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One Bear Place #97116
Waco, Texas 76798
1-888-710-1859
Phone: (254) 710-1121
Fax: (254) 710-1096 |
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History and timeline of events leading to the current relationship between Baylor University and the Baylor Alumni Association
In the 1980s and early 1990s, “separation” meant mutual respect, collaboration, cooperation, and a full and complete accounting for both fees and services. Baylor paid the BAA an agreed-upon annual sum for services performed by the BAA related to the Baylor Line (helping to mail the Line to all alumni), Homecoming, and other events like Heritage Club.
1993 and 1994
The BAA and Baylor signed two official agreements. The first agreement, signed in September 1993, granted the association a “perpetual and fully paid-up license” to use the names and marks of Baylor University Alumni Association and Baylor Alumni Association. The second agreement, signed on May 27, 1994, following its approval by the Baylor Board of Regents, recognized the Baylor Alumni Association as “the official alumni organization of Baylor University and all its academic units” and provided for the “exclusive right to occupy and use the Hughes-Dillard Alumni Center . . . for an indefinite term.” The BAA paid for the original construction and later remodeling. The BAA and Baylor worked closely on these legal definitions of the BAA's legal separateness from Baylor within an overall partnership, and the two parties came to a mutual agreement.
Mid- to late-1990s
The BAA continued the practice of repaying Baylor for all BAA employee costs, including payroll, health insurance, and tuition remission. The Baylor administration felt it was appropriate to allow the BAA to benefit from the university's infrastructure and purchasing power for such services.
2002-2005
Communication between Baylor and the BAA dwindled as Baylor President Robert Sloan created an alumni services department within the BU administration (for which he hired away the BAA's director and all but five of the staff), created an alumni magazine published by the university, and asked the BAA to give up the name Baylor Alumni Association and become the Baylor Line Society. This poor communication led to misunderstanding and reduced efficiency between the two groups. However, on February 12, 2004, Sloan and the BAA signed a “Services Agreement,” which Sloan had initiated at the insistence of the Board of Regents in an effort to restore the historical relationship and reconcile with the alumni constituency. This “Services Agreement” outlined the services that the BAA would perform for Baylor and the fees that Baylor would pay for those services as a reimbursement of direct costs for services rendered. This arrangement was agreed upon by both parties, implemented, and successfully executed.
May 11, 2007
After a Baylor Board of Regents meeting, the regents released the following statement: "The Regents recognize the common interest of Baylor and the Baylor Alumni Association in promoting the best interests of Baylor University. Baylor and the BAA should publicly and jointly express their commitment to: achieving the goals of 2012; the independence of the BAA; the maintenance of a harmonious relationship between Baylor and the BAA; the furtherance of the mission and historic Baptist heritage of Baylor University; and championing Baylor's Christian environment with educational excellence."
This statement was one of five joint recommendations reportedly brought to the full Board of Regents by a Regent Alumni Committee and the Baylor administration. Two of the five recommendations were approved by the full board—the first was the previous statement and the second was a recommendation that Baylor University not renew the “Services Agreement” when it expired in 2008. The other three joint recommendations were not approved by the full board, although one was reportedly given to Baylor President John Lilley as a directive by the regents. This recommendation was to renegotiate the overall relationship between Baylor and the BAA. It read, “That Baylor negotiate with the BAA to reach an agreement for an established term that clearly established their business relationship and supersedes all previous agreements between them.” The recommendation then enumerated a list of fourteen terms that Lilley was to follow. The terms essentially called for the separation of the BAA's financial and operational functions from Baylor's infrastructure, such as removing BAA employees as participants in the university's payroll and benefits systems, and asserting more input and control of BAA programs and its access to donor information within Baylor's database. Many of these terms were flagged, indicating practices that Baylor should institute as soon as possible in the event that a contract was not negotiated with the BAA.
July 17, 2007
President Lilley informed the BAA that Baylor did not intend to renew the “Services Agreement” with the BAA.
September 2007
The BAA retained a national firm to conduct a random survey of alumni regarding their perceptions of the BAA and Baylor.
October 6, 2007
In a meeting with the BAA's Board of Directors and Alumni Council, President Lilley, on behalf of the Baylor Board of Regents, requested that the association publicly express its commitment to five items, which included “achieving the goals of Baylor 2012.” President Lilley told those at the meeting that endorsing Baylor 2012 would give the BAA more influence with the Baylor administration and the Board of Regents and that not endorsing it would give the BAA less influence. In response, the BAA established an ad hoc committee to study the request. The committee's recommended response, which was approved by the BAA board on January 12, 2008, read, in part, “The Baylor Alumni Association supports the university's work on strategic plans and goals that are designed to enable the university to fulfill its mission.”
October 24, 2007
Through legal counsel, Baylor questioned the BAA's right to survey alumni in accordance with the License Agreement, questioned the quality of the survey, demanded immediate delivery of the survey's instrument and results, and cautioned the BAA about public distribution of the survey's results.
December 3, 2007
Through legal counsel, Baylor encouraged continued cooperation and requested that the BAA “commits to achieving the goals of 2012,” while also indicating that there were still matters of “compliance” that needed to be discussed and changed, including BAA’s “employment status, employee benefits, credit card security and privacy.”
January 12, 2008
BAA directors approved BAA executive vice president Jeff Kilgore's recommendation that:
- the BAA should begin establishing its own personnel system, including insurance, benefits, retirement, and payroll processes, and that
- the BAA should secure the technology to deliver its online communications independent of Baylor's server and website.
January 31, 2008
Kilgore informed President Lilley of these plans and the BAA’s goal to have these changes in place as soon as practical, as well as its intention to initiate necessary changes in insurance policy coverage related to negligent acts and indemnification, as was requested.
February 1 - May 31, 2008
The BAA engaged in ongoing and cooperative discussions with university officials related to these changes and implemented all these changes before June 1, 2008. The BAA accepted the university's request to continue using the 1-800 BAYLOR-U toll-free phone line and baylor.edu e-mail addresses.
July 24, 2008
The Baylor Board of Regents fired President Lilley.
July 2008
The BAA expressed public encouragement of the Board of Regents moving forward.
January 2009
The BAA retained a national firm to conduct a random survey of members regarding what professional experience and personal qualities alumni are looking for in Baylor's next president. The BAA sent the firm's summary of the survey results to all members of the Baylor Board of Regents.
February 4, 2009
Baylor’s vice president for development informed Kilgore that the Baylor Development Office's Call Center would no longer be available to the BAA for its summer membership campaign. The BAA historically paid Baylor $20,000 each summer for these services.
February 9-13, 2009
Through legal counsel, Baylor expressed concerns regarding the recent BAA membership survey. Baylor objected to any publication of the BAA survey results, claimed the results were inaccurate and misleading, and offered that the “Association acts at its own peril, regardless of how it wishes to categorize the survey.”
May 26, 2009
At the request of Baylor’s general counsel, Jeff Kilgore met with Baylor's counsel and the chief of staff for the president. In the meeting, the general counsel said that the university wanted to seek clarity of understanding concerning the 1993 License Agreement between Baylor and the BAA, especially in the area of the quality control that the licensor (Baylor) is empowered to exercise over any of the "services and products" that the BAA is licensed to perform or produce. The general counsel described their desire to "clean up" the practices of the BAA and the university in a way that matched the terms of the License Agreement. Baylor wanted a stricter differentiation between Baylor and the BAA, to the extent that the BAA only uses the names it is licensed to use—specifically, Baylor University Alumni Association, Baylor Alumni Association, and The Baylor Line for publications.
Baylor's general counsel presented the BAA executive staff with a cover letter and 22 pages of attached material. The cover letter read, in part, “Baylor requests that the BAA cease and desist all activity that is not within the scope of the License Agreement.” In the attached material, among the items listed as “Unlicensed Uses of the Baylor Mark,” was the BAA's website address (bayloralumni.com), the BAA's use of baylor.edu as e-mail addresses for its staff, and the BAA's presence as one of the options on the university's toll-free number (1-800-BAYLOR-U). Kilgore expressed concern about the impact of the letter on alumni relations and reminded Baylor's general counsel that the Baylor administration had previously requested that the BAA continue to use the university's toll-free number and to maintain baylor.edu e-mail addresses. Baylor's general counsel commented that the university had changed its position on those matters and desired that there be no way someone on the outside could confuse a BAA employee as a Baylor employee. The remainder of the list of unlicensed uses included the various continuing education programs that the university asked the BAA to inherit from them only three years earlier. The general counsel's cover letter demanded the delivery of a “report” concerning the BAA's compliance in approximately seventy-two hours from the delivery of the letter.
May 29, 2009 - mid-June 2009
A series of correspondence between Baylor's general counsel and the BAA's legal counsel concluded with a meeting to discuss and debate the university’s demands. The BAA's staff also met with Baylor staff on several occasions to discuss the logistics of transferring to an independent e-mail system and toll-free phone line.
June 3, 2009
The BAA learned that the link to the association's website had been removed from the “Alumni & Friends” page on Baylor's website. The BAA did not receive any advance notice from Baylor concerning this action, but instead was informed of it by confused alumni who noticed the absence of the link to the BAA, which formerly appeared alongside other alumni-related entities such as the Baylor Bear Foundation, Letterwinners Association, and the Baylor Network. The removal of links to the BAA from Baylor's website was not discussed at the May 26 meeting with Baylor's general counsel.
June 2009
BAA 2009 President David Lacy requested a meeting with the Baylor Board of Regents chair to discuss recent Baylor communications and actions. The Board of Regent chair indicated that recent actions were put in place a long time ago (presumably after the May 2007 BOR meeting) and therefore could not be stopped now. Lacy again asked for discussion on these issues. Later in the month of July, the Board of Regent chair asked Lacy what he perceived to be the price of editorial independence of the Baylor Line.
July 1, 2009
The BAA established its own website e-mail addresses, serviced by an independent provider.
July 14, 2009
The BAA sent a Baylor Line News e-mail to its members to inform them of the BAA’s new website address, e-mail addresses, and toll-free phone line.
August 20, 2009
Kilgore was told by a Student Life administrator that she was instructed to inform him that:
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BAA would no longer receive its customary $2 discount on Sing tickets as in the past.
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BAA would be required to begin paying for use of Bill Daniel Student Center to host our Homecoming events.
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BAA could continue to present our First Families of Baylor Award and Outstanding Young Alumni Awards on the Waco Hall stage during Pigskin and Sing, but BAA representatives would no longer be able to introduce the awards and recipients at the microphone. That it would be done by the emcee since it was a Baylor event.
August 21, 2009
Baylor Line editor Todd Copeland was informed by Baylor’s vice president of marketing and communications that instead of participating in the traditional Q&A section in the Baylor Line, Interim President David Garland would like to submit an essay about “what we (BU) understand about the relationship of alumni associations nationally to their 'host' institutions.”
August 24, 2009
The BAA learns that Interim President Garland reported to faculty that the BAA is "harming and damaging" Baylor University.
August 24, 2009
Baylor informed the BAA that Interim President Garland would not appear at BAA-sponsored events, including the Alumni By Choice luncheon, the BAA Annual Meeting, and the presentation of the W. R. White Meritorious Service Awards, and that he had a possible conflict for the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award Banquet.
August 27, 2009
After a lengthy exchange, Baylor denied the BAA’s eventual offer to provide Interim President Garland both essay space in the Baylor Line and a Q&A interview. That offer was declined by the university. On the same date, the university also denied a second request to provide a list of current students for the BAA’s reading enrichment program (along with an offer for Baylor Student Life to keep any program revenue).
August 28, 2009
After a number of inquires, Baylor PR officials officially inform the BAA that it has no plans to recognize or publicize the BAA's Sesquicentennial celebrating 150 years of alumni support and service to Baylor University.
August 31, 2009
A Baylor Board of Regent (BOR) representative contacted BAA President David Lacy and requested a one-on-one meeting in order to discuss the Baylor-BAA relationship.
September 2, 2009
The BOR representative met with Lacy and asked for Lacy’s endorsement of a university proposal requesting the dissolving of the BAA’s charter. Lacy reviewed the proposal and expressed concern and caution regarding the effect of the proposal. Lacy did not accept delivery of the proposal and returned the document to him that day. The BOR representative requested the opportunity to present this proposal to the BAA’s Board of Directors at its September 19 meeting.
September 3, 2009
Lacy suggested to the BOR representative that both boards agree to establish “a communication group” composed of members of both boards to begin an ongoing dialogue over several weeks or months to establish trust and address mutual concerns in the best interests of Baylor.
September 4, 2009
The Baylor President's office informed Kilgore by e-mail that “a series of conversations are occurring between members of our Board of Regents and the BAA governing board regarding the nature of Baylor's relationship with the Alumni Association.”
September 7, 2009
The BOR rejected Lacy's proposal to develop a communications group and insisted on moving forward with the presentation of the proposal to the BAA’s Board of Directors. He insisted that this transition could be completed within 30-45 days if the September 19 presentation was made.
September 8, 2009
Lacy continued to express concern and caution the BOR representative regarding the delivery of the proposal at the September 19 meeting. Lacy confirmed that BU administators would be able to address the BAA Board eventually but offered that the BAA Board should discuss the proposal alone prior to talking to the BU administration.
September 9, 2009
Lacy officially received a document delivered to his work office titled “A Proposal to Combine Resources and Enhance Alumni Relations,” signed by Baylor’s Interim President and Board of Regents chair. The proposal addressed to the Board of Directors, included an introductory case for support, asked the BAA to dissolve its charter, and for its total scope of operations and staff to become part of a “new Baylor Alumni Association,” which would be a division in University Development.
September 11, 2009
BAA’s Executive Committee met as part of its regular business, reviewed the proposal from Baylor, and took action, recommending to the BAA Board of Directors the establishment of a study committee to study the proposal and bring back a report and/or recommendation to the BAA’s Board of Directors at one of its upcoming meetings.
September 11, 2009
The BOR continued to insist on presenting the proposal to the BAA’s Board of Directors at its September 19 meeting. Lacy told the BOR representative that the BAA accepted his offer to speak to the BAA board but would defer the timing to a later board meeting, at which point the Board of Directors would have had adequate and appropriate time to hear a report and to discuss it internally.
September 18, 2009
Another document was hand-delivered to Lacy’s work office letting the BAA Board know that the university will make “themselves available for any level of inquiry or decisions concerning the proposal.”
For the past three years, BAA officials have continued to request direct discussions between the Board of Regents and the BAA leadership to improve communication, including both private conversations and appearances before the full Board of Regents during its official meetings to address any concerns and misunderstandings. To date, the Board of Regents has not invited BAA officials to any of its official board meetings since the Baylor regents’ decision to begin functionally and operationally separating the BAA in May 2007.
September 19, 2009
BAA Board of Directors meet, recognize the 150th anniversity supporting Baylor and serving alumni, hear a report on its five-year plan, and listen to the presentation from a BOR represtentative regarding BU’s proposal for the BAA to dissolve. The BAA’s board passed a motion establishing a study committee to examine the proposal and report back to BAA’s Board of Directors.
To read a pdf version of Baylor's proposal, click on Baylor Proposal.
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