Already once-delayed, the Victory Celebration for the NIU Athletic Association’s annual fundraiser has been cancelled because original goals have not been attained.

The theme for the Huskies Athletic Association 1992 Membership Campaign is “NI & yoU: Building Champions,” and the association was originally aiming for 250 new members and an overall membership over 1,500 which was supposed to translate into $50,000 in new gifts and $450,000 in 1992 pledges.

Although NIU Athletic Director Gerald O’Dell would not say what amount the drive has produced to date, O’Dell did defend the reason for cancelling the celebration.

“We have not fallen short of any financial goals,” O’Dell said. “Because of the process that we are using and just sheer numbers of annual donors, it’s taking longer to renew donors and secure new donors.”

In a May 15 memo, Annual Drive Coordinator Tommy Bell indicated the Victory Celebration, which was originally scheduled for May 20, would be rescheduled until June 17 because “the combined effort of securing 1991 renewals as well as the recruitment of new gifts has required considerably more time and effort.”

O’Dell said a celebration would be “anticlimactic” at this point.