to create intellectual opportunities for our students that are available nowhere else," Rawlings said.