A quick survey

[sarahann]

I am currently the President or the CSU Alumni Chapter and we are new and still forming our objectives and policies. I know this subject has been chatted about in other topics, but I wanted to take a survey of Alumni involvement with Active chapters. If you have a chance I'm interested to know if Alumni are allowed to attend Active Chapter business meetings or not. If you have a chance it would be great if you could elaborate on the relationship and/or policies between the two.

Thanks a bunch!

[JLyons]

Hi Sarah.

I am the chapter advisor for, and alumna of, the Zeta Chapter and a very involved alumna. The alumnae are always welcomed and encouraged to attend the active meetings. Just because they have graudated, that doesn't they are no longer members of SA or that they don't care about the organization. Even though they attend memetings, the alumnae know that they are not allowed to vote. Besides they wouldn't want to. The majority of our current chapter is quite young and like to have alumnae present so that they can ask for guidance. All in all, the collegiate members and the alumnae members get along very well. That is so important! Especially now that we have purchased a house, the alumnae and collegiates interact so much more often now.

Best of luck to y'all. If you ever want or need, please feel free to email or PM me.

[sus]

It is usually the recommendation of the National Alumni Association Board that alumni only attend collegiate meetings when invited by the chapter. When alumni are invited to attend (and keep in mind this could be an open invitation to attend almost any meeting if the collegiates so choose), the alumni are encouraged to keep their opinions and discussion to a minimum to allow collegiates to direct their chapter as suits them best at that time. Remember, like Jennifer said, under no circumstances should alumni participate in a collegiate meeting as voting members. Alumni should be thought of as "supporters" of a chapter as they are no longer members. Since alumni have already experienced many ups and downs, their opinions and guidance can be valuable though.

Part of being an alumni is realizing that there may actually be times that collegiates want to discuss items that they feel are very personal to themselves. In that case, I would hope that alumni would understand the situation and give the collegiates the privacy they need with their advisor to conduct their business. It should never be assumed that just because you're an alumni of a Sigma Alpha chapter that you are allowed to attend whatever event you feel like.

I've heard horror stories in the past of alumni insisting on coming to all collegiate functions, taking over meetings, and trying to force collegiate opinions in certain directions. The Alumni Board's positions on this issue are designed to help discourage this from happening. Perhaps your alumni chapter could look into electing a Collegiate/Alumni Liaison who's responsibilites would include serving as the primary contact between the two groups and letting the alumni know about events that the collegiates would like them to attend.

I believe the NAB has a one-page flyer that outlines the basics of an "Ideal Alumni/Collegiate Relationship." I'll try to track that down and get it to anyone who would like to have it.

[sarahann]

I was wondering if you found the guidelines for the "Ideal Alumni/Collegiate Relationship"? I would really like to look at them. Is this also something that is distributed to the Active Chapters? I don't remember it from when I was the Nu Chapter Pres, but I think it would be helpful so that Active Chapters know their rights and can better enforce them if there is a problem Alumnus.

[sus]

I'm sorry Sarah, but I've not found it yet. I thought collegiate chapters received it, but I don't know for sure. We just developed it prior to convention last year because we had a breakout session on alumni/collegiate relations. If anyone out there has a copy, please let me know!