The deadline for the College of Liberal Arts to produce funds matching a grant for an endowed chair in Pakistani studies named after former U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson has been extended by 30 days.
Directors of the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, an East Texas charity that agreed to make a $500,000 grant challenge to the University in 2005, extended the deadline, which originally passed during Thanksgiving break, to Dec. 28. The college now has one month to raise just more than $100,000.
While in Congress in the 1980s, Wilson, an East Texan, was responsible for steering more than $2 billion in covert funds to the resistance against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Since announcing plans in August for fundraising efforts, development officers in the College of Liberal Arts say they have raised $382,000, largely with the help of members of the Pakistani-American community in Texas.
Six events have been hosted in Austin, Dallas and Houston since the effort was announced in August, said Kathleen Aronson, assistant dean for development in the College of Liberal Arts. Most of the events took place in the homes of donors.
At one Nov. 22 event in Houston, hosts raised $125,000. Aronson said the school has received 50 donations, ranging from $250 to $25,000.
Temple Foundation Director Buddy Temple said it is not unusual for the group to give extensions to grant recipients. Temple said that if the College of Liberal Arts needed more time following the 30-day extension, the foundation would then consider the request.
The University initially utilized a call center based in Pakistan to raise funds but dropped the idea after one day. Aronson said some call recipients expressed concerns about how the call center obtained the contact information of potential donors.
The proposed chair generated controversy within the college in August when several faculty members signed a letter to the dean criticizing the Wilson naming. Although the 12 faculty members who signed the letter supported the creation of a chair in Pakistan studies, they expressed concern that naming it after Wilson would suggest that the University was endorsing his actions.
Aronson said the liberal arts development office has not heard any concerns from the Pakistani community about the naming of the chair.
Associate anthropology professor Kamala Visweswaran, who co-authored the letter protesting the chair’s namesake, said she has not had a chance to speak with Randy Diehl, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, about the matter since writing the letter.
Diehl did not return several messages left over the course of a week by The Daily Texan.
Iqbal Sheikh, a member of the Austin-based Pakistan Chamber of Commerce, said he encouraged several friends and relatives to support the chair and made a donation of several thousand dollars himself.
“This would create a better understanding about Pakistan,” Sheikh said. “Pakistan has been a good friend of United States for more than 60 years, so I think this is a good move.”
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