Is a Building Delay at Lehigh U. a Bad Sign?

On hold: Groundbreaking on a $55-million science building at Lehigh U. will be delayed, giving the university time to raise more money. (Illustration courtesy Lehigh U.)

See an update on this story here.

For those watching the economy and fund raising at colleges, this may not be a good omen: The Morning Call reports that Lehigh University will delay the groundbreaking for a $55-million science building by a year. Dina Silver Pokedoff, a university spokeswoman, told the newspaper that fund raisers at the university needed more time to call on donors. The groundbreaking was supposed to happen this summer.

The situation didn’t get any clearer after The Chronicle put in a call to the university to answer some key questions, such as: Why did the university need more time? With construction costs rising, aren’t there significant disadvantages to waiting?

Officials at Lehigh would not discuss the situation, other than to release a statement saying that they “fully expect to begin construction in a year.” Faculty members in key science departments were unavailable for comment.

The Chronicle recently reported that the economic downturn had not slowed down college building projects — that, in fact, colleges are pushing projects through quickly to limit the impact of rising construction costs.

Lehigh could be feeling early effects of the economic downturn on its donor pool. But development officers at similar colleges said that the economy hadn’t hurt their ability to raise money — not yet, anyway.

“We are having an excellent year from a fund-raising standpoint,” said Jim Dicker, vice president for development and college relations at Lafayette College. But the economy “is something I’m worried about,” he said.

“If we’re still having this conversation next year, I think it’ll be a different conversation.”

Standard practice at Lafayette, and many other institutions, is to announce a building project only after pledges to cover the cost of the building have been secured.

“Conceivably, you can get into a situation where you have a pledge, and then the person’s circumstances change because of the economy, and they let you know they can’t honor the pledge,” Mr. Dicker said. He said that was “a likely scenario” at Lehigh.

It is yet to be seen whether the delay at Lehigh is an isolated case, or a sign of things to come. —Scott Carlson