Message from the President of the Alumni Association
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Jack Balagia ’76
As many of you know, March 2nd was the deadline for meeting your UT football priority ticket obligations, and many of us met that deadline in anticipation of a great 2009 fall football season. In fact, 30% of our Law School's graduates made contributions to UT athletic programs in 2007. At the same time, only 16% of us made contributions to the Law School Annual Fund.
These are difficult economic times in which to ask for increased Annual Fund participation. Yet the fact is that our Law School receives virtually NO MONEY from the State for anything other than the physical plant, utilities and certain staff/faculty fringe benefits. If we are to continue to fund existing programs and develop new ones, and if our Law School is to maintain or improve its #16 standing in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, we must improve our Annual Fund participation. That is one of the principal responsibilities of our Alumni Association, of which all of us are members.
There are a number of ways you can get involved in this effort. Many new programs are just beginning their funding drives or being implemented, including the new Women and the Law Initiative, Dean Sager's new Justice Corps and the new Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law. Contributions to the Annual Fund can support these and other new and important initiatives.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope we can count on your support this year.
—Jack Balagia
