Travelling to six different cities
and meeting with Albion alumni from seven different
decades over the past two months, Donna Randall,
Albion College president, has seen the broad range
of interests and concerns of alumni toward their
alma mater.
The wide age demographic of alumni
attending the event lead to a variety of
suggestions, Randall said.
“Alumni from the class of 1956
favored a more controlled environment, such as
mandatory chapel, adults living in dormitories and
curfews,” Randall said. “More recent graduates spoke
of more experiences outside of Albion, such as
FURSCA, internships and study abroad opportunities.”
Earlier this month, “Albion College
in San Francisco”, an alumni event, was held for
alumni on the west coast to meet Randall and discuss
their ideas about the current state of the college
and what the college should do to improve for future
generations. Prior to the San Francisco event,
alumni events were held in San Diego, Tuscon,
Phoenix, Sarasota and Naples, Fla.
“Some alumni understand that things
change,” said Marcia Hepler Starkey, 1974 graduate
and associate vice president for alumni and parent
relations. “Yet some [alumni] think we should be a
little more like when they were in school here.”
According to Starkey, the decades
alumni attended shaped their impressions of the
college.
“In the 40s, men may have started
[Albion] in ’41, went to war and then came back to
graduate in ’48,” Starkey said. “Whereas in the 70s,
we were anti-everything, but that’s what was going
on in society.”
According to Randall, older alumni
show a strong interest in scholarships and have more
money to donate to the college than younger alumni.
“They [alumni from 1950s] always ask
about the cost of education and are always concerned
with the amount of scholarships offered,” Randall
said.
