Members of the Esteemed Class of 1968:

            As we approach the occasion of the 40^th anniversary of our graduation from West Point and prepare for the next gathering of the 68 Clan at the reunion next fall, the Class Gift Committee will be providing periodic updates on the status of our class gift, the rotunda in the new library, Jefferson Hall.  After the command "If you are taller than the man in front of you, move up," I was, as always, left at the end of the formation, and hence I have the honor of writing the initial update letter.

            First, the good news.  During a recent visit to West Point I crawled through the fence surrounding the library and gave myself a tour of the rotunda.  It is going to be spectacular, as is the entire building.  The east and west wings of the rotunda have beautiful granite walls; the north wall, where the winding staircase to the top 5 floors is located, is backed by stunning terra cotta brick that will remind all of us of the dirt that we crawled around in at Fort Benning and some of the other fun and exotic places we had the privilege of visiting.  The south wall is the main entry to the building, which will be a focal point not only for library operation s but also the wide variety of activities that will take place in the building.  The rotunda floor will be terrazzo with our class crest embedded in the hallway of each wing.  While the exact nature of the rest of our class recognition is still being finalized, there will be no doubt about who made this stunning public space possible.  Ex-68er James Muirs original statue of Thomas Jefferson will be located in the rotunda as well.  In short, our class gift will be one of the most important and most memorable at the Military Academy.
          
         Now, the not-so-good news.  As a class, we pledged $2.5 million in order to have the rotunda named in our honor.  As of May 31, we have raised $1,931,026 in cash, with total cash and pledges totaling $2,275,626.  Since we all are COL Nicholas-trained math whizzes, it is intuitively obvious that we still are $224,374 short of our commitment.  Additionally, we have to provide sufficient funds to pay for the Jefferson statue (about $90,000) and the casework for the class recognition and memorialization display.  So, we need to raise about another $350,000 if we are to have sufficient resources to honor our pledges.  If we had another 5 years to make up the difference, there would be no problem.  We dont.  We want to dedicate the rotunda at our reunion in the fall of 2008, meaning we have only about a year to reach our goal.  

            We need your help if we are to honor our pledge.  To be sure, many of our number have given generously, earning a bronze or silver class coin.  The list of those who have achieved this level of giving is available on our class website at

www.west-point.org/class/usma1968