Alumni relations

[David Bean]

I wonder whether anyone who frequents this board, current student and alumnus alike, would be interested in particiipating in an open discussion on the subject of alumni relations. I mention this because in Friday's election neither of the candidates for Convenor advanced any substantially new ideas on the matter: Chris said in his 100 words that he wanted to make alumni happier but didn't specify how, and Tom, when I asked him about the matter at the hecklings, said that he was happy with the progress that the current Board of Ten had made and would like to see it go further, but again did not go into specifics.

Since we now have a new Convenor in Tom and the AGM is rapidly approaching, it seems to me that now would be the best time to throw it open to opinions on the matter, so that we can try to come up with some helpful suggestions that the new Board of Ten, when it's elected, might like to consider. It strikes me too that some of the best people to ask about what would practically work are the alumni ourselves, since we know best what we would like to be involved with, and what we really could be (constrained as we are by pressures of work, etc.), and so this board is probably the best forum for such a discussion because it's the most accessible one to alumni no matter where in the country, or world, they are.

I have a couple of ideas myself, but it's getting late so I'll hold off on them for now and see what everyone else thinks.

[hr]

Psalm 91:7

[exnihilo]

1) Actual calendar dates attached to debates on the website.

2) A specific email - not the regular ones because they contain little or nothing of interest to Alumni. Perhaps once a semester with debates for that coming semester and a short bulletin on competition successes etc.

3) An article every now and then on the Society submitted to the Alumnus Chronicle would reach those who have lost touch.

4) There are many alumni who would be willing to speak, donate money, etc but they need notice and they need to be sure their money's going to where they want it to be spent.

5) Records. Alumni for the past few years seem to have been airbrushed from the records; the minutes are patchy at best so there's no record of who spoke and who said what and, for example, when I asked for a list of HLMs nobody could provide it, I got best guesses and they were simply wrong and insulting to those who were left off.

6) Perhaps an alumnus debate? Once a year even, possibly at the start of term as a showpiece for the newcomers. A lot of people would give freely of their time for it.

7) Keep a "register of interests" for alumni so you know who is an expert in / enthusiastic about / works in the field of whatever debates you are having. Take Monday as a for example, who are the "several prominent speakers"? Their anonymity suggests a degree of TBC or less prominence than advertised, I have made plain my willingness to speak and, as it happens, I teach history at university for a living - I was never approached. I'm not suggesting for a moment that you were under any obligation to approach me, but if you had a list of keen alumni with their jobs and interests, you could think "ah, space to fill, we could call x or y".

8) There will be plenty more, but I have to dash just now...

[Sally]

When polishing all the silverware in LPH before the Courier final we found a cup for the student-alumni debating competition or something like that. Does anyone know anything about it?

[Eliot Wilson]

The alumni-student debate started, I seem to recall, under Miss Fletcher's convenorship; the Alumni Relations office provided three speakers (Brian Taylor, Stewart Lamont and Eamonn Butler), and three then-current students (myself, David Cuthbertson and Stewart the US Marine, whose surname escapes me) took them on. I think we won, but I'm not sure. It was quite a good event, decent turn-out, and then, after a couple of years, like so many things, it died from neglect. Ah well.

Worth reviving, and, if I could, I'd be happy to come back and have a go, as, I'm sure, would many others.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[exnihilo]

Stuart Ambrose.

[Eliot Wilson]

But of course. Thank you.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Connie]

I think the student-alumni competition is a great idea. And I'm sure there would be room in the calender for it.

[ChrisH]

There was supposed to be an alumni newsletter going out this year, that has yet to be written but I suppose the new Serjeant could produce one soon.

When it comes to specific emails I think that is tied up with the other points in exnihilo's post, it is a problem of information. Short of some midnight commando raid on the alumni office we would have to ask for all this information in some mass mailing and hope for a decent response.

I do fully agree that more needs to be done with alumni relations and when I run for treasurer again (glutton for punishment that I am) alumni things will be part of platform.

Without wanting to appear bitchy at David the reason I didn't want to go into specifics about ideas (which I do have, although most have already been posted by exnihilo) is that I wanted to explain to students why they should care about good alumni relations rather than how to improve them.

On a good alumni relations note we are inviting James Arnold and Hendrik Puschmann back to judge the Balaka final.

[Eliot Wilson]

How nice for you.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[exnihilo]

Good lord. Well, it takes all sorts to make a world. With all respect to both, if I were looking for judges, of all the debaters, former office holders, pillars of the Society I would choose they wouldn't make my top 10.

Apparently the more indifference one displays towards the Society upon graduation, the more one is likely to be fêted.

And ...

You don't need to raid the Alumnus Office, you just need to get your act together and put a call in the Alumnus Chronicle for those interested parties to write/email the Debating Society, and that would get you a mailing list.

At the moment, the standard emails are useless, alumni don't want to know what's on the day after tomorrow, or to be told about training times etc, so they won't subscribe to that list.

And we're not even talking about a lot of work - one email per semester would do, or one mailing, whatever.

[exnihilo]

Also, just while it's on my mind, can we go back to alumnus relations please? You wouldn't say students relations, you'd say student, so why alumni rather than alumnus?

[ChrisH]

My ventured guess may be incorrect, sadly my Latin eduction stopped with year 8 and I can just about still call someone a donkey.
However it might have something to do with the case, English being case-less allows "student" relations, alumnus implies only male former students, and that would bring down the wrath of Miranda upon us all.

[exnihilo]

Alumni would remain male, but plural. For female you'd want alumnae the plural of alumna. However, annoying though it is to some, the male is taken to include the female.

Oh, and English isn't free of cases, they're there, they're just harder to spot.

[Mr Comedy]

These are all good ideas. May I also mention that it may well be a good idea to let alumnus know in (substantial) advance of any planned IVs in St Andrews, because I'm sure many alumni would be more than happy to help out with adjudication etc (although I will be irritated if I'm made to timekeep bin rooms).

If an alumus debate does happen (and I reccomend this heartily) a Friday debate would be most useful, as a large number of graduates would fail to make a Wednesday one.

If the Alumnus cup is resurrected, then if interest is sufficient some form of qualifier would be beneficial.

[hr]

"I am in no way interested in immortality, but only in the taste of tea. " -Lu Tung

[Dickie]

In the past year I have seen some old faces. But allas I doubt if they have been aproached by the UDS in the correct way.

I too concur with the re-instatement of the Alumni Cup. Friday nights would be best for all conerned and wee dinner afterwards would be a great way to end the night.

On a completely seperate note I hope that this Convenor will make it to their own Solatium Dinner, unlike the last Solatium to be held in the Balaka!

[hr]

http://facebook.com/p.php?id=37106107&l=217e435e0a

[Jason Dunn]

What about alumnal as a suitable adjective in the pattern of terminus terminal? Google seems to recognise the word, though that means nothing at all. I shall consult the S.O.D. later.

[Mr Comedy]

And if the debate could be on a humourous motion, that'd be greatly appreciated as well.

[hr]

"I am in no way interested in immortality, but only in the taste of tea. " -Lu Tung

[exnihilo]

Or we could go with Alumnus Office, Alumnus Debate, Alumnus Association, Alumnus Chronicle, alumnus relations which is - simply put - correct. But we digress.

Quoting Mr Comedy from 18:54, 19th Mar 2007
And if the debate could be on a humourous motion, that'd be greatly appreciated as well.

Couldn't agree more, at this stage, only a few years from graduation, few of us are suitably eminent in our fields to deliver sermons. When we make the trek back to St Andrews, it's pleasant to be able to take part in a light-hearted debate and to entertain more than inform.

[David Bean]

Quoting ChrisH from 11:58, 19th Mar 2007
Without wanting to appear bitchy at David the reason I didn't want to go into specifics about ideas (which I do have, although most have already been posted by exnihilo) is that I wanted to explain to students why they should care about good alumni relations rather than how to improve them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you had some good ideas, but all I meant was you weren't able to get round to articulating what they were, given that the alumni are probably a constituency of support you didn't need so much (us lot not having the vote, and all). I actually hoped to ask you a question during your hecklings about it, as I'd asked Tom (I planned to ask, in reference to your 100 words, "I'm an alumnus. How would you make me happy?" ).

I like the idea of the alumni debate, or possibly a competition between alumni and current students. I had an idea along the same lines, but a little different: I was thinking about a tournament in which teams would be comprised of one alumnus and one current student, in the style of some of those golf tournaments they have where a 'master' partners a professional. That for me would be a fun way of engaging the current student population with the idea a little more, and it would also allow people to form partnerships emphasising different speaking styles - people who like the IV style, those who prefer more classical oratory, or pure comedians - and you could tweak the judging criteria so that people would be marked based on how well they did whatever they were particularly good at, rather than emphasising one style over any of the others. You could run it over a weekend, throw in a nice dinner, arrange accommodation for anyone who wanted it, that sort of thing, and make a good bit of cash from the alumni right then and there.

I'd also heartily agree with exnihillo's points about a register of interests; if you had a debate on some kind of libertarian-related motion, for instance, like drugs legalisation, I could do a great job with that, and if you ever decided to do something about the co-operative movement or the ethics of major retailers like Tesco, I'd be perfect. As it stands, alumni are sometimes even invited back to speak on debates they know things about purely by accident, such as when Liz Fletcher, a family lawyer, expressed her dismay that her invitation to a debate about the family was issued not because of her job, but because she was a former Convenor.

This is turning into a good thread. I hope some of the people who go to the AGM will be taking note and asking the candidates for Serjeant-at-Arms what they make of some of these ideas.

[hr]

Psalm 91:7

[exnihilo]

There's a good chance of it...

(he said archly)