NEWS FROM THE FUND FOR REUNION/PRINCETON GALA P.O. Box 1481, Princeton, New Jersey 08542
Volume XIV, No. 3	May 2001

Contents

Reunions weekend this year is June 1-3, and FFR is once again hosting activities for the LGBT community. We are back to our traditional staples, shown below and are also happy to announce that the New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus will be performing in town Saturday evening - tickets for this concert are available for $20 at the church (33 Mercer Street) or by visiting www.njgmc.org.

All of these events are open to all of the Princeton LGBT community, including alumni, current undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. We hope to see all of you this year!

Saturday, June 2nd, 2001, 10:30 am, Betts Auditorium in the Architecture Building

For our Saturday morning event, we will have an open discussion of FFR's endowment and our intent to make a significant impact on campus in the coming years.

For those of you who are new or just having been paying attention, the past five years has seen extraordinary growth in our endowment. Our fund manager, Brandon Fradd '83 has employed an aggressive hedge strategy that has resulted in significant growth during the market upswings while resisting the effects of the recent market downturn. As of May 1, the fund was valued at over $900,000. This strong performance has resulted in increased recognition by the University and a desire on the part of the board of FFR to begin to better communicate what we would like to accomplish with the Endowment.

We are in the process of forming a committee to make recommendations regarding the best use of the endowment. Marcus Tye '90, who chairs the committee, called a meeting in Princeton on the 21st of April. Of note was the presence of a number of staff and administration from Princeton, including the new Vice President of Campus Life, Janet Dickerson. Also of note was the absence of any out LGBT Princeton faculty members. Since this committee needs the involvement of faculty members, much of the meeting revolved on how to get engage the faculty and how to help foster a better community for faculty, staff, admin and grad students, since their community is significantly less developed than the LGBT undergraduate community. We hope to make contact with a number of faculty members between now and reunions.

On May 1, the New York Times announced that Anthony D. Romero '87 has been chosen to succeed Ira Glasser as head of the American Civil Liberties Union. Anthony will be the first Hispanic and the first out gay man to head the institution. He has been an executive at the Ford Foundation for the past 9 years. He currently heads the human rights program, which he has helped develop, and which last year issued $90 million in grants.

We wish to offer Anthony our heartfelt congratulations!

Born on July 17 of some year this century, Dan Berkowitz '70 just finished writing a musical which will open on June 1st in West Hollywood, CA. The show is titled "There's No Place Like Hollywood" and is a rip-off - excuse me - homage to the Wizard of Oz. Check it out at its web site www.noplacelikehollywood.com.

While at Princeton, Dan was a regular at Theatre Entime and won the junior oratorical medal for his work on the debate panel. He has studied under Stella Adler in New York and worked for several years as a director. He was associate producer of the David Susskind show for 7 years and has produced promotions for the likes of Sally Jesse Raphael and Phil Donahue. He is on the board of the Tom of Finland Foundation and is set to supervise the Tom of Finland Foundation Art Fair at Gay Pride Weekend in New York this year.

Recently, Dan came into possession of a lovely abode with a terrace that he is eager to show off to us all. So Dan is planning a party in West Hollywood this summer and welcomes any assistance in the planning. Feel free to contact us or him at ICIMEDIA@aol.com.

Reunions is a time to reevaluate what we are doing. Our current board has given graciously and generously with their time and energy. Nonetheless, we are sorely in need of some new people with energy and ideas and a little time to either join the board or get actively involved with us.

There is so much we want to do this coming year - we have significant opportunities to galvanize and grow our Washington, DC, and California contingents, our resources and endowment are garnering the attention of the University and Alumni Council, other affiliate groups are eager to work more closely with us, and we are seeing great changes on campus.

Add to this our efforts to assist students and our efforts to build the LGBT Princeton community and you can see there is a lot to be done. It won't happen without your help. Please contact us if you are interested in being on our board or in participating more actively in our activities. We are open to doing teleconference calls for our board meetings in the coming year, so don't let your location stop you!

June is the beginning of a new year for FFR/Princeton GALA. We thank those of you who paid dues for the 00/01 year and invite all of you to show your support for the 01/02 year by sending us a check for your dues payment now. We depend on your dues for our ongoing activities, including this newsletter, reunions events, scholarships and support of the student group. As always, we apologize if your mailing label does not reflect your most recent contribution yet.

Thank you for your support!

Contacting Us:

Write to us at PO Box 1481, Princeton, NJ 08542. For faster response, send e-mail to Fund for Reunion
You can sign up for FFR/Princeton BTGALA using our mail form.

This page was created by and for the Fund For Reunion. Information on this page is intended for individual communication of a personal nature among Princetonians. Use of this information for any other purpose is strictly prohibited.

Solely the Fund For Reunion is responsible for the content on this page. Although we make every effort to keep this information accurate and up to date, we cannot guarantee it. This page is maintained by Shawn Cowls '87 FSA MAAA. The Fund for Reunion, Inc., is a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation incorporated in 1986 independent of Princeton University with the goal of improving Princeton's relationships with its LGBT community, including alums, students, faculty, and staff. For more information, visit our website at http://alumni.princeton.edu/~ffr-gala/ or send us an e-mail by going to the Fund for Reunion Email page. You can sign up for FFR/Princeton BTGALA using our Sign up form. Contributions to FFR are tax deductible to the full extent allowable by law. Click here to pay dues online.

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