At a time when reduced state aid to higher education is placing severe strains on Kansas Board of Regents universities, the role of private financial assistance becomes even more critical. Private money, particularly at times such as these, is the difference between colleges and universities being able to add excellence to their academic offerings or being forced to merely drift along with little hope of rising above the average.

Kansas University has been blessed with many alumni and friends who have shared their good fortune with the university. This is not a new phenomenon but rather has existed almost since the beginning of the university in 1864.

KU’s Lawrence campus covers approximately 1,000 acres, of which about 900 acres were purchased using private money. Of the 158 buildings on the campus, 117 have been made possible, either entirely or in part, by private money.

Added to this are the hundreds of millions of private dollars that have been provided for student scholarships, faculty enrichment programs, art and library acquisitions, student and faculty travel, student loans, faculty and student awards and many, many other programs for which state funds were not available.

Private giving has made a tremendous impact on the excellence of the KU academic program.

Thursday afternoon, university officials gathered on the south side of the KU campus to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Hall Center for the Humanities building. This project was made possible by a gift of more than $3 million from the Hall Family Foundation, just the latest of many generous and major financial gifts to KU by the Hall Family and the Hall Family Foundation.

This new building, which will use the shell of the university’s oldest building as part of its signature exterior, will be one of the finest buildings on the campus and will allow the humanities program to grow to even higher levels of excellence and greater national and international recognition. The center already is looked upon as one of the finest in the nation, and the gift by the Hall family will help write a new chapter in this important program.

The mission statement of the Hall Center reads: “The Hall Center’s primary mission is to stimulate and support research in the humanities, arts and social services, especially of an interdisciplinary kind, at the University of Kansas. The center brings together faculty and graduate students with common interests from various disciplines to enable them to build on each other’s ideas and to share their knowledge within the university and with the wider community.

“The Center’s collateral mission is to sponsor special programs that engage the university and the wider community in dialogue on issues that bring the humanities to bear on the quality of life for all citizens. It creates events on and beyond the campus that seek to understand our past, present and future, our values and identities and the essential issues we face as individuals and communities.”

This is a worthy mission for all types of programs and individuals who genuinely want to do something to improve the daily operation of any entity, a university campus, in the private sector or among individuals and their families.

Victor Bailey is doing an excellent job of directing and overseeing the Hall Center, and the respect he enjoys undoubtedly played a major role in the decision of the Hall family and Hall Foundation to provide the funds for a new building. He is ably assisted by Janet Crow.

Charles Oswald of Edina, Minn., a native of Hutchinson, will be on the KU campus this weekend and is another person who has been extremely generous to the university. The KU alumnus has given $10 million to the school. Christina Hixson, Las Vegas, provided the major portion of the money to build the Lied Center. Al and Lila Self of Chicago have been the largest benefactors, giving more than $30 million to KU. The Dana Anderson family of Los Angeles has been generous in many ways, as has the Ward family of Kansas City.

Individuals such as these, plus the thousands who have given lesser — but still terribly important — amounts, all have played an important role in the growth and development of the school.

The groundbreaking for the Hall Center for the Humanities is just the latest of so many good things that have happened for the benefit of students and faculty, as well as for the entire area due to private financial gifts. A few weeks ago, the community celebrated the opening of the magnificent Dole Institute of Politics, another building funded largely by private money. The importance of the Dole Institute will become increasingly evident under the visionary leadership of Richard Norton Smith.

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KU officials must continue to perform in a manner that will justify the continued private financial support of growing numbers of alumni and friends. This support is essential if the school has any hope of climbing into the elite of state-aided universities.

There must be vision, a plan of action or a roadmap for the future, and courage displayed by individuals representing the university who can stimulate and excite the public about KU and its opportunities for the future.