Long Overdue Annual Meeting of the Rensselaer Alumni Association (RAA)
Dear Concerned Alumni,
The first Annual Meeting of Members of the RAA in many years will take place on December 1, 2018, 12:00 pm, at the Heffner Alumni House, Alumni Conference Center, located at 1301 Peoples Avenue in Troy, NY. This meeting is open to all RPI alumni and will include continuing the dialogue on improving RPI, began at the Special Meeting of the RAA on October 8, 2018—which was called on behalf of a petition from Renew Rensselaer.”
If you are available, please attend the Annual Meeting on December 1st and help us encourage the RAA to serve as the “voice of RPI alumni,” especially given what we have recently uncovered regarding the RAA’s practices and its failure to fulfill obligations as an independent corporation; notably, the RAA Board does not hold an actual election for all Trustee positions as specified in its Charter, but rather appoints a slate of candidates they have selected. Additionally, our attempts to make extractions while examining the RAA minutes and access the membership list, both of which they are required by law to allow us to do, have been blocked by RPI. Therefore, our goals for this meeting include:
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Advocate for the RAA to comply with its Charter by holding competitive elections for Trustee positions and have more transparent election processes
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Hold the RAA and RPI accountable for following NYS legal requirements regarding examination of minutes and membership logs
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Ask that the RAA be much more reflective of rank & file alumni feelings/concerns to the RPI Board of Trustees
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Request availability of a section in the Rensselaer Alumni Magazine: “Letters to the President” from alumni
Many of you have expressed support for Renew Rensselaer’s Platform and the need for better governance at RPI. This meeting represents a great opportunity to express this support to your representatives as well as voice concerns about the decline of our Alma Mater, in addition to suggestions for improvement. RAA President Kareem Muhammad’s notice regarding the Annual Meeting listed discussion topics, one of which was a follow-up to the Special Meeting. Therefore, we strongly urge you to lobby the RAA Board to not only endorse Renew Rensselaer’s Platform, but to recommend it to the RPI Board of Trustees, as our Resolution from the Special Meeting stated—and which “carried overwhelmingly” during a vote of the alumni members present.
Thank you for your continued support, and we hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!
Sincerely,
Renew Rensselaer
