Report Suggests Successes And Shortcomings Of Columbia's Engagement With Alumni

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18 October, 2021

12:24 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY ZACHARY SCHERMELE OCTOBER 15, 2021A report released this summer by the Columbia Alumni Association's Task Force on Belonging suggests a series of successes and failures associated with the University's engagement of its more than 367,000 alumni. Out of nearly 2,200 alumni surveyed, the report found that an overwhelming majority experience a general sense of connectedness with Columbia. However, it also revealed a sense of rejection felt among racially and socioeconomically diverse segments of the alumni community. The report, released publicly on the University's website in August, shows 80 percent of alumni surveyed experience a general sense of connectedness with the Columbia community, and 17 percent reported feeling "very connected." But when respondents were asked whether they felt accepted as Columbia alumni regardless of their race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, only 22 percent of Black Alumni Council members, 39 percent of Latino Alumni Association members, and 48 percent of Asian Columbia Alumni Association members responded positively. When asked the same question only in terms of their economic and social class, the responses were even lower. The results of the report were compiled from the 2,188 responses to a survey that was originally sent to a 70,000-person sample of the alumni population as well as a smaller population of shared interest groups such as the BAC. The findings are the culmination of an effort that began with a January 2020 meeting, during which the CAA board identified "belonging" as the top priority of the organization. That decision led to the creation of a task force to specifically investigate how to build a stronger sense of belonging among alumni. Alumni engagement plays a central role in fundraising for the University. The ability in particular to attract major financial donors from the alumni pool has bolstered the University's ability to provide equality of access, as major financial gifts from wealthy alumni played a part in supporting Columbia's need-blind financial aid policy. In some cases, that policy has increased financial burdens on schools and therefore their reliance on alumni-driven fundraising campaigns. An alumni donation from the Vagelos family in 2018 of $250 million to the College of Physicians and Surgeons effectively eliminated loans for medical students who qualify for financial aid. University President Lee Bollinger's recent $1.5 billion effort to attract more money for student financial aid, the Student Support Initiative, will also rely on alumni giving, as will the Core to Commencement, Columbia College's annual fundraising expectation. While 83 percent of alumni called events "welcoming," 36 percent of respondents suggested they have at some point felt "out of place" at a Columbia event. They cited "school‐based silos, perceived cliques, experiences of imposter syndrome" and other reasons. "I frequently question whether I am welcome at Columbia events even though I am absolutely devoted to Columbia," one alumna, who is quoted in the report and identified as white and from the Bronx, said. "Something about the way it is marketed always feels like it is a closed club and I am intruding." Donna MacPhee, vice president of alumni relations and CAA president, said balancing the priorities of alumni engagement can be challenging, but she feels confident the organization is doing the work necessary to improve its ability to engage alumni at multiple levels. "So that is part of this task force's effort: to make sure that there aren't areas or segments of the population that specifically say, 'I don't know if the CAA is for me,'" she said. "We want to make sure there's that inclusion, and so that's why we've undertaken this effort." During a University Senate meeting in September, Genna Farley Fleming, associate director of diversity engagement for the CAA, presented the task force's five recommendations based on its findings in the report. The solutions include hosting at least one annual alumni-wide event highlighting the diversity and intersectionality of past students. The recommendations also suggest creating a plan to address ways to include segments of the alumni community, ranging from recent alumni to retired alumni, that are often disengaged. In the report, the task force commits to continuing to investigate and collect data about why some alumni decide not to engage with the community or participate in events. But the pandemic's virtual shift may have helped with those efforts, attracting close to 2,000 alumni who had never participated in events before. Fleming hopes virtual events could continue to attract more engagement and further the efforts of the task force at including all alumni equally. "Something that I've seen throughout this time which has been really remarkable, especially through our shared interest groups, has been being able to engage folks all over the world and bring folks together again who never would have had the opportunity to meet each other," she said. In a statement to Spectator, the board of the LAACU said it "strongly supports the work of the Task Force on Belonging and the information in its report" and "look[s] forward to working with them to create an even stronger Columbia community." Riley Jones, CC '17, president of the BAC, called the report's findings "a good understanding of where we are starting, and the work that we have to do," but added that a report that fails to precipitate action would not align with the BAC's stance that the University should take specific steps—including dedicating programming and spaces for Black students and alumni to convene—to address the feelings of exclusion and harm that alumni and students of color have faced. "We're well aware, and always have been, kind of where things stand," he said. "So if it's not precipitated by action, we're probably not going to be a fan of it." Deputy News Editor Zach Schermele can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ZachSchermele. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.