Fall 1998
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Fall 1998 |
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President Mees was certainly right in characterizing a college’s network of loyal alumni as the greatest of assets. The role of alumni in the life of their alma mater has always been pivotal. Career Services works with our loyal alums through the year, depending on them for advice, leads on job openings, and willingness to talk with students about their career options. A prominent role in the success of the “Vision To Be The Best” campaign can be ascribed to the network of alums who help Rose and enhance the educational opportunities available here. The lifeline for this support has been maintained by the Rose Alumni Association and its dozens of chapters around the nation. The Institute recognizes the strength that is derived from keeping alumni well-informed and involved in the life of the Institute. And it has been such since the earliest of days, almost since the first three graduates received their degrees in the summer of 1885. The story is not one of flash but of steady work paying good dividends. In June of 1887, just two short years after that first graduation, a group of alums met to create the Alumni Association, making it the oldest interest group at the Institute. Ben McKeen, a scion of a prominent Terre Haute banking family and member of the class of 1885, was elected chair. This handful of fellows stated a simple purpose. “1st, that the Alumni of the Rose Polytechnic Institute be formed into a permanent organization.” At the second annual meeting, held in 1888, the association named the Board of Managers, Trustees, President, and Faculty as honorary members. And, as would be true of any new group, certainly one composed of engineers, there was much discussion of a proper constitution. Provision was made for the first “class agents” in calling for the appointment of historians from each class “to prepare and preserve the history of his class.” This person would be expected to represent his class at the annual meeting and banquet. Business meetings took place on campus following graduation ceremonies. Since so many alums were local, many attended these early services. A banquet would follow, invariably held in the Terre Haute House, the hotel founded by Chauncey Rose. The association president would act as toastmaster and it was his job to foster a sense of fellowship that tied all of the men of “Old Rose” together in support of the school. The evening began at 6 p.m. with dinner. After the meal, as the smoke rose to fill the private dining rooms and enshroud the rather sated alumni, the toastmaster would call upon speakers, often at random, to rise and pay tribute to Rose and to share stories of challenging times as students. Each would try to outdo the other in laying claim to the class that had it the hardest (some things never change!). The evening would end well after midnight, with earlier departures for men having to catch the midnight trains. Gradually, as the number of alums rose and they dispersed around the Midwest and country, chapters were created to foster alternative meetings. Professors would often be invited and often President Mees would make the journey. By the mid-1890s chapters existed in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Cleveland, Louisville, Chicago, and New York. Spirit and enthusiasm was a factor of numbers, local leadership and the state of the economy. But what was being built was a sense of shared identity as Rose men with an interest in the welfare of the school and helping each other out as the opportunity arose. Looking through the scrapbooks of the association the reader finds a variety of issues discussed, many that seem rather trivial to the modern eye. Others, like a formal role in governance, rather significant. In 1893 the representatives of the Indianapolis chapter wanted the association to ask the students to restore the traditional cheer that had somehow been altered with a line that may sound a bit scatological. The traditional was transcribed as (and used at every banquet) R! P! R! P! There was also much interest in designing a lapel pin to be proudly worn by all alums, as was commonly done by fraternal groups. By 1895 the Association was being asked to appoint an official orator to deliver an address of welcome at graduation and to invite the new graduates to be guests at the evening banquet. The most significant effort of the alumni to be involved with the management of the school came in 1896. The St. Louis and Indianapolis chapters asked the Association to discuss with the Board of Managers an enlargement of the board to include three voting members elected by the Association. This generated much conversation among Board members. The articles of incorporation that governed the board since 1874 would have to be legally revised, something not to be done lightly, then as now. But, after a year of discussion back and forth, the Board offered two slots and the Association eagerly accepted. The goal of formal Association involvement in the management of the school had been obtained. The Board asked only that the Association adopt a more formal constitution. Adopted in
June 1897, article one stated the purpose. It was and remains “For cooperation and
unanimity of action in matters pertaining to the interests of the Institute and for the
purpose of promoting and maintaining a feeling of good fellowship among the Alumni, the
Association has been formed.” In less than 20 years, the Alumni Association had established itself as a valuable asset providing expertise, money and vision to help guide Rose into the 20th century. As we prepare to enter the 21st century, alumni continue to build on the strong foundation laid in the late 1800s. — by John Robson
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