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Message: [QUOTE="J187Money, post: 1354124, member: 718"] From the CURRENT president of the Alumni Board: June 16, 2015 Dear Alumni Leaders: As you know, this week, you can expect to receive a ballot by mail regarding the dissolution of the UConn Alumni Association in its current corporate form, which has been recommended by the Association’s Board of Directors. I am writing to you separately to address some inaccurate statements that have been raised by some alumni leaders and the media regarding what dissolution means for UConn and its Alumni, and to ask you to vote in favor of dissolution. First, the “alumni association” will not be going away when the Association has dissolved in its corporate form. As a matter of fact, since April, all alumni relations efforts have been transitioned to the UConn Foundation, and all of the remaining full-time staff at the Association is now employed, or will be employed, by either the University or the Foundation. We are pleased to report that this transition has been seamless, and that alumni relations efforts are scheduled to increase, not decrease, in the wake of this transition. To be clear, dissolution will only affect the separate corporate form of the current Association, and will not impact the vast majority of Alumni in any meaningful way. After all, the Association has existed as a corporation only since 1973, or for barely one-third of its existence. The separate corporate form is the exception, not the rule. Second, the Association’s endowment will not transition to the University upon dissolution. Instead, in accordance with a Distribution Plan that was prepared and approved by the Board, the Association anticipates transferring its endowment to the Foundation and specifically restricting its funds to a number of different purposes, such as the establishment of an Alumni legacy scholarship fund, support for the Veterans Memorial Fund created by Myles Martel ‘65, benefits for life members, and increased scholarship funding for chapters and affinity groups. To be clear: not a single dime of the Association’s endowment will be transferred to the University upon dissolution in accordance with the Distribution Plan. The Alumni Center will transition to the University, in a manner consistent with its existing reversionary interest, but will remain designated as the University’s “alumni house” and cannot be relocated without consultation with the Foundation, without the prior approval of the Board of Trustees and without notifying the Attorney General of the State of Connecticut. Notably, under Section 3-125 of the Connecticut General Statutes, the Attorney General will forever have standing to intervene regarding the use of the Association’s assets, including the Alumni Center, to ensure that such use is both consistent with their charitable purpose and in the public interest. Finally, our Alumni will still have both actual and elected voices shaping the future of our University, and more alumni will indeed be heard. Alumni relations efforts will now be targeted at our alumni base of 230,000 as a whole, rather than our membership of approximately 12,000 to 13,000. More importantly, elections of Alumni trustees will be conducted in exactly the same way as before, in accordance with Section 10a-103 of the Connecticut General Statutes, and with a broader and more diverse pool of candidates. By our estimates, every single candidate for Alumni trustee for the last several decades has previously served on the Board of the Association, which has included eighteen members representing just five to six percent of all Alumni. We believe that our alma mater deserves better representation on the Board of Trustees, and that dissolution of the Association will help to achieve that result. In summary, the Board and I have determined that our fiduciary duties to our members, our alumni, our students and our University are best served by endorsing the transition of alumni relations efforts to the Foundation, and the distribution of the Association’s assets in accordance with the Distribution Plan. When your ballot arrives this week, the Board and I recommend that you vote in favor of dissolving the Association in its corporate form, and to continue supporting our University with the same vigor and passion long after the dissolution is complete. Please feel free to contact the Association by telephone at (860) 486-2240 if you have any further questions. Above all, I want to thank you very much for all that you do for our alma mater. On behalf of the Board, we hope that we can count on your vote. Sincerely, Lori Riiska ‘84 President, Board of Directors UConn Alumni Association, Inc. [/QUOTE]

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