In the wake of waning state support for publicly funded schools, many professors now can add fundraising to their list of accomplishments. As reported May 9 in The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., private dollars are becoming more critical, and faculty members are being recruited to do their part in securing them.

As the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill gears up for its $1 billion "Millennium Campaign," faculty members have become students of development, attending two fundraising sessions since last year. Matt Kupec, vice chancellor for university advancement at UNC-CH says, "We look at the entire campus as an extension of the development office."

At the beginning of a university fundraising campaign, faculty members compile case statements, wish lists of their school's needs. The case statements are later used when talking with prospective contributors to specify exactly where funding is needed.

UNC history professor Robert Allen, the author of a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Why Professors Should Learn to be Fund-Raisers," believes that faculty members are often the most memorable link for alumni to institutions of higher learning. Their program-specific knowledge and experience give them credibility when it comes to convincing potential donors that opening their wallets will be worthwhile.

"Private giving is the difference between keeping the lights and heat on and having an absolutely first-class university," he says.

But critics are concerned with the possibility of influence-buying. Some fear that private donations, secured with the help of faculty, will sway university and professor agendas. C.D. Mote Jr., president of the University of Maryland at College Park, says, "Private funds come with the potential of academic constraints, a [fear] that external forces might drive your priorities."