Marcia V.

Stucki
Xxxxx Xxxx Xxxx
xxxx Xxxxx xxxx Xx.
Galesburg, Michigan 49053

President John M. Dunn January 6, 2010

Western Michigan University
1903 W. Michigan Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5200

Dear President Dunn:

As WMU records will confirm, I have donated to the WMU Foundation (toward
WMUK) for many, many years, as have other members of my family. It was, therefore,
with a great deal of regret that I withheld my annual donation for 2009. Further, I will be
urging friends and associates to do the same. My purpose in doing so is to register my
great outrage over the WMU administration’s ill-advised plans to develop the open space
known as Colony Farm Orchard.

While I realize that WMUK itself has no “say” on this issue, I feel that WMU’s recent
actions in this matter reveal a profound lack of respect for the wishes of donors in
general. Supporters of WMU are beginning to feel mistrustful about the intentions of the
university in regard to the Kalamazoo community. The cavalier approach taken by WMU
in regard to restricted gifts of land is making donors reconsider their plans.

More than 30 years ago, when the late Rep. Robert Welborn and then Senator Jack
Welborn co-sponsored the legislation which placed this land under the purview of WMU
in the first place, their intention was to install WMU as its “protector.” The cynical lack
of respect on the part of WMU toward this legacy is truly astonishing.

In its rush to “develop” this special open space, the university is both straying far from
its core mission and alienating many of its supporters in the local community and beyond.
It seems near criminal for a public university to play the role of land developer of a
crucial piece of urban green space when Kalamazoo County is filled with brownfields in
need of remediation and revitalization.

Sincerely,

Marcia V. Stucki