By JUDY RATTNER
During the celebration, the college also announced that the founders of Madison National Bank -- Daniel Murphy, its chief executive officer, and Gerald Kaiser, director of the bank, both of whom serve on Molloy's board of trustees -- personally donated $1.75 million for the naming rights to the college's new 550-seat theater facility, which will be called Madison National Bank Theater. Both men were present for the formal announcement and the unveiling of the theater's design.
"This campaign represents a milestone achievement in the history of the college and is indicative of our recent successes," said Molloy's president, Dr. Drew Bogner.
The money will bring the school, which has 3,700 students, one step closer to breaking ground on campus improvements that were announced two years ago. Among them are a proposed dormitory to house 150 students - the school's first residence hall - and a multi-use, 65,000-square-foot public square, which would function as a campus center and would be expected to improve the 53-year-old Catholic college's appeal to prospective students. It would feature an environmentally friendly student center, an art gallery, the theater and a multimedia center as well as meeting rooms, classrooms and what the college describes as "needed gathering spaces for students and faculty." It would also offer venues for community and regional discussions, according to college officials.
The dorm, which would replace a parking lot directly south of Kellenberg Hall, is scheduled to open by the fall of 2010. The student center, which was slated to replace parking lots west of the building as well as the baseball field directly behind it, hit a roadblock earlier this month when Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi reacted to strong community opposition by pulling a proposal to lease half of the 33 acres of open space in Coes Neck Park in Baldwin to the college, where it had hoped to relocate its athletic fields.
But even as Molloy's vice president for advancement, Ed Thompson, expressed disappointment with the county's decision, he reaffirmed the college's commitment to "being a good community partner," saying it would move forward regardless of what happened with Coes Neck and would build the student center as planned. Thompson added that it remained to be seen whether Molloy's sports program would be affected by the loss of the field.
Thompson said that the capital campaign succeeded for several reasons. "First, every Molloy constituency played an important role," he said. "That includes alumni, faculty and staff. Second, our friends and donors rallied to support the college because they believed that Molloy provides a superior education, and they supported that belief with their donations."
According to the school, many diverse members of the college community contributed to its capital campaign, setting records for the largest gift in the college's history, the largest corporate donation and the largest private foundation grant. There was 100 percent participation among the college's board of trustees, more than 200 alumni made donations totaling almost $1.2 million, and $240,769 in contributions came from 145 Molloy faculty, staff and administrators. Additionally, the college said it received over $6 million in governmental grants to support the campaign.
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