This article discusses the drawbacks of alumni merchandising, with alumni association directors voicing concerns about overloading alumni with solicitations and detracting from the associations' primary mission. It argues that if alumni associations must resort to merchandising, they should offer only high quality products. (MDM)

This article maintains that the best alumni magazines present lively campus topics on the cover and at the core of the feature section, arguing that too many alumni periodicals seek to be clones of general-interest commercial magazines. Examples from various alumni magazines are presented. (MDM)

Describes how Mount Holyoke College and its alumnae association are in a messy public fight over money, specifically who owns an annual fund to which 51 percent of the college's alumni contributed last year. (EV)

One of the hottest movements in banking right now is affinity credit cards. For banks, they mean a new source of credit customers. For institutions and alumni organizations, they can mean an easy, inexpensive way to keep the institutional name in front of alumni. (MLW)

Alimni associations have the power to bring about educational change if they will unite under a single banner. (HS)

The history of the American Association of University Women's work toward world peace, from its inception in 1881 as an alumni organization for women through its efforts through World War II, is chronicled briefly. (MSE)

Explains "purpose design," a planning and problem-solving strategy involving determination of planning purposes, generation and selection of solutions, specification of solution details, implementation, and evaluation. Describes the application of purpose design to the planning of an alumni association at Black Hawk College, a community…

An effective alumni relations program provides the base on which an overall program of institutional advancement can be planned and implemented. The alumni director and staff are essential to such a program, and the prudent college president will use the alumni board as a forum for advancing programs that benefit the entire institution. (MSE)

Describes the efforts of various college alumni groups to secure better funding for their institutions or promote other legislative causes. (EV)

The ways in which alumni associations trace missing alumni are described. Methods vary from listing lost names in alumni periodicals to paying credit bureaus to trace alumni by Social Security number. The U.S. Postal Service, which runs National Change of Address, sells access to its database of forwarding addresses. (MLW)

The most obvious reason for publishing an alumni directory is to encourage alumni involvement--both with each other and the institution. Concerns in deciding between low-cost and no-cost directory production are highlighted as are steps in producing a directory on campus. (MLW)

Affinity-group marketing--selling credit cards or insurance to people who have a lot in common, such as alumni--is booming. The IRS's case for taxing profits from credit card and insurance plans is discussed. The vehicle for collecting taxes would be the UBIT--the tax on unrelated business income. (MLW)

Harvard University has not fully divested from South Africa. Alumni Against Apartheid (AAA) is increasing the pressure by gaining a seat on the board of overseers and rallying support of students and alumni. This issue may become the spearhead of a general change in the institution's social policies. (VM)

Economic pressure has played a role in most clashes between independent alumni associations and their college administrations. Some pros and cons of independence are provided and some events of the past few years are described. (MLW)

Describes an alumni foundation formed at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, high school. Since 1972, the group has tried to promote the school by building pride in students and teachers, furnishing needed equipment, beautifying the campus, sponsoring "outside" educators, and rebuilding alumni loyalty. The key to success was good communication with the…