Students announced plans Wednesday to auction historical University items online at a website created last month called restoreUVa.com.
Third-year College student Whit Hunter, Student Council's vice president for administration, launched the website, which has raised $3,500 so far. The initiative's goal is to contribute to the estimated $51 million needed to repair the Rotunda.
Hunter said he collaborated with an anonymous Charlottesville donor "to put this online and give it back to people who really care at [the] University ... and give them the opportunity to put their hands on something that is truly something memorable."
"We have a quarter million [dollars of merchandise] on there right now [so] it's a question of demand," Hunter said. "[The] supply is there."
The University hopes to fund the Rotunda restoration with $26.8 million from the state and plans to raise the remaining $23.8 million from private donations, such as revenues from restoreUVa.com.
"RestoreUVA [will] have an impact on raising our half of the Rotunda restoration," Chief Facilities Officer Don Sundgren said. "The students really care about the University and about the academical villages, and I think that's all very positive."
Second-year Darden student Jon Carrier, a 2008 graduate of the Engineering school, also helped launch the website, which he said helped him realize the Rotunda's value to the University and Charlottesville communities.
More than 600 items are now available for immediate purchase and also for bid-style auction on the website, with more being added each week.
The items listed for auction on restoreUVa.com include $32 postcards, an $82,000 drawing of Grounds, an 1852 sheepskin diploma, fraternity pictures and mugs from the 1950s, as well as original copies of old Corks and Curls, Hunter said.
"[The Rotunda] is the symbol of our University and the literal centerpiece of this place," Hunter said. "It's not just a building ... it's symbolic, and [this is] a small way we can give back"
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