2008 Woodie Awards
Sour student relations
Todd Toner
Issue date: 6/2/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Strong alumni relations begin with regarding current students as future alumni. This is to say alumni development and advancement should start pursuing students not only at their imminent graduation or following it, but beginning with their acceptance to the university and continuing throughout their educational career.
Unfortunately, the current atmosphere at our university has been fostered by the tenuous connections developed by students experiencing the terseness and brevity of two-year's education. The emotional bonds necessary to continue an effective alumni development and advancement have been pressed into this short period and for the most part have gone undeveloped.
Any university needs to develop its investment in creating emotional bonds with its students, and provide them quality-of-life services and directly effective contact that reinforces these bonds. While a university must often consider appealing only to independent-minded students, the intentions of the students and possibilities of future relations do not mitigate the importance of establishing these bonds.
While it can't be said alumni relations have gone completely undeveloped in the pre-graduation realm at our university, it is certainly noticeable that more effort has been afforded to post-graduate development. I'm certain this is simply an oversight and not the intention of our administration, but at the same time it would seem the general apathy our campus experiences in student involvement has a direct correlation to this ineffective approach to relations.
Someone might ask, "How did you come to such a scathing opinion of our university's alumni and advancement direction?" Well, that's a long story with many twists and turns, but the short of it is this - before I sat down to write this opinion perspective of alumni relations and advancement efforts, I attempted to write multiple profiles for the graduation issue of the Ledger. Sadly, my efforts to showcase my fellow students and alumni were stifled by the inability of our administration to connect with me and make those profiles possible. In the end, you the reader are the one to suffer being offered this meager opinion piece as a pale substitute for the dynamic profiles of colleagues.
I guess what I'm getting at is this - if the administration wants me on their list after graduation, they'd better be sure I've been on their list from day one.
Unfortunately, the current atmosphere at our university has been fostered by the tenuous connections developed by students experiencing the terseness and brevity of two-year's education. The emotional bonds necessary to continue an effective alumni development and advancement have been pressed into this short period and for the most part have gone undeveloped.
Any university needs to develop its investment in creating emotional bonds with its students, and provide them quality-of-life services and directly effective contact that reinforces these bonds. While a university must often consider appealing only to independent-minded students, the intentions of the students and possibilities of future relations do not mitigate the importance of establishing these bonds.
While it can't be said alumni relations have gone completely undeveloped in the pre-graduation realm at our university, it is certainly noticeable that more effort has been afforded to post-graduate development. I'm certain this is simply an oversight and not the intention of our administration, but at the same time it would seem the general apathy our campus experiences in student involvement has a direct correlation to this ineffective approach to relations.
Someone might ask, "How did you come to such a scathing opinion of our university's alumni and advancement direction?" Well, that's a long story with many twists and turns, but the short of it is this - before I sat down to write this opinion perspective of alumni relations and advancement efforts, I attempted to write multiple profiles for the graduation issue of the Ledger. Sadly, my efforts to showcase my fellow students and alumni were stifled by the inability of our administration to connect with me and make those profiles possible. In the end, you the reader are the one to suffer being offered this meager opinion piece as a pale substitute for the dynamic profiles of colleagues.
I guess what I'm getting at is this - if the administration wants me on their list after graduation, they'd better be sure I've been on their list from day one.
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