Baylor Alumni Association

Since its creation in 1859, the Baylor Alumni Association has been an unflagging supporter of Baylor’s bold mission as an institution of higher learning
By Todd Copeland

Times have certainly changed since the Baylor Alumni Association (BAA) was created in 1859 under the guidance of Baylor University president Rufus Burleson. Back then, when Baylor was located in the town of Independence, only forty-two Baylor alumni qualified for membership in the alumni association. Today, with Baylor grads located across America and around the world, there are more than nineteen thousand members of the BAA.

One constant, however, has been the BAA's mission of strengthening Baylor University and furthering the interests of our alma mater, so that the life-changing education we experienced can be shared with Baylor students of today and tomorrow. In addition, the BAA's leadership recognizes that Baylor’s effectiveness in living out its historic mission, core principles, institutional strengths, and bold aspirations directly affects the value of each graduate’s degree.

Governed by a board of alumni volunteers and incorporated as an independent nonprofit organization since 1978—when Baylor president Abner V. McCall recommended such a governance structure—the BAA has been uniquely empowered to act with unwavering integrity and responsible boldness.

In the winter issue of the Line, as part of the BAA's celebration of its Sesquicentennial in 2009, we explored the BAA's role in keeping the Baylor family connected. In this issue, the focus turns to the BAA’s longstanding commitment to supporting Baylor’s mission. "Keeping Baylor strong is a charge taken up by each new generation of graduates out of a sense of pride, privilege, and responsibility," said Jeff Kilgore, executive vice president and CEO of the BAA. "Our organization is the embodiment of that good old Baylor Line, that unbroken string of graduates stretching back into the nineteenth century, and we remain unflaggingly dedicated to what's best for Baylor."

Responding to the Call

The Baylor Alumni Association’s commitment to the mission of Baylor University was powerfully articulated at the twentieth annual meeting of the Alumni Association of Baylor University in 1879—held during Commencement Week, June 10-12—when its members passed the following resolution: "Resolved 1st. That the Alumni of Baylor University will pledge themselves at all times, and under all circumstances, and everywhere, to maintain, defend, and support, by all means in their power, the original design of the founders of the Institution, to make it a true educational establishment of the highest grade."

A committee appointed to address "absent brethren" later issued a statement for the meeting's proceeding that read, in part, "The Alumni Association is regularly organized, and meets annually, at the close of the session; and its re-unions are promotive of the material interests of Alma Mater, and tend to cement the bond of brotherhood between her students now scattered over the vast territory of the State."

Such early meetings exemplify the alumni association's commitment to providing alumni with an organization through which they could demonstrate—in both word and deed—their full support of Baylor University's unique mission as an institution of higher education. And over the years, as Baylor’s mission has become a time-honored treasure serving the church and society ("Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana"), that passion for our alma mater's well-being and promise has been steadfast and unbending, regardless of broad social challenges or the shifting winds of on-campus politics.

I

n fact, at times disaster has brought out the best in the BAA. That was the case in 1922, when a fire gutted the Carroll Chapel and Library building on February 11. After the flames had been extinguished and the damage evaluated, the alumni association—led by Mayes Behrman, Baylor’s first full-time alumni secretary—conducted a six-week "Baylor Alumni Rebuilding Campaign" to raise funds for the building's restoration. The effort brought in more than $200,000 in pledges by the end of April. On December 12, 1923, members of Baylor's senior class served as the hosts for the formal re-opening of the building—newly restored and now housing the law school and the university's library facilities, including the Texas Collection and the Browning Collection.

The BAA was also a partner in responding to an even larger crisis in Baylor's life in Waco. On April 28, 1928, the eighteen-member Education Commission appointed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), which at the time appointed all of Baylor's trustees, passed a recommendation to relocate Baylor to Dallas. The Dallas Chamber of Commerce had pledged $1.5 million and a large piece of land as incentives for the move, and denominational leaders were attracted to the idea of bringing Baylor and its Dallas-based medical and dental schools together.

Many believed the BGCT would approve the recommendation when it met on June 5 in Mineral Wells. In response, alumni from around the state joined forces with Waco citizens under the guidance of a new organization, the Movement for the Perpetuation of Baylor University in Waco, hoping to keep Baylor in Waco by proving the city's ability to help the university prosper. In less than two weeks, the group persuaded the Education Commission to reverse its recommendation by proposing that Waco citizens would raise $1 million for Baylor over the next seven years. The group indicated that the first installment of the Waco gift would be used to build an auditorium for chapel services and large gatherings.

With G. H. Penland as chair, the fundraising effort raised $416,000 in a week's time, with more than five hundred Baylor alumni and three hundred Waco businessmen gathering for the effort's culmination at a banquet during the alumni association's annual meeting on June 4. The funds were applied to the construction of Waco Hall, which would be completed and formally handed over to Baylor on April 22, 1930, to serve as a permanent symbol and reminder of a mutually beneficial partnership.

Proactive Measures

Beyond such particular times of crisis for Baylor, the BAA has consistently helped to foster the tradition of alumni directly supporting Baylor and Baylor students in a proactive manner.

In 1927, when Baylor made the growth of its endowment a priority, the alumni association collaborated with Samuel Palmer Brooks, Baylor’s president since 1902, and the university's Board of Trustees in inaugurating an alumni endowment campaign. On October 21, the group passed a resolution organizing the campaign that asserted, in part, "The Alumni and Ex-students of Baylor University are bound and obligated by every consideration of gratitude, appreciation, and loyalty to preserve and advance the welfare of this Institution."

The fundraising effort, eventually named the "Greater Baylor" campaign, made its initial push the following year, from November 23 to December 4, 1928. The General Education Board of New York had pledged $300,000 if Baylor could raise at least $600,000 for the endowment fund, which would eliminate the school’s indebtedness, by the end of 1930.

In December 1930, with the campaign still short of its mark, the alumni association's incoming president, Earl B. Smyth, wrote in the Baylor Monthly, "Alumni of Baylor, we must not fail the Mother School in this day of her greatest opportunity. She is calling to us now to do our best for her." On January 1, 1931, President Brooks announced that Baylor had met the goal.

During the 1940s, the alumni association took several fundamental steps to grow as an organization and strengthen its service to Baylor.

In 1941, following a two-year-long self-study, the BAA's officers approved a reorganization plan that, in part, resulted in the group being renamed the Ex-Students Association of Baylor University. Granted a charter by the State of Texas, the group established two short-term priorities: raising funds for the Student Union Building, whose construction had begun on October 15, 1940, and preparing for the school’s centennial celebration in 1945.

During the years of the United States' involvement in World War II, the Union Building had stood as a skeleton of concrete and steel girders due to restrictions of the nation’s wartime economy. However, in the spring of 1946 work resumed on the building, benefiting from the fundraising efforts of Baylor Ex-Students Association leaders. Chief among them was Jack H. Dillard, the organization’s new executive secretary. A 1938 Baylor graduate, Dillard became the first full-time director whose salary was wholly provided by the alumni organization.

In a letter to alumni dated June 20, 1946, Dillard wrote, "Your association, for the first time, is operating separately and independently from Baylor University itself. The history of all outstanding ex-students groups shows that they operate best when separate from the university." The group's work on the Union Building certainly proved to be effective. Soon after the building's formal opening on September 16, 1948, Baylor President W. R. White praised alumni for their part in financing the much-needed facility (which was renamed the Bill Daniel Student Center in 1981), telling those gathered for a meeting of the Baylor Ex-Students Association’s board, "We have all joined hands in building a greater Baylor."

In addition to leading the charge to raise funds for the Union Building's construction, the alumni group became the university's chief communicator when the debut issue of the Baylor Line magazine arrived in alumni mailboxes in October 1946. The new magazine was published by the Ex-Students Association as the successor to the Baylor Century. The magazine was sent only to members of the association, with annual membership dues set at $3 per individual or $5 per family.

An editorial on the second page of the inaugural issue celebrated the association's assuming responsibility for the publication of Baylor's official magazine and the broader dawning of a new day in alumni relations. "Long considered an outstanding need for Baylor has been a closely knit, active, and wide-awake Ex-Students organization," it stated.

A Strong Partnership

The BAA's forward-thinking orientation and support for Baylor's mission were exemplified by Operation Second Century, an effort spearheaded by Dillard (who was serving as the group’s board president in 1958-59 after having left his staff position as executive secretary in 1954).

On April 26, 1958, the Baylor Ex-Students Association held the first meeting of Operation Second Century, following the project's endorsement by Baylor president W. R. White and Baylor's Board of Trustees. During the next year, the project's committee of 114 members (in honor of Baylor's 114th anniversary on February 1, 1959) met eight times to assess the state of alumni-university relations, survey Baylor's current academic programs and state of operations, and formulate a blueprint for strengthening the university through proper alumni support.

"The motivation for this survey was purely and simply based on the premise it would be helpful and constructive to President White and the trustees, and would provide to the University the coordinated thinking of the alumni as to their aspirations for the school's future, and to emphasize that we, as alumni, seek full partnership with the University in future expansion of its physical facilities and intellectual and spiritual attainments," Dillard wrote in the July-August 1959 issue of the Baylor Line, which featured a thirty-five-page report of the project's findings and recommendations. "Baylor University—an institution under God—stands at the crossroads of true greatness or a downgrade detour to mediocrity. . . . This report, it is hoped, is more than merely a statement of findings and a presentation of suggestions. It is a call to action—a plea for increased support."

A year later, in September 1960, Abner V. McCall, then Baylor's executive vice president, commented on the Ex-Students Association’s major contribution to university planning. "Many of the recommendations have already been put into effect, some quietly without publicity," he said. "Others we are studying through faculty and administration committees. If money—or the lack of it, I should say—didn't stand in the way, we could adopt even more."

The 1970s became a decade of expansion and evolution, as the alumni organization and the university worked to establish a relationship that would best serve Baylor. First, on April 30, 1976, the Baylor Ex-Students Association was renamed the Baylor Alumni Association. At the time, individual annual memberships cost $15 a year, and life memberships—a new level of membership—were set at $200. Baylor president Abner McCall and his wife, Mary, became life members Nos. 3 and 4.

In June 1978, the BAA moved from its offices in the Student Union Building to the new Hughes-Dillard Alumni Center, located on University Parks Drive. The funding for the building had begun in 1976 with a gift from Raymond and Genevieve Dillard and their children, Nancy Dillard Franklin and Hughes Dillard, in memory of Genevieve Dillard’s mother, Annie Hughes. The total cost for the 6,200-square-foot, U-shaped facility was $590,502, nearly 80 percent of which was paid for by alumni gifts.

Soon afterward, on August 11, 1978, the BAA was legally incorporated as a separate, nonprofit organization—a move encouraged by McCall, who had served as president of the alumni association from 1956 to 1958, and Dr. Herbert H. Reynolds, the university's executive vice president and chief operating officer at the time. Years later, during a meeting of the Baylor Alumni Association's Executive Committee on July 19, 1986, McCall would speak on the purpose of the Baylor Alumni Association, noting that a number of Baylor’s various alumni relations and university relations goals "are best furthered by an independent, financially self-supporting alumni association with its own publication."

In an interview in 2005, Reynolds recalled the rationale for the administration's support of the alumni association's decision to become a legally independent, non-profit organization: "Judge McCall came over to visit me one day and said, 'I want to talk to you about the Ex-Students Association. I believe we ought to think about the independence or autonomy of the alumni association,'" Reynolds said. "And let me just say right up front that it was more philosophical than financial, no doubt about it, because there had been times in the life of the alumni association when that independence was very important. So he said, 'I think this is something we ought to strive for, because there may be times in the future when the alumni association will need to speak with a more independent voice about the university. I won't mind that, and I would hope that you feel the same way.' I told him, 'I agree with you. I think there is real merit to moving in this fashion.' And then later we began to talk about the financial aspects of it. But that was not the primary issue; the primary issue was creating an independent alumni association that would have its own 501(c)3 exemption and would be able to operate, by and large, in an autonomous fashion."

By June 1981, the BAA's membership stood at 12,305, of which 7,097 were life members, and the group's endowment had passed $1 million. The association had also created, in April 1981, the Abner V. McCall Fund, offering individual alumni the opportunity to pledge $10,000 in gifts over ten years with a goal of accumulating $5 million in endowment by 1985. In explaining why the fund had been named after McCall, James Cole, who had become the association's executive vice president in 1978, said that "none of his predecessors manifested the measure of interest and support of the alumni association that Judge McCall has."

The naming of the fund in McCall's honor was seen to be a fitting tribute to the man whose support had been a galvanizing force for the organization. In a 1981 interview with the Baylor Line a few months before being succeeded as president by Reynolds, McCall said, "When I first came into the presidency, I had been the Ex-Students president just a short time before. It was kind of a test. And I want to thank the alumni and the alumni association for their support and loyalty to the university during these years. The alumni have been more active and more supportive than ever before."

Put to the Test

On September 21, 1990, Baylor’s Board of Trustees amended the university's charter, replacing its governing structure with a new Board of Regents that was only partially—instead of completely, as had been the case with trustees—appointed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT). This move mathematically removed the possibility of a takeover by those aligned with the so-called fundamentalist faction within the Baptist denomination nationally. The action, though controversial, effectively safeguarded the university's academic integrity and traditional Baptist and Christian heritage while also reducing the threat to the BGCT'’s leadership.

The next day, the BAA's governing board approved a resolution affirming the charter change that read, in part, "this action by the Trustees will secure a stable climate in which academic freedom and excellence in a Christian context will continue to flourish, thereby maintaining the integrity of degrees held by and to be earned by all Baylor graduates."

Because of its independence, the alumni association was favorably positioned to be a credible defender and advocate of the trustees' action. Through the Baylor Line and other mailings to alumni, the BAA helped to mobilize alumni to attend the BGCT's annual conventions in November 1990 in Houston and in November 1991 in Waco, at which Baylor's action would be the subject of scrutiny and votes related to the BGCT's financial and institutional relationship with the university.

By most accounts, the collaboration between the university and the alumni association in addressing and seeking protective measures against the threat of a takeover stands as the most significant legacy of partnership between the association and Baylor during the Reynolds administration. Reynolds certainly saw it that way. At the banquet held to honor Cole upon his retirement in 1991, Reynolds said, "There is no way that I could have withstood the kind of onslaught that has occurred through these years, all that has occurred, without the help of Jim Cole and the Baylor Alumni Association and the independent voice of the Baylor Line.”

And in the spring of 1995, as he was leaving office, Reynolds said, "I think that there are certain occasions when it is most helpful for alumni to have an independent voice that is not bridled by forces internal or external to the university. To the extent that the Baylor Alumni Association has that kind of autonomy, it has proved to be very beneficial; the association can speak out on matters of interest and concern, particularly when the university regents or administrators feel some inhibition to do so, for whatever reason."

Expressions of support

As the officially recognized general alumni organization, the Baylor Alumni Association is built upon the power of alumni voluntarily coming together in fellowship and in support of our alma mater. As Jack Dillard, the former executive secretary and president of the BAA, once said, a succession of Baylor presidents "has recognized the immense value of a loyal and active alumni association and, in fact, has realized that its support is essential to the survival of a private university."

When the BAA launched a fundraising campaign in 1997 to provide for the renovation and expansion of the Hughes-Dillard Alumni Center, Baylor president Robert Sloan echoed those sentiments, saying, "The alumni association is the network of the Baylor family; it keeps Baylor memories and traditions alive by keeping us connected to each other. The alumni center thus serves an essential function in the campus community, for it is the place through which all the connections pass."

Following the successful campaign, the alumni center’s renovation and expansion was completed in June 1998 at a total cost of $2.5 million, funded by gifts from alumni and friends that included $1 million given by an anonymous donor. Dedicated on November 6, 1998, during Homecoming, the alumni center included three thousand additional square feet—for offices, the Kronzer Great Hall, the Cole Drawing Room, the Abner V. McCall Retired Faculty Reading Room, and the Herbert H. Reynolds Conference Room—with cherry wood paneling and a stately ambience reflecting the Baylor traditions of integrity and pride.

During the past ten years, benefiting from its renovated facilities and growing along with the Baylor family, the BAA has continued to support Baylor's mission in a variety of ways. At times, this support comes in the form of helping to provide direct financial assistance to students to help them achieve their dreams of a Baylor education and thus to prepare them for worldwide leadership and service.

In 2006, the BAA and Baylor co-sponsored the "Brooks Bricks for Scholarships" initiative to raise funds for student scholarships through the sale of bricks taken from Brooks Hall when it was demolished to make way for Brooks Village. And for many years the BAA has placed $1 of each annual membership it receives into an endowed scholarship fund. Last year, through this fund, the BAA awarded more than $25,000 in scholarship aid to eight students who are children of alumni.

At other times, as in the past, the BAA continues to demonstrate its support of Baylor's mission through its proclamations as the official alumni organization of Baylor University. As recently as January 2008, the BAA’s Board of Directors approved and provided to the university administration the following statement, which quotes Baylor’s mission statement: "The Baylor Alumni Association continues to be steadfastly guided by the fundamental principles expressed in the foundational documents of Baylor University: 'Baylor's pursuit of knowledge is strengthened by the conviction that truth has its ultimate source in God and by a Baptist heritage that champions religious liberty and freedom of conscience. Without imposing religious conformity, Baylor expects the members of its community to support its mission. Affirming the value of intellectually informed faith and religiously informed education, the University seeks to provide an environment that fosters spiritual maturity, strength of character, and moral virtue.'"

Kilgore, the BAA’s executive vice president, said, "Supporting Baylor's mission is an unending task—a solemn duty, but one that has been enthusiastically undertaken and joyfully pursued for 150 years now. There are a tremendous number of things to celebrate about Baylor, and being a part of keeping the foundation for that success strong is something our nineteen thousand members are proud of and resolutely committed to continuing."

Todd Copeland is editor of the Baylor Line.

Site Map | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions