Hart declined comment last week on the concerns Smallhouse raised. Other UA executives acknowledged a slowdown in giving, but said there’s no way to know for sure what’s behind it.

“Donors make philanthropic decisions (either positive or negative) based on all kinds of reasons and timetables,” said John-Paul Roczniak, CEO of the UA’s fundraising arm, the University of Arizona Foundation.

“It isn’t feasible to accurately attribute decreases or increases in gifts to any one specific reason,” he said in an email. The campaign overall has been highly successful and is on track to end earlier than planned, he added.

Gregg Goldman, the UA’s chief financial officer, said the downturn could be because the campaign is nearing its end and may not have the same momentum as at the start.

The Arizona Daily Star obtained Smallhouse’s emails through a public-records request and also reviewed two years worth of online progress reports for the Arizona Now campaign.

The public phase of the fundraising drive began in 2014 with more than half the $1.5 billion already raised in what the UA described as a “quiet phase.” Donations boomed in the year or so after Hart announced the campaign in April 2014, less than two years after she took over as president.