Institutional Renewal of the USC Alumni Office

ADVISORY ON THE USC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

To: All USC alumni and the Carolinian Community

Re: Institutional Renewal of the USC Alumni Office

For more than two decades now there has been an ambiguity in the functional identity of the USC Alumni Office. On the one hand it is presumably the principal office tasked to manage USC’s alumni activities and to coordinate all alumni chapters; on the other hand the Carolinians Incorporated tended to assume those responsibilities and perform the same activities as well. In the best of times the overlap can be a valuable asset towards cooperation; in the worst of times it can lead to operational impasse. Hence the recurrent question: “To whom should USC alumni pledge their allegiance – to the University or to Carolinians Incorporated?”

Over the past several months the University President has been in communication with members of the outgoing and incoming Board of Carolinians, Inc., either directly or through the OIC for Alumni Affairs, Fr. Mar Alingasa, SVD. Discussions covered a broad range of topics, e.g., the definition of alumnus or alumna, the essence of an alumni organization together with its mission, structure, membership and activities, how chapters should relate to each other, traits of an ideal Carolinian alumnus and so on.

It is our pleasure to summarize the consensus at this point in the following statements. (a) The USC Alumni Association will be reinstated as the proper institutional organization, with a governance body to be constituted by the University Administration. The OIC for Alumni Affairs will issue the appropriate guidance and information. (b) Historically Carolinians Incorporated holds the distinction of being the first to be constituted not only as chapter of the USC Alumni Association but also as its first chapter based in Cebu. As a corporation, however, Carolinians Inc. cannot but be a juridical entity distinct from the USC Alumni Association. Accordingly CI accepts its operational status as an autonomous alumni chapter with its own constituency of life-time members. (c) Other alumni may choose to organize in the country and abroad under the guidance of the USC Alumni Association which shall accredit them as official chapters. All others who wish to organize independently as alumni associations are certainly free to do so; all USC insists on is that these should explicitly declare their autonomous status from USC.

Who then are USC alumni? USC alumni come from every segment of society, sharing common experience as USC students and graduates. They recognize that USC has enabled them to build professional foundations, rich personal relationships, moral convictions and the Christian idealism needed to enrich the unfolding of their daily lives.

The USC Alumni Association then forms a constituency that exists to promote the mission of the University of San Carlos to pursue educational excellence, broaden friendships among member alumni, and sustain loyalty to Christian ideals. This human network encourages individual alumni to emulate as closely in their family, social and professional life the ideals enshrined in the University motto: Scientia, Virtus et Devotio. Finally the association hopes that the interest stimulated for its alma mater also translates into voluntary support for its concerns. May your membership benefit you, and may you benefit many fellow Carolinians.

In the Spirit of the Word,
Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda,SVD