In years past, seniors have given to OU as a Senior Class Gift many of the most recognizable landmarks. These include the reflecting pool north of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and the arches that mark the entrances to campus.

The Class of 2007's gift is on shaky ground. No senior has stepped up and no committee has been formed to begin the work.

It's kind of upsetting, Rachel Daniel, a letters senior, said. The Class of 2007 should care more about their class.

The Student Alumni Association, which oversees the Senior Class Gift progress, made the applications available in spring. No applications were turned in, Eks Wye Pollock, alumni relations chair and a biomedical sciences junior, said.

We're still in the process of finding a chair, Pollock said. We're going to find one.

After no interest was shown in the spring, the deadline was extended to Sept. 8. The Association received three applications for the committee, Pollock said.

They're going to need to be found pretty quickly to get the process going, Pollock said.

Dave Hail, assistant director of Alumni Affairs and the Associations faculty adviser, said when the spring applications were available, the then juniors did not have the senior mindset yet.

The seniors don't feel like seniors until they get back and it hits them. They really get the feeling their last year is here and this is a good opportunity to get seniors involved in the process, Hail said.

The Association wants to keep the Senior Class Gift in the hands of the seniors, having the ideas, the work, and the money all coming from those graduating in 2007.

The Class of 2006 gift was shadowed by controversy over the location and the originality of the gift, Daniel said.

The gift was a replica of the Class of 1906 rock by Old Science Hall. The new rock was placed on the new research campus.

The 1906 rock was placed on the newest part of the campus as a way of leaving their mark, Hail said. The Class of 2006 wanted to do the same thing, leave their mark on the newest part of campus.

Daniel said that the Class of 2007 should care, no matter what.

Even through the controversy, people should want to get involved, Daniel said.

The Senior Class Gift chair, once named by the Association, will gather ideas and discuss them with OU President David Boren until a final idea is established. The final idea is usually reached by winter break. The second semester is primarily for fundraising, Hail said.

The biggest part of the job is getting input from students on what they want to leave, Hail said.

In the last three years, the gift has been paid for entirely by seniors, and organizers would like to keep it that way.

We really want seniors to be the most responsible for it, Hail said.



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