Student fundraisers break record

Student phoners raise more than $1 million

After eight months of chatting, prodding and listening to Oberlin alumni from all over the country, students working for the Oberlin fund have a lot to show for their hard work. They have garnered more than $1million in eight months, breaking the existing record of $680,000 for the entire span of last year.

Edward Derby, director of the Oberlin Fund, stressed that the fund supports financial aid. According to Derby, the fact that the Fund has reached pledge records in the last two year confirms the College's commitment to easing the burden of tuition. "When I graduated in 1987, tuition rates were rising in double digit percentages each year. Since President Dye has been here, the increases have been put under control and the financial aid budget has increased remarkably, thanks largely in part to the recent records set by the phoners," he said.

The Oberlin fund is an annual account set up to strengthen some of the College's immediate interests, like scholarships for low income students. Unlike projects such as the Capital Campaign which target certain alumni and corporations who are likely to give large sums, phoners for the Oberlin fund attempt to call the remaining 40,000 alumni who tend to give smaller amounts.

Although most of the money does go to financial aid, callers can specify where they want their pledge to go. "Often alumni in the chemistry department will request that their donation go to the chemistry department," said Derby. "Sometimes we try to match up students and alumni who share majors or hometowns, which means that the conversation is more personable," he said. Yet Derby stressed that matching is obviously not the only reason that conversations between alumni and students are more personable than with normal telemarketers. "Students have a certain authenticity that a telemarketer offering 20,000 free bonus miles if you sign up now don't have," he said.

He added that although the main mission of the fund is to raise money, it's also valuable because it keeps alumni in touch with the college.

Junior Honora Collins, a current phoner who has worked for telemarketers since she was 16 years old, agrees with Derby. "Working at the Oberlin Fund has been far better than other telemarketing jobs I have had in the past. I really enjoy talking with alumni, seeing where they have gone in their careers, hearing how their Oberlin experience has helped them and hearing how positive they are about the school," she said.

She has talked to several interesting alums. "One was about to go on Jeopardy and another, a 85-year-old retired professor from Mount Holyoke, was so nice that when he said how elated he was to visit the school next month, I wrote my phone number on the pledge card and ended up giving him and his wife a tour of the campus," she said.

Another one of the more experienced phoners, senior Suraiya Ishaque, has called thousands of alumni, and raised over $300,000 in her three and a half years of work. She works three to four shifts a week and typically handles up to 50 calls a shift. Although most of the alumni she reaches are at least friendly to talk to, she occasionally reaches some who are not. "The minute they hear that you are calling from Oberlin they pretend that they aren't home, but I've been through so many of those cases that they're easy to spot," she said. She also added that she will somethimes encounter some really arrogant grad. "This grads working at this top corporation in New York thought all the Oberlin grads who are involved in social activism or activities like the Peace Corps were losers."

One phoner summed up his experiences with alumnae. "[Talking with them] gives you hope and fear for your own future," said first-year Shiv Taneja.

Besides the intersting phone conversations, many students mention that they enjoy the job because it pays much better than other campus jobs. "This job sure beats scrubbing pots at Dascomb," said Taneja.

People have different explanations for the fund's recent success. Junior Shayla Mitchell thinks it can be attributed to a friendlier calling strategy in comparison to previous years. However, Supervisor Tom Cochran, thinks the success can be attrbuted to a number of factors.

"We've had a great group of students this year, but we've also become alot more efficient as some of the new callers have gained more experience," he said. With the excellent group they have this year including many first-years, Cochran thinks they have a chance to have even more success in the future.