With its large endowment and consistent alumni participation in annual giving campaigns, the University appears to be a veritable fundraising machine. And the student employees of TigerCall, an agency that contacts alumni to solicit donations, are an integral part of the process. They witness the good, the bad and the just plain weird that goes hand in hand with trying to solicit donations from alumni.
"We don't get too many complaints from alumni overall, but there are a couple of people who seem to have just gone nuts," said Juliana Schmuke '04, a student manager who started at TigerCall her freshman year. "That can be a little weird."
Most complaints come from alumni with children who were not accepted to the University, said Mikaela Tyson '04, a TigerCall employee.
Other alumni focus their comments on administrative decisions like the appointments of professors Peter Singer and Cornel West, Tyson said.
"Peter Singer is often the main complaint," Schmuke said. "It was a big thing nearly five years ago, but people are still upset about it today."
Schmuke said she has received some complaints about President Tilghman's appointment, especially from alumni who attended the University in the 1940s and 1950s — the same alumni who opposed coeducation in the late 1960s. However, she added, these complaints are relatively rare.
Director of Annual Giving Bill Hardt said that complaints received by TigerCall employees do not necessarily reflect most alumni's opinions of annual giving because the student agency only targets alumni who have not donated regularly, if at all.
While some alumni are eager to voice their complaints about the University, many others are friendly and eager to talk with the students who have followed in their footsteps, Schmuke said.
"I was taken out to lunch by an alumnus once, and I've become friends with the people who started Pequod because of TigerCall," Schmuke said. "A lot of alumni also ask things like 'Have you taken sleds out to the golf course yet?' right after it has snowed. They say things like that, things only Princeton people can relate to."
Some alumni share their reasons for giving to the University with the TigerCall employees, often, however, with a degree of levity.
"Sometimes alumni will comment on a loss after a football game and joke that they will give money to the University so that the football team will do better," Tyson said. "Some of the alumni are really friendly and say some comical stuff."
Schmuke added that working at TigerCall has also revealed the truth behind some myths about life after Princeton.
"It's amazing how you end up calling so many spouses," Schmuke said. "And it really is true that they all meet at reunions."
Read More
As endowment tax looms, Princeton asks departments to make plans for ‘permanent’ budget cuts, warns of potential layoffs
Christopher Bao and Annie RupertusPrinceton asked all departments and University units to prepare “separate plans for 5 percent and 10 percent permanent budget cuts to be phased in over the next three years in a memo sent Monday. Administrators warned of layoffs as the University prepares for a potential federal endowment tax, set to be debated in Congress later this week.
Princeton asked all departments and University units to prepare “separate plans for 5 percent and 10 percent permanent budget cuts to be phased in over the next three years in a memo sent Monday. Administrators warned of layoffs as the University prepares for a potential federal endowment tax, set to be debated in Congress later this week.
Newark airport disruptions snarl student travel plans
Cynthia TorresNewark has been facing disruptions for around two weeks amid a national air traffic controller shortage, leading to delays of up to five hours for some flights. As a result, some students flying home for the summer have changed their flights.
Newark has been facing disruptions for around two weeks amid a national air traffic controller shortage, leading to delays of up to five hours for some flights. Some students flying home for the summer and may be effected by delays and some students changed their flights.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ’03 ‘plagiarized’ small portions of his senior thesis, experts say. But how serious is it?
Sena ChangA review of the senior thesis of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ’03 by The Daily Princetonian, in consultation with three plagiarism experts, found eight instances of uncredited material, sham paraphrasing, and verbatim copying. According to the experts, each passage violated Princeton’s academic integrity policies but varied in severity.
A review of the senior thesis of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ’03 by The Daily Princetonian, in consultation with three plagiarism experts, found eight instances of uncredited material, sham paraphrasing, and verbatim copying. According to the experts, each passage violated Princeton’s academic integrity policies but varied in severity.