This year’s annual meeting took place via Zoom conference on Saturday May 9.  Following a 30-minute coffee social, the meeting was called to order by Council President Rob Stein. Representatives heard reports from Rob, Governance Chairs Anne-Marie Lubenau and Andrea Reimer, Alumni Grants Chairs Randy Gragg and Jody Tableporter, Day of Service Chair Rob Lane, Treasurer LaShawn Hoffman, and Curator John Peterson. In addition to approving last year’s meeting minutes and next year’s budget, the Council authorized funds for one alumni grant, and approved the Governance Committees proposed framework and principles for representation, allowing it to move forward with recommendations (see motion below). While we missed seeing each other over a whole weekend in Cambridge, the virtual format imposed a rigor and efficiency to the meeting, collapsing what has traditionally been a six hour session to two and a half. More importantly it eliminated the cost of travel, allowing many more reps to attend for a total of 44 out of 50 classes represented.

Watch a video of the meeting

Presentations

Meeting Materials

A message from the Governance Committee:

Thank you for taking the time to review the Governance Committee materials and recommendations in advance and fill out the short survey. More than 50% of you responded (if you haven’t, there’s still time) and your input will help us focus our discussion at the May 9th Alumni Council meeting and make the most of our time together. 

We were pleased to see overall support for the recommendations. We’ve attached a short summary of the survey results for your reference. In brief, responses indicated strong support for the proposed update to the mission statement and representation structure.

Given the constraints of time, we plan to focus our presentation on addressing aspects of the recommendations that prompted questions and comments. These include:

• the election of officers

• six seats for recent alumni representatives

• Diversity Task Force objectives

The Governance Committee has worked hard over the past year to engage and listen to Loeb Alumni and respond to the collective interests and aspirations of our community. For your reference, we’ve attached the results from the Alumni Survey (that we previously shared) that informed our efforts. 

We are eager to enlist your support via a formal vote at the meeting at the meeting so that we can move forward with this initiative. A proposed motion is below.

The circumstances of the virtual meeting mean that we will have less time together than originally anticipated and we want to make sure you have a chance to talk through any issues or clarifying questions. Please reach out to any member of the Governance Committee in advance of Saturday’s meeting if you have any questions. We value your input and look forward to the discussion.