When Philip Sassower, chair of the Center for Jewish Life Board of Directors, made his first contribution to the project, he had hoped that his son, then a University freshman, would be able to use the center before he graduated. Sassower's son is now a freshman at the Law School, and there is still no center. Therefore, Sassower and his fellow board members have decided to get this project built before his son's second graduation.
When the board met last Friday, they unanimously decided to proceed with plans to find a new, less expensive site for the project and scale back the design of the original building. The current site for the center is an area bordered by Campus Drive, Oregon Street, Alexander Avenue and Duke University Road. Designed by the architectural firm of Gwathney, Siegal and Associates, the center would include a sanctuary, a kosher kitchen, a library and a mikvah, a ritual bath.
Judith Ruderman, past-president of the center's support corporation and director of continuing education, said that both the difficulty of preparing the selected site and the complexity of the building design have made the project very expensive. "We have not made significant enough progress [with fund-raising]," Ruderman said. "We just can't afford to wait any longer."
To build the Gwathney Siegal building on the proposed site would cost approximately $7 million. A significant portion of that cost would have to go into preparing the site, which is a wetland area, said Barbara Smith, assistant vice president for major projects in the development office and a member of the CJL board. Thus far, the support corporation has succeeded in raising $2.6 million.
Since the initial stages of the project began in 1986, the corporation has spent $600,000 on survey and design costs, leaving the center with only $2 million in assets. The corporation has received a pledge of $1 million toward the center's endowment, but that money will not be available until the year 2005. In addition, the project's principle contributor, Gilbert Scharf, Trinity '70, withdrew a $1.5 million pledge late this summer. The project was initiated by Scharf when, in 1986, he donated $500,000 to establish the center.
Smith said that the withdrawal of Scharf's pledge was actually a mixed blessing. "It motivated the board to move," she said. The board has now targeted the project cost for the $3 million to $4 million range, with the added goal of raising at least $2 million toward the center's endowment.
Sassower said that the most important goal of the board was to come up with a plan that would get the center built soon. "We want a shovel in the ground within a year," he said. "[The center] has been on the drawing board for too long."
While Sassower said it was sad to lose the $1.5 million from Scharf, he believed that the loss would enable the board to move forward and get the project done. "Scharf's gift was very restrictive," he said.
While the original design for the building is both comprehensive and beautiful, Sassower said, adequate space can be built much less expensively. "We are going to try and build a structure that gives us the ability to add on in the future," he said. "We need to have a greater emphasis on the utilitarian rather than aesthetic aspect."
Other members of the board agreed. "It's going to have to be a building that's functional first," said Trinity sophomore Robert Samet, publicity director for Hillel and a member of the board. "We need a place for Jewish kids to congregate."
President Nan Keohane, who attended the board meeting last Friday, said that the decision to scale down the design of the center makes sense. "[We want] to get something done for this generation of students," she said.
The board will be looking for potential sites for the center both on campus and in areas immediately adjacent to it, said Ron Djuren, staff architect for facilities design. Djuren said that optimal sites would be those close to current or former religious centers such as the Hillel House on Central Campus.
CJL board member Gretchen Cooley, an administrative assistant in the alumni affairs and development office, said that to complete the project, the board must go through several approval processes with the University's Board of Trustees. First, the new concept will have to be approved, then the new architectural plans and finally the CJL board will have to demonstrate that they have raised enough money to finish the project.
Cooley said that the CJL board plans to complete each of these steps at three Board of Trustees meetings, starting with the one next February. "Everyone is very optimistic," she said. "We could break ground by September of 1996."
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