In addition to a $500 donation to the Alan B. Donovan Scholarship, the graduating Class of 2008 established a Preserve the Pillars Fund as their senior class gift to the College.  The pillars of Old Main have strong significance to the Class of 2008 because they were the first class to participate in the popular tradition, “Pass Through the Pillars,” both as freshmen and as graduating seniors.  The Preserve the Pillars Fund will provide the necessary funds to maintain the campus landmark for years to come. With over $8,000 raised by the class, the pillars of Old Main have been refurbished and will forever remain a symbol of the 119-year tradition of excellence at the SUNY College at Oneonta

The pillars of Old Main, the building that housed the Oneonta Normal School when it opened in 1889, remind today's students of the proud history of the College at Oneonta.  Founded as a training school for teachers, the College consisted of one building--Old Main--until the addition of the campus school in Bugbee Hall in 1933.  As the College's mission diversified in the mid-1900s, today's "upper campus" began to take shape with the construction of Morris Hall, the Human Ecology Building, and several other facilities. In the early 1960s, the College began offering a complete range of programs in the arts and sciences, and the campus expanded rapidly over the next two decades.  The growth culminated with the opening of the Alumni Field House in 1999 and Higgins Hall in 2004. 

Though Old Main was sold and subsequently demolished in the 1970s, its pillars remain on campus today.  Thanks to the generosity of the Class of 2008, the pillars will preserve a part of our history for future generations to enjoy.