To the editor:
About two weeks ago I received a letter, as many people did, from the director of financial aid asking me to write a thank-you letter to some individual donors of scholarships that I have received. I found the letter to be very disturbing.
In the letter, I'm told what to say to these two men (whose names and amount donated for my package are on an attached sheet). "I would like to ask you to write a brief note of thanks to the donor(s) of the scholarship(s) you have received...should be typed or handwritten, and express appreciation to the donor for the scholarship support you have received as part of your aid package. Donors are also interested in learning a little about you-your studies, your interests, your plans once you leave Oberlin. It would be nice to end the letter by inviting the donor to write to you, and expressing your thanks again."
So I've been asked, or told, to express my gratitude for the charity I've received, and reassure the donor know that his money is going to something worthwhile. I recognize that the school needs money, and that therefore it makes sense to "suck up" to the donors every now and then. What I have a problem with is the way the college is handling the situation: it is promoting the concept that the people who should be grateful for the presence of lower-income students on this campus are the lower-income students themselves, and only them. While I am very glad to be able to be here, excuse my impertinence, but I think the rest of the college ought to be just as grateful for my opportunity as me. We all benefit from the economic diversity, and various cultural and ethnic diversities that particularly come with economic diversity, that exist to the extent that they do on this campus. I believe the reason many students, from all backgrounds came to Oberlin was for the promise of this diversity. Therefore, I believe the college should be asking the broader body of students at Oberlin to express appreciation to the donors for helping support the financial aid system.
Today I received a follow-up reminder, much more insistent than the first, from the financial aid office. This time a copy was sent to my advisor as well, and I find the implications of that act- that I need a little disciplining and a little stronger push to show my gratitude- hard to miss. (For the record, my advisor grudgingly did her "duty" in "reminding" me, but certainly seemed to agree that this policy was rather ridiculous and perhaps even insulting.)
As I said, I recognize the fact that we need the donor's money. I wouldn't even mind terribly corresponding with some random donors every now and then. But to ask me, because I am a financial aid student, to thank and correspond with these guys, simply because they gave money to Oberlin for financial aid, I find offensive. Without the financial aid institution, none of us would be able to come to the considerably diverse Oberlin we chose to come to.
I don't want to be sucked into having a patron. It's hard to do what you believe in (like spreading out the rich guy's wealth!) if you have to suck up to and report on your activities to someone with a lot of wealth in order to get an education. Turning financial aid into a system of personalized private charity, targeting financial aid students and telling them to be grateful, is not the way to go if we want a healthy, diverse community in this college.
Copyright © 1997, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 18; March 28, 1997
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