Alumni Executive Council Virtual Meeting Minutes

March 25, 2017

President Forbes called the meeting to order at 10:02 am.

Roll Call

Mr. Chatterjee called the roll:

Members present: Bantz, Chatterjee, Chrzanowski-Sears, Colucci, Cowan, Danielson, Faulkner, Forbes, Hansen, Jenkins, Kadick, Lee, Lloyd, MacBrayne, McKee, McLaughlin, Murray, North, Rood, Sullivan, Terrillion, Thomson, Weaver, Williams

Members absent: Abernethy, Armstrong, Dana, Fagan, Hallock, Halstead, Peterson, Posener, Dennis Ryan, Molly Ryan, Scuteri, Sprague, Taylor

Mr. Chatterjee reported that there were 24 members present on the call.

Mr. Forbes declared a quorum was present for the conduct of business.

Approval and acceptance of minutes from the Business Meeting on campus of January 28, 2017: Ms. Hansen inquired if the newly updated minutes (revision of 3/24/2017) by Susan North also included the comments of Heidi’s of 11/18/2016 email for the Minutes of 23 Oct 2016. Susan said those comments were updated in the revision of 3/24/2017). The minutes were approved unanimously on a motion by Mr. Jenkins and a second by Ms. Bantz.

President's Report:

President Forbes thanked the Council for the warm wishes he received after the birth of his second daughter, Julia, on Feb. 16. Mom (Emily Hunt Forbes '04), Julia and big sister Caroline are all doing fine. President Forbes thanked Bob Rood '69 and Tracy Dana '07 for their leadership in starting the work of the Endowment Working Group and Jacqueline Roy Hallock '04 and Cortney Terrillion '99 for leading the newly-formed Communications Working Group. On the matter of filling the vice presidency, President Forbes said the officers, in consultation with the Membership and Honors Committee, are close to making an announcement. A series of conversations, he said, have been had with possible candidates. Any member of Council interested should and could put their hand up, he said. The Council will welcome 18 new people to Canaras in June, and plans for orienting them will be a major focus for the officers and chairs this spring. President Forbes said he would be updating Council continuously as details developed. Finally, President Forbes announced the April 8-9 Officers' retreat in Westchester.

AEC Internship Endowment Working Group

Mr. Rood provided a summary of the AEC Internship Endowment Working Group effort:
1. A letter signed by Tracy, Ed, and I will go out to the current Council before the end of April
2. We have a goal of 100% participation
3. Another letter will then go out to emeritus members probably in the Fall.
4. We have a goal of $250K and are at about $220K
5. Very important, we have a match gift of $25K in hand so, if the job is done right that means $50K

Campus Report:

Ms. Hissong reported the following:
As of March 1, the Campaign for Every Laurentian stands at $70 million in new gifts and new commitments. We have made nice progress since we last spoke. As you know, we are in the quiet phase of the campaign where the focus of our solicitations is on Trustees, Emeritus Trustees and a small group of principal and major gift prospects we believe can make transformative level gifts to the institution.

This spring we continue our campaign volunteer recruitment:
· SLF Team has formed – staffed by Barb Knauf – includes representatives from all of our major fundraising volunteer committees – LGC, PCOMM, RDC, YAC, and Chelsea Lloyd representing AEC. Committee is led by Trustee, Joan Corey.
· Laurentian Major and Planned Gift Committee – staffed by Terri Selby – committee that will be focused on helping to facilitate connections “open doors” for the Advancement staff with prospective donors we believe can make gifts of $100,000 or more to the Campaign. We are in the midst of recruitment but this committee is likely to be 20-30 in membership. This committee has their first in person training session at the end of April in NYC. Committee is led by Trustees, Donna Winston and Trip Samson.

This spring we are working on the Campaign Case Statement with our communications consultant, Ologie. This is the hallmark print piece of the campaign. It is designed to be an informational and inspirational piece that will outline the case for support and the Big Ideas. Goal is to have a preliminary draft complete by Trustee Canaras.

Right now we are focused as always on raising gifts to the SLF, unrestricted support, building the endowment, and are now working on a new capital project that has emerged – Center for Student Achievement – creating a technologically advanced space at the center of campus for academic advising and support services. Capitalizing on the relocation of IT services to Owen D. Young Library, the former IT space in Madill Hall will become a state-of-the-art site for student advising, post-graduate scholarship support, academic accommodative services, and other offices that foster academic success. The Center also will house the offices of our renowned First-Year Program, allowing collaboration to further strengthen our advising of students early in their undergraduate careers. We are working with our colleagues in Facilities Operations to finalize the architectural plans, including naming opportunities for spaces in ODY and Madill. We estimate this project may be upwards of $4+million.

Treasurer's Report:

See slides on dashboard

Committee Reports:

A&E

Ms. Lloyd reported that 7 cities are hosting Charter Day events: Atlanta, Burlington, Rochester, Buffalo, Portland Maine, Pittsburgh and San Fran. She reported that L4L week(end) was to begin Thursday 3/30 through 4/3. The challenge begins at 10:04a on April 3 and runs to 5p on April 4. She mentioned this is first time ever we will be using a third-party to real time track the challenge. She asked everyone to make a gift and go further and become an advocate at GiveCampus.com She referred everyone to alumni.stlawu.edu/1856minutes for more details!
In regards to the new capital plan Heidi Hansen asked Chelsea Lloyd if a plan for AEC participation had been determined and if so, what. Chelsea Lloyd responded that there was no firm plan yet. In regards to the1856 Challenge Heidi Hansen asked if pledges made during the 1856 Challenge are accepted and count. Chelsea Lloyd responded, no, pledges do not count.

Admissions report

Ms. Weaver reported that the Admissions Committee noted the #SLUsaidyes social media campaign which was successful. Upcoming are handwritten letters to incoming students. We'd like the letters to arrive to student during the week of April 12. List of names will be forthcoming. Jeremy has sent an invite to those in the CT area for a special admitted student day on April, 2 at the Wee Burn Country Club in Darien, CT.

F&R report

Ms. North stated there was no update from this Committee.

SS report

Ms. Terrillion shared that there was no Student Services report this time and that she and Jackie Hallock had pulled together a working group to draft a council communications plan to be communicated at Canaras.

M&H report

Mr. Sullivan presented on behalf of Ms. Bantz. 18 invitations had been sent. In Tier 1 there were 50 candidates. 16 new members accepted. 2 were very interested but had to defer to 2018. Mentors are to be assigned.

Mr. Sullivan also presented on the Leave policy.

Ms. Hansen commented on the Leave Policy:
· We have a Membership and Honors Committee that could/should address such Leave matters;
· It is not clear what “in consultation” means.
· Designating a single decision maker can well lead to political or other potential motives that are best avoided in a volunteer organization.
· We should not forget that AEC Members or those requesting leave are valuable SLU volunteers.
· The Membership and Honors Committee has an obligation to maintain confidentiality; there is no such requirement of the President.
· Should we address such matters relating to Student Delegates while focusing upon alumni?

Charlie Sullivan responded: A new version of the Leave Policy was posted to the AEC Dashboard, addressing another Member’s earlier comments, that mine were later. For a Leave Decision, it is now a joint decision by the President and the M&H Committee; subject to veto by the M&H Committee.

Ed Forbes focused upon Student Delegates recalling over the past eight years that one did not engage responsibilities and one exhibited inappropriate behavior and later left the University. Brendan McLaughlin said that Student Delegates are on board for such a short time that it is perhaps best to leave the topic alone.

President Forbes made a motion to adopt the leave policy. Mr. Lee seconded. A vote was called. Ms. Hansen voted no [not having seen the revised policy].

New Business:

Bill Cowan provided an update on the search for Vice President, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid - the search committee has been working since December with the recruiting firm hired by the University to find Jeff Rickey's replacement
- A number of candidates have expressed interest in the position
- the committee has been vetting the candidates and, in February, invited several candidates to New York to interview in person with the committee
- a subset of those invited to New York have been invited to campus to meet with a broader group from the University community, and for additional interviews. This will take place in early April.

That is the update at this time.

Ms. Hissong spent some time talking about the recent protest at Middlebury College and the outreach she’s had from several alumni, including AEC members, about the political climate on St. Lawrence’s campus. Here at St. Lawrence, we are committed to ensuring that our classrooms are places of openness for the widest diversity of opinions. Students should feel safe expressing their views while simultaneously being expected to be challenged on their positions regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum. While we can’t say that what happened during the Black Lives Matter protests or the protest at Middlebury wouldn’t happen at St. Lawrence, I think we all know this is a special place where open dialogue is encouraged and respected. As a community, we talk openly, freely and often. How we ensure an environment where free speech is respected, while simultaneously creating safe spaces for students, faculty and staff to interact is an important topic of conversation right now on this campus. Ms. Hissong asked that we let her know what you are hearing from your fellow alumni on this topic.

Instructing Students & Young Alumni on Financial Literacy. Ms. Hansen recalled that our Student Delegate noted the need and desire for instruction on everyday personal financial literacy for students and young alums; that such a need was also mentioned recently in the Wall Street Journal on 3/20/2017. Ms. Hansen urged Council to place this topic on the Canaras agenda; thinks that Council should be involved; agreed to assist in the project; and would be willing to be part of any presentation in NYC or NJ. Ms. Hissong mentioned that a Working Group had been formed with Ms. Carol T. Gable, Associate Vice President, and Career Services to focus on budgeting and Excel to be available for all seniors. Joe Keniston is involved.

A motion to adjourn was put forth by Mr. Sullivan, seconded by Mr. Rood.

Meeting was adjourned by Mr. Forbes at 11:18 am.

Minutes submitted by Neil Chatterjee.