Alumni Groups
In order to address many challenges on the modern campus, ACTA helps alumni groups raise key issues and bring outside pressure on trustees to address such concerns as academic excellence, institutional traditions, and accountability. ACTA’s insider-outside approach has already met with demonstrated success at many colleges.
Committee for the CUNY Future
As academic standards declined in the face of open admissions, the Committee for the CUNY Future, a group of concerned alumni, formed to speak out on behalf of reform. The Committee wrote letters to the press, appeared at public hearings and coordinated a major attack against those who opposed remediation reform. The Committee’s high profile and articulate support of high academic standards provided the perspective and alumni input trustees needed to vote for reform. As a consequence, remediation was addressed and CUNY’s academic standards and profile have improved ever since.
Some time after this first initiative, Brooklyn College’s outstanding core curriculum was under attack by the deans and the president. The alumni group wrote to the Board and contacted the media in defense of the model curriculum. The core was retained. More recently, the Committee also fought—successfully—for the reappointment of reform-minded CUNY trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld.
Scholars for the University of Chicago
As the president attempted to modify Chicago’s acclaimed core curriculum, ACTA coordinated a winning coalition to oppose the dilution of the core. The group included alumni as well as prominent and former faculty such as Saul Bellow. As a result of their protests, covered in the New York Times and elsewhere, the president of the University of Chicago resigned.
Dartmouth Alumni for Open Governance
For nearly a decade, administrators at Dartmouth have attempted to revise the university Constitution to diminish alumni input. ACTA has been working with Dartmouth alums to challenge these efforts. Over a period of years, ACTA has issued numerous press releases—covered in the New York Times, Boston Globe, New Hampshire Union Leader, and many other outlets—on behalf of the alumni and also written to the college president and staff outlining the importance of alumni concerns. In the last three years, four petition alumni candidates have been elected to the board on reform platforms.
Dartmouth alums have thus been able to keep the institution focused on issues of quality and cost ignored by academic insiders.
Students and Alumni for Colgate (SA4C)
In recent years, the Colgate board of trustees has attempted to eliminate fraternity life and dilute the core curriculum. Alumni concerned about these trends came to ACTA for help, seeking counsel on the best ways to address these concerns and strategies for reform. With ACTA’s assistance, concerned Colgate alums launched SA4C. Over the years, ACTA has provided ongoing advice on the content of their alumni website, curricular studies, and alumni mailings.
Hamilton Alumni for Governance Reform
For many years, alumni at Hamilton have been concerned about political correctness run amok. In recent years, the president was found guilty of plagiarism, and deans and faculty brought Ward Churchill and convicted Weatherman Susan Rosenberg to teach. To counter these trends, ACTA has worked closely with concerned alumni and Hamilton Alumni for Governance Reform. The group has a prominent website and has played a major role in promoting petition candidacies for the board of trustees. Its activities have been covered by media from National Review and The New Criterion to Newsday and other publications across New York.
ACTA-New England
Reaching out to a pivotal higher education region in the country, ACTA has launched ACTA-New England. A group of distinguished professional, business and education leaders have formed a steering committee chaired by Harvard alumnus and educational consultant Dr. Melvin Bernstein. Other committee members include: Herbert Wiley Vaughan, Esq., of Hale and Dorr, Boston; and Mount Holyoke alumna leader Laura Rigsby.The New England group focuses on several areas, including core curriculum, political correctness, and high academic standards.
To learn more about ACTA New England, please email ACTA at info@goacta.org.
For more information, please contact Anne Neal, American Council of Trustees and Alumni, at (202) 467-6787, or e-mail aneal@goacta.org.