Griffith Genesis - Alumni (Griffith University Alumni Assocation)

In November of 1982, Vice Chancellor of the time Professor John Willett, proposed to our Griffith University Council and our senior management, the need to establish ways for Griffith University to attract non-traditional sources of income. This idea was supported by the Griffith University Council and on 6 December 1982, Council established the University Development Fund. The Fund was allocated A$50,000 (over A$200,000 in today's money) and was to be used to attract non-traditional sources of income for our university. It is this original proposal and funding allocation that paved the way for the establishment of the Griffith University Alumni Association, which today forms part of our Advancement portfolio. 

With some dedicated funding now in place, Willett became more ambitious and proposed in October of 1983, the establishment of a Griffith University Development Association (GUDA). His original proposal for this entity suggested the body would be made up of around twelve members, all of whom would be appointed by the Council. Willett had high expectations for these proposed appointees.

"Members of the Association would be selected from people of ability and wealth, be of high repute and have a wide circle of professional business and personal friends. They should be able to provide direct contact with leaders in processional organisations, corporations and other funding bodies, and have the capacity and willingness to solicit funds for the University." (Willett - Memorandum to Members of Council 3 October, 1983)

Willett saw the Association being made up of four working committees or components. The first was the Annual Support Committee whose job it would be to promote giving from the community. Of note with this working party, Willett suggested that it should operate along the lines of an Alumni Association (Willett 1983). The second group would be responsible for raising funds from the business sector. There was also to be a Deferred Gifts Committee under the Willett model, which would be responsible for facilitating gifts made to Griffith through bequests. Essentially, people leaving money or estates to Griffith University in their will. And finally, a group that would be responsible for requesting funding from Governments, Foundations and Trusts.

In November of 1983, Council endorsed the establishment of a GUDA. It was now up to the Vice Chancellor to make it happen. In early 1984, Acting Vice Chancellor Professor Robert Segall (Professor Willett had retired by this time) began to form the GUDA.  A fundraising consultant provided a recommendations report in March of 1984. The report provided a basis, but Segall suggested that implementing all the proposals contained would not be possible due to limited finances and resources. However, as Segall was keen to see the GUDA established, this responsibility was handed to the University's Business Manager (Kevin See), a senior executive position at Griffith University back then. At this time, Segall also approached the University of Queensland and spoke to the Chairman of the University of Queensland Foundation for their advice on the set-up of the GUDA. Specifically, Segall wanted to know how they raised funds. The response from the Chairman was hardly encouraging.

"There is little hope in appealing to private sector in the current economic climate. The Queensland business community is not well disposed towards universities, and generous to any causes. Companies asked for A$50,000 offered A$1,000. Most companies provided up to A$500." (See & Quinlivan - Draft paper 'Notes for Discussion - ?? Alumni'??', 1985)

The Griffith University Business Manager conducted his research and approached overseas university alumni bodies for their thoughts. The overwhelming message was to start fundraising now and spend less time in discussion. However, our at the time Finance and Property Committee, that would report back to Professor Segall with recommendations, still had reservations about moving forward. The Committee's concern was that Griffith University was too new and finding enough people (outside existing staff) to be involved would be difficult. Yet another feasibility study was requested on how to attract funding from private individuals for Griffith University. This responsibility again fell to Kevin See. 

Kevin See (right) with a former student at a Griffith University Alumni Association event

Whether by procrastination or due diligence, it was not until April of 1985 that establishing a GUDA started to gain momentum again after the tabling of the requested feasibility study co-authored by See. The discussion paper circulated amongst our senior management and executive. The paper began with the following lines.

"The University has need of public support. Present financial constraints are likely to continue into the foreseeable future as successive Governments seek the easiest ways to reduce expenditure. Student applications are to some extent influenced by their perceptions of the status of the University." (See & Quinlivan - Draft paper 'Notes for Discussion - ?? Alumni'??', 1985)

As part of the paper, numerous activities other than fund raising were suggested that a new alumni body might involve itself in. These included inviting business representatives to come to speak on campus, provide social support for students, maintain contact with our graduates, and establish specific Griffith lobby groups to target getting support for research and our offering of professional services. Additionally, the paper suggested that current staff and students should be included in the new entity (as opposed to just former students and graduates), activities and aims should be diversified enough to attract as many members as possible, and that from establishment, the GUDA needed be seen as credible and principled. Essentially, the GUDA needed to be seen as having substance.

Proposed structure and actives for a proposed Friends of Griffith

By April of 1985, with our new Vice Chancellor Professor Roy Webb in place, the idea of an alumni group gained impetus. Several support organisation names, structures (see Friends of Griffith example above) and functions were submitted from across the Griffith community. Existing alumni group structures and activities at University of Queensland and University of Wollongong were also in the mix for consideration. Importantly, Roy Webb had moved beyond the use of terms like Griffith University Development Association, Friends of Griffith, and support organisation in the narrative. Webb determined that Griffith would have an Alumni Association. Roy Webb was a distinguished academic and had been a Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Melbourne before taking up the post of Griffith University Vice Chancellor. It was Webb's connection to, and knowledge of, the University of Melbourne, that would see Webb write to the Administrative Officer of the Alumni Association of the University of Melbourne, Trevor Wigney. This decision would heavily influence the establishing of our first alumni body.

Trevor Wigney was a leading figure in university alumni establishment and administration in 1980's Australia. Wigney is credited with establishing foundation alumni programs at the University of Western Australia and the University of Melbourne. In the 1980's, Wigney's expertise would see him advise universities around Australia on how to establish and run an alumni association. So valued were Wigney's insights into the value of alumni bodies and their potential as a vehicle for university fundraising, he was often asked to speak at conferences on fundraising and would even write articles for major Australian newspapers on the importance of universities maintaining relationships with their alumni. It would not be a stretch to suggest that Wigney was a father of Australian university alumni associations. Apart from being recognised as an astute administrator, Wigney was also considered to be a humble operator who was more than generous with his time. Against this backdrop, Wigney agreed to Webb's invitation to visit Griffith University and arrived during July of 1985 to fact find. He followed up his visit a brief report to Professor Webb in August of 1985.

"I see the alumni function ideally as part of a wider external relations or development function and I think Australian universities need to co-ordinate their activities in this respect much more consciously in the 1980's than they have ever done before." (Wigney 1985:1 Letter to Webb Record 8 B210)

As was Wigney's style, the report was observational, while at the same time being concise and circumspect. He advised Webb on some of the shortcomings and errors that had been made with the University of Melbourne's alumni administration. Essentially, Wigney suggested that Griffith could avoid future problems with its alumni association if it planned logically and practically. Wigney believed there were two paths that Webb could follow to start the association. His first suggestion was for Griffith management to encourage former graduates to start the entity, in consultation with of our university's administration. This model allowed former graduates more ownership of the association and how it would be structured and run. His second suggestion was the way the University of Melbourne had established their alumni association. This approach would see a steering committee formed by Griffith management that would establish and structure the entity before it would be handed to graduate students to run. This model had the clear advantage of allowing our administration to ensure it could support the fledgling organisation as things progressed. Wigney also pointed out the corresponding pitfalls with both approaches, while favouring neither model. On the one hand, he noted that if the initiative were to succeed, Griffith alumni should have responsibility for, and the power to make, decisions on how their association was structured and would run. Equally, he acknowledged the perils of Griffith administration having to eventually deal with and support financially, an entity they had little or no input into founding.

Wigney's report made several suggestions on administrative areas such as chapters (individual Schools having their own alumni groups), membership, subscriptions, communication channels for members, record keeping and graduate reunions. Wigney's thoughts on how Australian university alumni groups could and should function was influenced by alumni operations he had seen in action in both Canada and the United States. After he had completed a masters degree at Harvard in America and a Doctorate at the University of Toronto, he went on to work at the University of Toronto. Wigney was a particular fan of the way some U.S. and Canadian universities identified graduates by the year they graduated - for example the Class of 1978. Given our university's size at the time (in student numbers) with only five Schools, he thought there was an opportunity to promote this North American/Canadian class system to both graduates and existing students. He saw this idea of establishing a connection to Griffith - a unique Griffith identity for past and present students - as an important role for our alumni association. Wigney's view was that Griffith University at the time had not produced excessive numbers of students (teaching had only begun in 1975), when compared to other universities such as Harvard, Melbourne and Toronto. This point he believed put Griffith in a strong position to create a culture of connection with past and present students and encourage them to form an ongoing attachment to their university. He concluded that any alumni body, apart from its obvious role to keep graduates engaged with their university, should think outwardly and take on an entrepreneurial approach to its operations.

While Wigney's influence on establishing our Alumni Association cannot be downplayed, the actual administrative work to establish the body still lay before Webb and his relevant staff members. In October 1985, Webb established his working party and the terms of reference for the group. Dean of our then School of Industrial Administration and later Vice Chancellor of the Queensland University of Technology, Peter Coaldrake, was hand-picked by Webb as the Chair of the Alumni Association Working Party. The Terms of Reference were short and simple in detail.

"The objective of the working party is to develop proposals for an Alumni Association and to prepare a draft Constitution for such and an Association at Griffith University for consideration by the Vice-Chancellor." (Alumni Working Party Terms of Reference - Document 14a).

The University of Queensland Alumni Officer was invited to a meeting with the working party in December 1985. The working party thought that hearing the Officer's experiences with the University of Queensland (UQ) operation, would prove helpful. The working party quizzed the UQ Alumni Officer on many things such as the relationship their alumni group had with other groups at UQ, how they had structured and managed their database/records, what services/benefits they offered members, and how their group was funded. Apart from the input of UQ at this meeting, other important matters were discussed and established. Funding from 1986 of A$5,000 (towards A$17,000 in today's money) had been allocated by Webb for the Griffith University Alumni Association for admin activities. Also of note was the fact that Webb expected the working party to provide a report by the end of February 1986 that would detail when the first meeting for potential members would take place, a subsequent indicative members list with their details after this meeting, when the first newsletter would be sent out to members, and when the first official General Meeting of Alumni would take place. 

Professor Roy Webb's Terms of Reference for the Alumni Association Working Party

On February 19, 1986, the Alumni Association Working Party tabled their report to Webb. 

"On behalf of the Working Party, I am pleased to present to you our report. In doing so, we have been guided by, and acted in accord with, the terms of reference provided in your memorandum of 22 October 1985." (Coaldrake 1986:2 Report of Alumni Association Working Party)

The report provided Webb with a draft constitution for the Alumni Association. It also suggested what the legal and administrative structure of the new entity might look like, proposed membership eligibility criteria and membership fees, and what might be discussed at Alumni Association meetings. Amongst several discussion points in the paper, was whether the Alumni Association should be allowed to operate as an independent body, or whether it should be allowed to self-manage but required to report to the Vice Chancellor and the University Council. That latter approach was chosen by Webb given that Griffith would be paying for an Alumni Officer (as a Griffith staff member) and funding the association. Webb's decision to have 'control' of the Alumni Association was further influenced by the Working Party's note:

"To be successful, the Alumni Association must have the visible support of the Vice-Chancellor. As a significant public relations activity, the Alumni office should be located in the Vice-Chancellor's office in the same way that the Public Relations Office will be." (Coaldrake 1986:7 Report of Alumni Association Working Party)

Webb agreed that visible support from the Vice Chancellor was important in getting the group up and running. He established the Information Office (as part of the Vice Chancellor's Office) in 1986. The first inaugural General Meeting for the Alumni Association (although the group was yet to be officially incorporated at this time) was held in February of 1987. This meeting paved the way for The Alumni and Protocol Office to be initiated also in 1987. This office would sit within the recently established Information Office, mentioned above. Further developments in 1987 would see Webb and our Council ratify a constitution for the Association, and an election held to appoint the Association's first Executive. The Executive's first President was a graduate of our then School of Modern Asian Studies and the group's first meeting (with the Executive in place) was held in October of 1987.  Further to these developments (and there is nothing in our records to suggest exactly when), the Alumni Association's operating budget was increased by Webb at some point from A$5,000 a year to A$15,000 (towards A$47,000 today) a year. With the necessary administrative structures and financial supports in place, it was now time for our Alumni Association to begin its operation and activities.

Invitation to First Annual General for Griffith University Alumni Association