Alumni Council met May 5, 2018.
FRIDAY, May 25
The meeting convened at 9:10 a.m.
Members received an update about the kickoff for Our Path Forward: The Campaign for Kenyon.
They discussed ex-com for the 18-19 year.
- Sam Clougher self-nominated. It was voted on to discuss his VP self-nomination against the slate. The matter was discussed.
- Unanimous vote to approve the ex-com slate put forth by Cindy for the 18-19 year.
- Unanimous vote to approve Sam for a second-year appointment.
18/21 committee members had completed the pre-work. Final tally was calculated with the results from Survey Monkey and those who completed the paper ballots. 13/26 candidates received the majority of the votes. Christian calculated them.
Committee Reports
Each committee reported on their progress.
- Regional:
- Target Focus:
- Communications: Briefing book, relationship with communications team, awareness of Alumni Council, strategy for communication with alumni.
- In process of updating briefing book. Would like to give overview of each committee in the briefing book.
- Kamille’s graduation year is incorrect.
- Putting in writing the need for formal attire in the winter. Dress Attire. Running to do? Checklist. Inclusion of informal activities (Gregg Cup Luncheon)
- One-pager for both nomination page and those who are asked to attend. Big time and financial commitment.
- Janet is coming today.
- Social media presence has been created by Jody. Coordinating with Janet to make sure it represents Kenyon the way we want.
- Was happy to see number of self-nominations and the tent at Reunion Weekend.
Question: How do Alumni Council and Class Agents work together? Jack contributed that
President Decatur is going to put forth a committee to capture the vast amount of volunteer
efforts.
Question: How is the leadership of committees arranged? James clarified that they will be speaking to people during the break.
Kenyon Career Network Update
At 10:40 a.m. the CDO director walked us through the new Wisr platform.
President Decatur Update
At 11 a.m. President Sean Decatur came to speak to the council.
- Admissions: High yield rate, over 500 students committed to attending Kenyon after
May 1.
- April Accepted Students Weekend
- Construction Update: West Quad, Library, Downtown Gambier (Farr Hall).
- A lot of construction over the next 4 years.
- Kenyon Mission statement does not touch on campus or community values. Might be rethinking mission statement and re-launching over the course of the year.
- Rethinking and reworking the matriculation oath.
- What set of values does one commit to when they matriculate to Kenyon?
- Current students stated it would be helpful for them to be able to articulate that oath to one another.
- Developing the regular vocabulary on-campus about mutual respect and understanding about what we just do on a daily basis that can hopefully have impact of changing culture on campus.
- Alumni Trustee priorities
- No Latinx board members.
- No medical physicians.
- Connections to higher ed and academics in general.
- Opportunity for big picture view of alumni volunteer efforts at Kenyon.
- The floor was open for questions.
- When will we be updating dorms? Next project after West Quad.
- Diversity follow-up.
- President Decatur discussed his course.
- Availability of library resources.
Closed lunch.
Marketing and Branding Update
At 1:20 p.m. Janet from communications provided an update about marketing and branding.
- Simpson Scarborough
- Presented scope of quantitative research, began in fall
- First question was around perception (among prospects) and how Kenyon ranks compared to other colleges in the Midwest (self generated and then given list)
- Prospects were students who did not continue their college process with Kenyon. “Lost students.” They did not want to survey students who were in the process of deciding between Kenyon.
- Across audiences, Kenyon was identified as excellent by
- 41 percent prospective students
- 20 percent guidance counselors
- 28 percent higher ed peers
- 80 percent Kenyon students
- 82 percent Kenyon faculty (So high! Faculty numbers are not this high typically.)
- 88 percent Kenyon alumni
- Where do you need to be out there and in what way?
- Kenyon is ranked highest with those familiar with Kenyon, closely followed by all prospects, but we rank the lowest when Kenyon is not familiar.
- Familiarity among prospects: 6 percent never, 25 percent only know the name, 39 percent somewhat familiar, 31 percent very familiar. These are people on our list.
- Among prospects, Kenyon was 32 percent known for its creative writing program and 31 percent for its English program. Followed by 11 percent for political science and comparative world literature. Economics, political science and drama ranked higher among those familiar with Kenyon.
- Among prospects, where does Kenyon fall on the spectrum of colleges?
- 52 percent academically difficult, 40 percent innovative, 39 percent variety of academic offerings, 37 percent learning for life, 37 percent back up school, 19 percent homogenous student body, 14 percent affordable, 12 percent classroom lecture approach to learning, 11 percent cliquey.
- 8 percent academically easy, 20 percent traditional, 23 percent specialized academic offerings, 16 percent career preparation, 23 percent first choice school, 40 percent diverse student body, 48 percent expensive, 35 percent hands on approach to learning, 48 percent inclusive.
- The other percentages are of people who are unsure.
- Among prospects, what are the most important to you? Affordability, reputation, quality of faculty and students, safe campus, and job placement rates.
- Among prospects, what ranked at the bottom? Athletics, selective admissions, community service, alumni network, teaching methods, and global perspective.
- The top two associations with Kenyon College among prospectives are small class sizes, liberal arts foundation. Ranked in the middle and near the bottom (respectively) are those things.
- Less than 10 percent identified Kenyon with: affordability, graduates have high job placement rates, location in appealing city/town, abundant internship opportunities, undergraduate research opportunities, etc. Great visual that accompanied.
- High-need prospects affordability, safe campus, and high job placement rates mattered most.
- Low-or no-need many more different needs that were above affordability.
- Among prospects, thinking about the diversity of your ideal school, what is most important to you?
- Reasons to be hesitant about Kenyon among prospects: location in Ohio, campus is too isolated, too expensive; school is too small, located too far from a major city.
- Among low to no-need before “too expensive:” location in Ohio, campus is too isolated, school is too small, located and far from a large city.
- 55 percent of current students said academic experience is excellent, 26 percent excellent social experience. Of alumni, 68 percent said excellent academic experience, 44 percent excellent social experience.
- Strongly agree or agree Kenyon is a value
- 67 percent prospective students, 56 percent guidance counselors, 50 percent higher ed peers, 62 percent current students and alumni
- Off the charts impressive mentions of the president.
- Among current students: 75 percent of Kenyon students say that the College teachers students to use speech and writing to effectively, logically, gracefully, and persuasively communicate. 69 percent say Kenyon engages students in deep, meaningful conversations.
Next steps: diving deeper into the data, and asking — so how do we answer the questions the data raises
Question was raised about racial climate on-campus and the communication/messaging/action around that issue.
At 2:15 p.m. there was a closed nomination session for members only.