On March 12, the Student Senate brought in Mark Libs, the executive director of annual giving. He discussed with the senators about the upcoming Day of Giving and the Senior Gift.  

This year’s Day of Giving will begin March 21 at 8 a.m. to March 22 at 8 p.m., giving donors a whole thirty-six-hour time period to give back to AU. 

The goal is to raise around $350,000 for the school through videos and help from campus organizations and sports teams. To produce these videos Ashland University partnered with Vinyl Marketing.  

The Senior Class Gift is a giving tradition that’s upcoming and Libs is planning on working with the Student Senate to make a fundraising committee.  

Each senior class is encouraged to give back to the school and this year Libs wants to resolve problems it’s had in the past with an overall disconnect and currently there need to strengthen that relationship. 

“What we’d like to do is develop a relationship with all of you and the University advancements so we can help the students understand all the things the donors do for them,” said Libs. 

Libs shared that the causation of this disconnect between the senior class and the school has been because they feel like it’s another addition of money of having to pay and receiving no credit for giving back.   

According to Libs, 90% of the donors are alumni, and it’s not just about the dollars the school is raising, it’s the participation that’s received.  

Senate President Zachary Scher agreed that it’s something that needs to be worked on to improve in later years. 

“The goal is to create those connections, those traditions,” said Scher.  

Currently, the Libs is working on young alumni programs and giving societies, creating more exciting opportunities for Ashland University to come. 

Student senate meetings are hosted in the ABCD conference room in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center every Tuesday at 9:30 p.m.