Student body president Lizzi Shappell focused Monday's Council of Representatives (COR) meeting on improving student/alumni relations in the upcoming year.
Shappell and former student body president Dave Baron will travel to Washington D.C. May 4 to present a report to the University Board of Trustees regarding their administration. Shappell asked COR for input to help prepare for their presentation and to begin the discussion on student/alumni relations.
"This topic carries over to [student body vice president] Bill [Andrichik] and my administration," Shappell said. "It deals with the student/alumni relationship that we're working to improve. We want to get more students on [the online alumni contact network] GoIrish to get more in touch with alumni, and have receptions for football games."
Senior class president Emily Chin said while student/alumni connections often develop during junior and senior year - a time when students receive e-mails about working with alumni to get internships or to help with career options - she would suggest trying to connect earlier with underclassmen.
Hall President Council (HPC) co-chair Bryan Lowery said dorms involve their own alumni in a number of ways, and the level of alumni involvement varies greatly by dorm.
"Morrissey Manor had a reunion after a football game last fall that attracted 200 alumni, and the Alumni Center made that happen by supplying contact information," Lowery said.
"There are variances across the dorms for alumni relations," Lowery said. "It is not necessarily a priority for dorms to put someone in charge of alumni correspondence. But maybe a yearly newsletter for alumni to hear about what we've been up to could be beneficial."
Junior class president Bridget Keating said the GoIrish search engine made student/alumni relationships possible for organizations like the sailing club and Circle K service organization. She said she'd like the possibility of more clubs being able to take advantage of alumni connections.
In other COR news:
uCOR confirmed John Bush as the Student Union Board (SUB) chief controller for the upcoming year.
-Carolyn White was confirmed as co-director of SUB, effective next fall after her return from spring semester in London.
-Steve Cartwright was confirmed as a COR laison from VOICE, the student advisory board for the Center for Social Concerns. Cartwright promises to bring the perspective of the local community, since the CSC relates closely with local leaders.
"There are a number of issues, especially involving the community just beyond Notre Dame, that this group [COR] might be interested in," Cartwright said. "I might be able to bring to COR the issues community leaders bring forth as well as those of the Center."
