I am strongly in favor of the establishment of Chairs at University for Italian American Studies. I however would recommend that there be a Multi I-A Major Org Committee set up to monitor such Chairs who often become the "pawn" of the University, and a "cushy " political appointment, requiring too little results. We have still done nothing about the Chair established in New England, and the University has ignored the mission of the Italian American bequestor.

Further, as I have also stated before, instead of individual scholarships, a Database must be established so Italian American prospective students can easily find scholarships, grants, loans, etc. on their own. So much more efficient and effective.     
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Thanks to Dominic Candeloro via H-ITAM , Ben Lawton, Editor

Are scholarships to Italian American Youth Chump Change? 
(From a Dec. 2002 Fra Noi Column) by Dominic Candeloro.

October was a month filled with the full range of Italian American events: the IAPC
fundraiser, the Columbus Day Parade, banquets and dinner-dances, and, of course, the American Italian Historical Association national conference.

It got me thinking about the ways in which our energies, resources and money are spent and about the results for advancement of Italian/Italian American culture.

The dinner-dances contained the usual format---food, music, dancing,
attractive, well-dressed people, ad books, flowers, speeches, and the
awarding of scholarships.  Italian Americans in Chicago probably put on
more than 100 of these events each year and they take really hard work
and fundraising by thousands of people.  Let's say that the average
banquet draws 200 people and that the average ticket price is
$50---that's a gross of $10,000 times 100 events, or ONE MILLION DOLLARS
collected through ticket sales alone.  Let's say that the average ad
book  grosses $2000.  That's another $200,000. Conservatively estimated,
the grand total paid by supporters of the Italian American community is
$1.2  million.

What's the payoff for the advancement of Italian American culture?  Most organizations give a give a scholarship or two to an undergraduate for, let's say, $1000.  Thus 200 individuals will have about 5% of their $20,000 annual college expenses paid.  While I personally have all the respect in the world for the good people who work so hard to raise this money, dear Readers, THIS IS CHUMP CHANGE!  

Moreover, the scholarship recipients have no obligation to study the Italian language or do anything Italian.  In fact, many recipients do not even see fit to attend the award banquets to accept the money in person.

I have checked with a university financial aid officer who informs me that these days financial aid in the form of grants, loans, and work-study is readily available to just about anyone who wants it.  Of course, loans have to be paid off over time, just like mortgages and car loans.  In short, individual general scholarships now given by Italian American organizations to worthy Italian American college students are NOT NEEDED.  While there certainly was a need in previous generations, the scholarships that we work so hard to produce and of which we are so proud are obsolete.

The current system of fundraising benefits hotels and banquet halls much more than it does the Italian American community.  Let's face it.  The dinner-dance syndrome is a sham fundraiser.  It feeds the personal and collective ego of the leaders and their organizations while producing a meager contribution to the advancement of Italian American culture.  It should be fazed out.

At the American Italian Historical Association conference at Loyola on October 25, I got a glimpse into the future.  Frank Cannata, UNICO activist from the East Coast, presented to an enraptured audience of academics blue prints and examples of  a revolutionary approach to educational fundraising by Italian Americans.  His focus was not so much the means of raising funds as on the objectives for fundraising.

Cannatta advocates the creation of (perpetually) endowed professorships and study centers in Italian and Italian American studies.  He has played a key role in campaigns that established a half dozen such chairs across the country.  He explained most endowments require between one and two million dollars raised over a five year period.  He recommended that an important first step was to persuade a prominent person/family or corporation to contribute the "naming gift" of several hundred thousand dollars.  After that, Cannata seeks to create a coalition among
the major clubs---like UNICO and the Sons of Italy to play a role with sizable donations and with an appeal to individuals.  He cited examples of universities which were willing to match funds raised by the community in establishing chairs.

And he challenged Chicago.  Given the relative cohesiveness of the Italian American community, the power of the Fra Noi to get out the message, and the wide  variety of public and private universities (especially Loyola) with whom to partner,  Chicago is ripe for an endowed chair in Italian American studies according to Cannata.

If our organizations and leaders could re-direct just a portion of the hard work that they are already doing, we could create an endowed chair.   If we could shift gears from the individual scholarship mode to the bold new Cannata model and if just a few of our many leaders with courage and vision would simply step up to the plate, we could hit the ball out of the park.   Think about it.