By: Aditi Dwivedi, News Writer
SFU’s Alumni Association held a vote on February 15 to determine the future of their organization. SFU was proposing to change the current Alumni Association from a legally separate organization, to an internal SFU entity, which would include an appointed Council. All registered members of the Alumni Association were invited to approve or disapprove the proposed changes.
On February 15, the Alumni Association voted to dissolve. Former SFU undergraduate student Corbett Gildersleve posted to social media, “Well, the SFU Alumni Association voted to dissolve itself tonight and transfer their assets to SFU. It will now be replaced by a new association that has an alumni Council with members appointed by the SFU President, and no longer be independent of SFU.” The SFU Alumni Association was previously an organization with their own elected Board of Directors. They functioned as an independent link between SFU and its community of alumni.
According to a statement issued by Braden McMillan, director of media relations and public affairs for SFU, the intent behind the vote was “to align SFU’s alumni program with industry best practices and modernize the governance model, which has remained largely unchanged since its inception in 1969.”
McMillan also stated only 10% of SFU’s alumni were registered as members of the association; the proposed changes will enable all SFU students to automatically become part of the Alumni Association upon graduation.
The university claimed this decision would “ensure an inclusive governance model.” An SFU alum, who chose to stay anonymous, spoke to The Peak about the possible negative ramifications of this decision. According to them, the association has a fiduciary responsibility which holds them accountable to the alumni, and ensures the usage of funds for the benefit of the alumni. With the dissolution of the association as a separate organization, “there will be no official accountability to alumni at all, for how funds specifically earmarked for alumni engagement are being used.”
Before the associations’ dissolution, the university was required to pass all decisions relating to alumni engagement — use of funds, organization of events, and others — through the Alumni Association. In accordance with the BC Societies Act, the association had “made all of their financial statements and inner workings public.” The anonymous SFU alum believes the vote on February 15 was a tool for the university to “handpick alumni that it wants from the society at large, and have absolutely no transparency in how anything is carried out when it comes to alumni engagement.”
According to the anonymous source, they believe the dissolution may affect the focus of funding priorities. They believe the SFU Alumni Association will stop focusing on alumni assistance and welfare, to only fundraising, and “extracting money from existing alumni” for the upcoming fundraising goals of the university. The association had normally focused on organizing career fairs, networking nights, discounted workshops for alumni, and awarding outstanding alumni for excellence in their respective fields.
In a survey conducted by the SFU Alumni Association in 2021, the alumni were asked about their expectations from the university. According to the anonymous source, the general overview of answers concluded the alumni were asking for ongoing career support — one on one career services for alumni and academic support. The anonymous SFU alumnus believes if the alumni realized that voting in favor of dissolution would mean a loss of what they expect from the university in terms of engagement, then the motion would not have passed.
However, they noted a major cause of concern is the lack of awareness about the vote amongst most SFU alumni. They noted the university had neither publicized it, nor posted about it on any of their social media channels, including the SFU Alumni Association website.
For more information on registering as a member of the SFU Alumni Association please visit their website.
