Last January, University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst announced plans to end the university’s relationship with the UConn Alumni Association. Ms. Herbst has claimed this model of alumni engagement didn’t work. UConn had provided the Alumni Association with staff and some financial support.
This month, Alumni Association members voted, 77 percent to 23 percent, to formally dissolve the association. They also transferred the foundation’s $6 million in assets to the “private” UConn Foundation, which university trustees charged in March with coordinating alumni engagement. The $6 million figure does not include the Alumni House on UConn’s main campus in Storrs. For 2012, the most recent year for which data are available, the Alumni Association spent $2.7 million, made $200,000 on investments and had $9.2 million in assets.
In recent years, the foundation has served as a vehicle for taking care of university and foundation higher-ups, and it may have been used to buy UConn influence. It is conceivable that Alumni Association assets will be used for these purposes and not alumni engagement.
The UConn Foundation’s stated mission is to “solicit, [Read More]