MSEL Reserve Room To Benefit From Senior Class Donation

Co-chairs estimate total gift may exceed $10,000

By Mike Gluck /
Special to The Gazette

     On Thursday, the only task for graduating seniors will be to
walk across a stage, shake a few hands and grab a diploma. To get
to this point, however, each student has spent perhaps thousands
of hours studying and reading.

     And while most Hopkins students are accustomed to burning
the midnight oil, it helps to have a sturdy table and a
comfortable chair.

     Hitting the books should come easier, then, for next year's
student body. This year's Homewood senior class gift provides
much needed funds for refurbishing the Reserve Room in the Milton
S. Eisenhower Library.

     The Reserve Room is a popular study area for undergraduates.
Many professors leave required or supplementary reading materials
or past years' exams at the Reserve Room desk, where students can
check out copies. The senior class gift money will be used to
purchase new oak armchairs, sofas and tables.

     The final amount of the gift is still up in the air, as
seniors have until June 30 to make donations. However, senior
class gift representatives have estimated that the total may even
exceed $10,000.

     "If all goes according to plan, this is the largest senior
class gift yet," said Jen Moore, senior class gift co-chair. She
and fellow co-chairs Jeremy Epstein and Ipsita Ghoshtagore have
organized phone-a-thons in order to solicit donations from
seniors. Incentives for giving include T-shirts, coffee mugs and
ads in the Johns Hopkins News-Letter that list the names of
contributing seniors.

     In addition, the Class of '95 has raised money by holding
Senior Nights at local bars and restaurants. Popular sites have
included E-Level (the new student bar launched by the Class of
'93 gift) and nearby PJ's Pub. Members of the senior class also
manned a keg at the Spring Fair Beer Garden.

     Shelley Maus, assistant director of the Annual Fund and the
fund's contact for the senior class gift, said that fund raising
for this year's gift has been "really unbelievable." She noted
that the average senior class gift in years past has been
approximately $4,000.

     Last year's senior class gift--$7,100 that the Class of '94
donated toward the construction of a coffee shop on campus--is
being held until an appropriate location for the cafe can be
found. Maus indicated that one possibility may be to include the
coffee shop in the planned Fine Arts Center. 

     The Reserve Room refurbishing was by far the most popular
idea voted on by seniors, according to Moore. As one would
expect, it was also well received by library personnel.

     Ellen Stifler, director of development for the library, said
that the new furniture will "improve the looks of [the Reserve
Room] area tremendously," and should be in place before students
return in the fall.

     In addition, the senior class gift, which will be marked by
a plaque in the Reserve Room, will signal the beginning of a
series of improvements to the M and A levels of the library.

     "The funds raised by the senior class will create the first
visible sign of the library's planned refurbishment," said
interim library director Stephen G. Nichols. "The new furnishings
will be a welcome sight to students as they return to campus in
the fall."

     The furniture will be "like the first crocus of spring,"
said Stifler. Beginning early next year, library officials plan
to upgrade studying conditions throughout the two floors. But
until then, students who want the best seat in the house may want
to head for the Reserve Room. And then say thanks to the Class of
'95.