In April, Swarthmore alumni will participate in an annual democratic ritual—the election of new members to the Alumni Council. Fourteen alumni chosen from seven geographic regions will join more than 50 other members in an organization that is often poorly understood.

What exactly is the Swarthmore College Alumni Council? Quite simply, it is the governing body of the Alumni Association, of which all graduates and former students are members. The council was created in 1937 during a reorganization of the association, which itself dates to 1882. Since its creation, the council has undertaken numerous projects and performed many different functions, often struggling to define its role at the College but still finding relevance today.

The council had its origins in the desire to bring alumni and the College closer together. In the 1930s, Swarthmore’s relations with its alumni were strained by changes at the College under President Frank Aydelotte (see page 20). The institution of the Honors Program and Aydelotte’s determination to bring the intercollegiate Athletics Program under the control of the College caused many alumni to question the direction of their alma mater. Efforts were made on both sides to close the gap.

For its part, the Alumni Association, under President William Tomlinson ’17, began publication of The Garnet Letter, the precursor to this magazine, in 1935. During the next two years, a Joint Committee on College-Alumni Relations worked out a plan to reorganize the association with an elected Alumni Council as its central governing body. One of its first initiatives was to urge the College to hire a professional alumni secretary. Carl Dellmuth ’31 began this work in 1938, and his office was the foundation of Swarthmore’s current alumni relations, public relations, and development programs.

Another initiative was to obtain alumni representation on the Board, which then—unlike today’s Board—had many nonalumni (largely leaders of the Society of Friends) among its members. The Board agreed, and the council recommended Thomas McCabe ’15, who became the first Alumni Manager—and later the first non-Quaker to be its chairman.

In an examination of the role of the association in 1948, President John Nason described it as follows:

Nason saw the functional role of the council as advisory on the determination of policy, collaborative in the support of students and alumni in their careers and in the recruitment of new students for the College, and fiduciary in the alumni’s “special interest not only in the maintenance of private higher education but of Swarthmore College in particular.”

According to Rich Truitt ’66, current president of the Alumni Association, today’s council is not too far off that mark. Council remains both an advisory and a service organization—and, although responsibility for fund-raising now lies with the administration, class agents, and the Board of Managers, it sponsors and promotes the Alumni Council Scholarship, established in 2000.

The current structure of the council was developed in the 1990s under the leadership of presidents Alan Symonette ’76, Jack Riggs ’64, and Elenor Reid ’67. Riggs says that “different people come on the council with different expectations, and although some members saw themselves as ‘ambassadors,’ others wanted to play a more active role in the affairs of the College.”

The council is currently organized in three “working groups”—alumni support, student support, and College advisory and support. As their names imply, each working group has taken on a set of projects that focuses on the needs of the constituent. The alumni group supports communications, alumni career services, awards, and Connections organizations in 13 cities. The student support group concentrates on connecting students with alumni, career networking, and the highly successful Externship Program. The College advisory group assists the Admissions and Development offices in finding alumni volunteers and has provided input and alumni representatives for several campus committees. (Detailed descriptions of these and other initiatives may be found at the council Web site http://www.swarthmore.edu/alumni/alumni_council.html.)

Since the Board of Managers’ December 2000 decision to eliminate football and wrestling from the Athletics Program, members of the council have made a concerted effort to involve alumni more closely as a sounding board in the decision-making processes of the College. This is “complicated,” says Riggs, who now serves as a Term Manager. “Because of the depth of Board members’ involvement—and the fact that currently all Managers are alumni—it’s easy for them to understand the rationale for certain decisions. But the Alumni Council can and does provide an important perspective on how others might see the Board’s actions.”

In fall 2001, the council arranged for meetings between members of the Board and administration and representatives of Mind the Light, an alumni and parents group critical of both the outcome and process of the athletics decision. One result of those meetings was an ad hoc committee to study the history and uses of consensus decision making at the College. That committee reported to the Board of Managers at its meeting in February (see Alumni Digest section).

Governance issues and the role of alumni in affecting College policy will continue to be debated. “The controversy over athletics gave the council greater visibility and there for more opportunity to be of service to the alumni and the College,” says Truitt.

Alan Symonette, a professional arbitrator and the first African American to head the Alumni Association (the first woman, the late Ruth Wilcox Mahler ’49 was elected in 1975), sees the council as “more active these days, more involved as a resource for the administration and the Board.” He points out that Alumni Managers now meet regularly with the executive committee of the council and that the nominating committees of both the council and Board have “refined the process” of selecting Alumni Managers, giving a stronger voice to the council. President Alfred H. Bloom has met regularly with the executive committee of the council and members, and the executive committee of the Board of Managers has also begun to meet annually with council members to exchange ideas.

Some would like to go much further in involving alumni in the governance of the College. Marshall Schmidt ’47, president of the Alumni Association from 1971 to 1973 and now a member of Mind the Light, acknowledges that the Board of Managers has “always been self-selected” but thinks that “alumni participation in the Board should be free and open. I would like to see at least one third of the Board elected directly by alumni.”

The Alumni Council is active in proposing names for Board nomination. There are currently eight persons designated as Alumni Managers serving four-year terms on the Board—about a quarter of its members. In addition, there are three Young Alumni Managers who have graduated within the past 10 years, selected by the Board’s Nominating Committee. The president of the Alumni Association also serves as an ex-officio member of the Board, and many former association presidents have gone on to become Term Managers.

The council is most visible to students and alumni through its service functions. Its successful Externship Program, initiated in the early 1970s and revived in the 1990s, placed 150 students in externships during this year’s winter break. The program is supported by the Alumni Relations and Career Services offices at the College. But recruitment of sponsors, hosts, and placement of students is handled by an active group of volunteers headed by Cynthia Norris Graae ’62 and Nanine Meiklejohn ’68. Another recent initiative was to contact alumni and parents living abroad, asking them to provide support for the increasing number of Swarthmore students who study outside the United States each semester.

The council has also sponsored career-networking dinners, bringing alumni in various fields to campus and introducing them to students interested in those professions. In 2002, more than 80 students attended these dinners.

Elenor Reid thinks that this relationship between the council and the College is “a wonderful model for the undergraduates—to see all these alumni who come back to campus and want to be of service.”

Former Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49, who observed and shepherded the Alumni Council for more than 30 years, sums up: “If we didn’t have an Alumni Council, we’d have to invent one. It’s a sounding board, especially in times of controversy or crisis.”