About this time of year, I know I will hear from my wife’s and my alma mater. The alumni department has done its best to keep track of us over half a dozen moves we made since graduation, and somehow, they keep finding us and regularly remind us how important our education was and how needy our college truly is today. It helps that I’m now a trustee of that institution so I know from the inside how expensive it is to run a first-rate liberal arts college and keep it available to people from all economic walks of life. While meeting my wife was the best part of college for me, we will still write them a check with gratitude for our education and in support for their work educating the next generation. A college’s annual gift fund does undergird the whole educational process we shouldn’t be surprised when the invitation to give comes each year.
Forman Christian College will be calling their alums this fall too, but they have a significant problem. During the 30-year period of nationalization by the government, from 1972-2003, the Christian mission was dropped and the school lost its way by offering sub-standard education to their students. Many of the college records, including those of the alumni, were destroyed. This is part of the reason President Musharraf gave the school back to the Presbyterian Church when he came to power. The other reason was the American church still owned the property which was reaffirmed in a court case.
When Forman restarted in 2003 as a Christian college, it had to cultivate a new era of alumni who did not began graduating with a university degree until 2009. A whole generation who went to what was called, “FC Government College” under nationalization, has little or no connection to the Forman Christian College we are rebuilding today. The graduates before nationalization in 1972 are all 65 years old or older; this is a very big gap of “supporters” most colleges need to survive. Friends of Forman, by faith, is filling the gap with new supporters and donors who are an important part of the resurrection of this Christian college that is once again teaching love and learning with excellence.
Inside this newsletter we share some big plans for the future as Forman continues to grow and is ready to flourish as an educational mission in Pakistan. Please read on and thank you for sending us one of your regular gifts as we educate men and women, Christians and Muslims, without discrimination, to be leaders of character for a peaceful future in Asia and our world today.
Click here to download the 2017 FFCC Fall Newsletter.
Grateful for your partnership,
Rev. Samuel Schreiner III
Executive Director Friends of Forman Christian College