Juli Bongiorno | Executive Editor
The recent announcement of a $2 million, 6,500-square-foot alumni center to be built on campus has disturbed at least a few of us current students. Antonio Pomerleau, a former Board of Trustees member, and longstanding supporter of the college, recently donated $1 million towards construction of the Pomerleau Alumni Center. Subsequently, $1 million was matched by several alumni donors.
I cannot express enough appreciation for the money, time, and passion that Pomerleau, a well known real estate developer in Burlington, has dedicated to this institution. So when I first heard about the building I was curious why he donated specifically to this cause. Mr. Pomerleau revealed to me in a conversation on Feb. 22 that the administration, after determining Founders Hall could not be used for a new alumni center, solicited his donation towards a new building. Building plans were drawn up towards the fall of 2007, says President Jack Neuhauser.
The center will be a catalyst for developing relationships between current students and alumni, says Patrick Gallivan, director for Alumni and Parent Relations. Neuhauser also feels the building will help to strengthen relationships with alumni.
“If you treat alumni well and are able to engage them in activities with students, then they are likely to want to support the school."
But will alumni want to donate to a school that is demonstrating misguided priorities? I'm not sure the administration sees the same campus and community needs that I see.
"I don't care for them to erect a shrine for alumni who have already had their time here; it's not a good use of dollars."
- Peter Angus, class of '79 |
The building is not a huge compelling step to entice donations, says Peter Angus '79 an advertising executive in Westport, Conn. In fact, he is less likely to donate when the school is spending money on causes that are unnecessary, he says. The school is at some point going to reach a plateau for donors per year, he says.
“I don’t care for them to erect a shrine for alumni who have already had their time there; it’s not a good use of dollars," Angus says. "That [donation] pie is not going to increase by building a structure.”S
So now we have a building that even some alumni think is unnecessary. Shall we discuss how “relationships between students and alumni” will be fostered?
Gallivan describes the center as a place where alumni can stop in, have a cup of coffee, and check their e-mail. What’s wrong with the computers in the library? In fact, if alumni used the library to check their e-mails it’s actually likely that one would interact with a current student. If alum want a cup of coffee there are three places to do so, where there is also a huge probability of a student interaction: Alliot, the Knight Stand Café, and Café Cheray. Why not send alumni to Hoehl Welcome Center to get a cup of coffee and maybe even have a conversation with a prospective student? Now that’s an opportunity to foster unique relationships. As a central location for alumni, the new building will isolate them instead.
The placement of the new building is also isolating; it’s across the street from campus, in between Prevel Hall and the observatory. When I first read where it was going to be built, I actually had to look up a map of the college to locat it. And they think students are going to go over there?
The programming for the building has not been discussed yet, Gallivan says. The school should figure out just exactly what they are going to use the building for before they spend $2 million.
The conference space in the building is unnecessary given the resources we already have: the second floor Alliot conference rooms, International Commons, the Farrell Room in St. Eds, and others I won't bore you by mentioning. How many alumni are going to come to the school at once? I don’t think it’s as many as this building is anticipating. Especially if the school hasn't discussed what events they might invite alumni back for.
I would vouch that not one of us is ungrateful for the money that alumni pour into this school, but we also pour in our own money with an expectation that our needs will be met.
I would vouch that not one of us is ungrateful for the money that alumni pour into this school, but we also pour in our own money with an expectation that our needs will be met.
|
As I returned to campus this January, after spending a semester abroad, the school’s most prominent problem greeted my return: housing. I was told of sophomores living in Ryan Hall, firsy-years being squeezed into floor lounges, and seniors being placed in a house next to the Women’s Center. Not to mention North Campus is in serious need of renovation.
It seems to me, my fellow students, and certainly our parents that housing is the biggest immediate need for the St. Michael’s community. Housing is a more pressing need, but dormitories are much more expensive, Neuhauser says. So instead of raising more money for a new dormitory or renovations, as they did for the alumni center, the school is settling for building relationships through- a building.
I understand the benefits of keeping alumni connected to the school, and I support that effort. What I don’t support is feeling like other, more important needs are being dismissed. Surely we can find a place on campus to host alumni and make them feel like they are still a part of this community. But welcoming them back does not take a shiny new, 6,500-square-feet building. Alumni already have access to computers, to food, and to an alumni relations staff.
In journalism, sometimes we label a story “evergreen.” It is an idea with an extended shelf life, can be put on hold for more timely stories. The benefit of putting it on hold is that it can be reworked to make more sense. The Alumni Center is just that, an evergreen idea.
|