Although some news outlets reported that Boston University is attempting to reach out to South Korean pop star PSY as part of its fundraising campaign, BU officials said they are not focusing on PSY exclusively and are looking to reach all BU alumni.
“[It’s] no different [for PSY] than it is for the other 300,000 graduates we have or alumni in the sense that we’re just trying to encourage everyone to support the university,” said Scott Nichols, senior vice president for Development & Alumni Relations.
Boston.com and BostInno, among other news outlets, reported Tuesday that BU intends on asking Park Jae-Sang, known as PSY, for a donation. However, BU officials said they stress that they are not singling out any alumni and hope for every alumnus to donate.
“Obviously there’s one BU [alumnus] that’s been in the news recently who was in our English-language program and briefly attended BU,” said BU spokesman Colin Riley. “He’s been in the news lately, and that’s given a lot of attention to BU, and maybe someday he’ll be hearing from us as well.”
PSY is known for his music video “Gangnam Style,” which has had more than 350,126,300 views on YouTube since its release on July 15 and is number one on the YouTube top 100 chart.
Nichols said BU’s focus is on the greater alumni community.
“We’re looking for a donation from every single graduate and every single alum,” he said.
BU launched The Campaign for BU Sept. 22 as part of Alumni Weekend.
“Many people outside may not be aware just yet that BU has launched a comprehensive fundraising campaign with a goal of $1 billion over the next five years,” Riley said.
Riley said the fundraiser has already reached 42 percent of its $1 billion goal during its “quiet phase,” and BU officials aim to reach out primarily to alumni to achieve the goal.
Nichols said the campaign intends to keep alumni informed and connected to BU.
“A basic strategy [of the campaign] is to just try to keep everybody engaged, involved and informed about the university,” he said.
Riley also said BU alumni groups are holding fundraisers internationally as part of the campaign.
“A lot of these alumni groups are holding events specifically in the coming months around the world,” he said. “It will be getting everyone on the same page and thinking about BU at the same time and making commitments to the university. That’s a huge initiative.”
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