UConn Foundation newsletter Momentum, Summer 2006 issue
The silent phase of a multiyear campaign to enhance the educational and cultural landscape of the Storrs campus has been aided greatly by a $1 million donation from a major benefactor of Jewish programs at UConn.
Morris N. Trachten ’48 and his wife Shirley Trachten presented the gift toward an eventual $6 million expansion of Hillel House and its programs at UConn, centered at the Jewish student center on North Eagleville Road. “Those who have been fortunate throughout their lives see that now it’s time to give something back,” says Trachten, who remembers his studies at UConn as a time when there were neither facilities nor social programs for Jewish students.
In 2003, Trachten also donated $150,000 to help create the Morris N. Trachten Kosher Dining Facility at the Towers apartment complex, the only kosher facility on campus. He believes the University will be able to recruit a greater range of Jewish students with both the plans for Hillel and the new dining facility.
“After the kosher kitchen opened, a number of parents called to ask me about it and find out what else UConn was doing for Jewish students,” he says. “Now with Hillel, we’ll be able to attract an element of Jewish students, including graduate students, who we just couldn’t before. It’s the old saying – if you build it, they will come." Hillel at UConn is part of the international organization Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, which serves to enrich the lives of students through cultural programming, social events, social action projects and religious programs. It partners with the University to attract and retain outstanding Jewish students, collaborating with other campus ministries and Greek life, and participating in summer orientations for parents and first-year students. Approximately 1,600 UConn students are Jewish, or about 10 percent of the student body; of these, an estimated 1,200 are served by Hillel in some capacity. The existing Hillel facility was constructed with private funds in 1950 as a religious center. It has long been in need of repair and renovation. The proposed plan is to raze the existing structure and build a new, much larger facility in the same location. Hillel officials plan a number of improvements, including a coffee house, dedicated study space, a new kitchen, and religious and social facilities. “When you think of Hillel across the country, you can see they are viable and important parts of their university communities and serve as gathering places for both Jewish and non-Jewish students alike,” says Henry M. Zachs, co-chairman of the Hillel campaign with Claude Bernstein, a member of the Hillel Governing Board, and Herbert L. Dunn ’61, a member of the UConn Foundation’s Executive Committee. “The University has been very supportive of our campaign, both by endorsing the need for a new building and by offering the support of its staff as well. A gift to the Hillel campaign is a gift to the University.” Zachs says that the campaign is well on its way for a summer kickoff, by which time it is hoped that $3 million will have been raised for the new building. For more information about Hillel at UConn, please call 860.429.9007 or visit them online at: http://www.uconnhillel.org.
