Board chairman responds to former alumni association president’s resignation letter

I am writing in response to the letter from Brian Spector that appeared in last week’s Daily Orange.

As I indicated back in January, when Spector resigned, no member of the chancellor search committee was appointed to represent any particular organization. Rather, all were chosen to reflect the breadth and scope of the diversity of the Syracuse University community. For example, the committee has an outstanding set of faculty representatives, although there is not a member from every school and college. Likewise, the committee has very strong representation from the alumni community: The committee is being led by Judge Joanne Alper, a former president of the SU Alumni Association; 11 of its 22 members are SU alumni; and all trustee appointees are alumni. Similarly, there was no specific SUAA representative appointed to the last chancellor search committee.

To ensure strong alumni input, the chancellor search committee has held open informational meetings in key regions in which we have strong alumni concentrations, including: Central New York, Boston, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Atlanta and San Francisco. These have been very productive and have provided very good opportunities for the committee to hear from alumni about what qualities they believe a new chancellor should possess. In addition, there is a comprehensive website (syr.edu/chancellorsearch), which provides all alumni additional ways to make their voices heard.

Regarding interaction among the Alumni Association Board and SU Regional Councils, no decisions about any future direction has been made. While each of these groups have different goals and missions, they both comprise passionate, dedicated and engaged alumni and supporters of the university, each of whom wants to help advance Syracuse forward. In fact, six members of the alumni board (four of whom are on the Executive Committee) participated in the monthslong discussion and process that led to the creation of the Regional Council plan. Also, there have been plans in place since the beginning of 2013 to engage Regional Council representatives with the Alumni Association Board in a working group meeting later this month.

We very much look forward to working with SUAA leadership to build on the tremendous success we experienced throughout our recently completed, record-breaking $1 billion campaign. Together, we will continue to engage alumni to enhance SU’s visibility, strategically expand our footprint in new geographies of opportunity, and strengthen our ability to provide unparalleled education for the world, in the world that increasingly distinguishes SU nationally.

Richard L. Thompson
Chairman, SU Board of Trustees