University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst was sent a letter Friday from 14 past presidents of the university’s alumni association urging her to reconsider her decision to sever the school’s relationship with the organization.
“The plan not only represents the dissolution of the Association, it will result in a total subordination of the Alumni spirit. Viewed realistically, your plan reduces a proud semi-independent organization to a minor pocket of the Foundation, run by a hand-picked few,” the past presidents wrote.
At the urging of Herbst, the university’s governing board in March voted to put the job of handling alumni relations under the UConn Foundation, the school’s fundraising arm. The separation means the association can no longer use the school’s name, logo, alumni names and contact information and will no longer receive about $500,000 a year from the university.
The association is working on a plan for disposition of its assets.
The alumni association’s tax filings show the alumni group spent $2.7 million, earned $200,000 from its investments and had $9.2 million in assets in 2012, the most recent year available. Those assets include the Alumni House on campus.
Herbst has said the move was not financial and was done to promote more engagement with the university among graduates. Of the 230,000 UConn alumni, there were 14,050 dues-paying members in June 2014 — too few engaged alumni, Herbst said.
The past president said the new strategy will not improve participation.
“That will not happen if your plan, as it is presently structured, is implemented,” they wrote. “We urge the university to immediately step back from implementation of this consolidation.”
The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.