The chancellor told members of the Faculty Senate Thursday the new campaign to raise funds for the university is off to a great start.The capital campaign will fund many aspects of TCU, including campus improvements.

“We’ve raised all the money for the education building and are $22,000 over, and we got another $1 million gift for it,” Chancellor Victor Boschini said.

Boschini said there was an enthusiastic response from the Board of Trustees regarding the capital campaign, and that all of the trustees asked to lead the campaign agreed to do so, including trustee Matt Rose who will chair the campaign.

“This is a great sign they’ll open their hearts and their wallets,” Boschini said.

The working goal for the capital campaign will be to raise $250 million, $150 million more than the last capital campaign, he said.

Boschini said he will primarily focus on money for the endowment fund, which will go toward student scholarships and endowed chairs. He is in the process of hiring someone to manage the $1 billion endowment fund, run by alumni volunteers, Boschini said.

The chancellor also said he wants to increase the annual fund, which is $9 million above the yearly goal for 2006.

Boschini said increasing both the annual fund and the endowment fund will help ease dependence on tuition to fund the university’s budget, which has increased by 43 percent in the past five years.

In addition to hearing the chancellor speak about the capital campaign, the Faculty Senate to a vote, closed to the public, to give an honorary degree to an alumna and unanimously approved changes to its constitutional bylaws to get rid of members-at-large.

David Grant, a member of the Academic Excellence Committee, reported to the Faculty Senate that the committee will look into the issue of whether the plus/minus system should be optional for faculty.