This Pisses me off!!

Lafalum · This Pisses me off!!

I got a solicitation in the mail from Liberty Mutual that was part of a mailing linked to Lafayette Alumni Assn. I really take strong exception to selling our names. I intend on writing the president of the alumni assn. Who else have they sold our names to??

Franks Tanks · Re: This Pisses me off!!

TheTruth

You fellows are making more out of this than it really is.

The College works with vendors to sell alumni various services, credit cards, international travel and it sounds like insurance now. The Alumni Assoc. makes money off of these services to supplement the budget. The college provides the contact information. They have been doing this for a while.

The postcard you got was for the upcoming alumni directory. Harris Publications handles this and has for many, many years. You have gotten these calls and psotcards in the past. This information is only used by the College and Harris for the directory. That's it.

Many colleges have these mailings as well.

Franks Tanks

Lafalum

ranger

What pisses me off- No changes in Athletic budgets after 2 years of study- Football has same equipment and recruiting amounts as Russo had 10 years ago; upcoming Capital Campaign with athletics being ignored; and Endowment Losses of $40million, $70million, $100million are numbers I have heard. When do Alumni revolt?

Lafalum

Actually I hear athletics IS in the campaign at the moment ( that has yet to be approved by the BOT) So, we will see in the coming weeks.
But I agree this is a weak BOT leadership who continually looks to the short run and refuses to plan for the long term ( 10 plus years).
1/2 of the new hires are coming out of endowment which has surely been hit. ( nearly 40 pct of the endowment is in hedge funds I hear)

Franks Tanks

TheTruth

TheTruth

ranger

To the Truth- Bruce admitted with 15 people in the room that Frank's Recruiting and Equipment budget is the same as Russo's during Friends of Football Steering Committee meeting last Saturday.
That is the real truth. Try getting informed. Ask Bruce, ask Frank and ask Bourger. They know the truth.

Lafalum

I can verify that statement. I can also verify that the athletic dept is short one trainer resulting in lack of coverage for some sports at practice and at away games. I can verify that many asst coaches are not paid even minimum wage and to call them full time employees is a joke. I can also verify if it wasn't for the generousity of the many people who donate to the "Friends of " organizations we'd be a terrible fix!! And a shout out to a strong group of committed, large donors who without their support we'd be playing Moravian in our "big" rivalry games.
The BOT has done squat for athletics and it has been these alumni that have gotten it done when needed.!!

ranger

If this BOT has indeed been at the helm with $40-$100 million in Endowment losses, they should have the decency to resign. That is Chairman, Chair of Investments and the President at the very least.
I suspect they will point fingers and want to maintain their perceived power and respectability. By the way the document entitled LAFAYETTE COLLEGE PRIORTY OBJECTIVES: 2008-2015 serves as the basis for the upcoming campaign. Page 4 has $20million for Endowment for Varsity Athletics. That is at least $40million short just to bring current athletic budgets up to levels appropriate under the study Weiss had done 2 years ago. Those are the facts and the truth. This document has been given to the 50 (expected) largest donors.

TheTruth

Let's get more specific. You say the recruiting budget and equipment budget are the same as the Russo. Sorry Bruce, Frank and Jack say these budget items are at the same level.

What exactly does Frank need in the area of recruiting? Last I remember, Frank has been getting the majority of his recruits in the first two recruting weekends in January/February. and the coaching staff has been very pleased with the past few classes. I know we struggle against the Ivies but that is a different issue. they also have access to cars during the recruiting period donated by an alumnus. Again, what do they need in this area?

What equipment does the team need that they don't have? Do players not have shoulder pads or turf shoes? Or are we upset because each player doesn't have $40 Under Armour to wear under their equipment?

This is why the Friends of Football was created after the athletic study in 2000 (or was it 1999). To raise money to support the football program. the College saw we had over 1400 football alumni and less than 10% was giving to the College. Tremendous giving potential! The money raised pays for the recruiting secretary, addiitional recruiting services, equipment per Frank's request, etc. The last numbers I received was the Friends of Football raised over $300k (may have been $400k). Russo did not have access to this kind of money. And I have to ask, what are they doing with this money? (I know the answer but since I am not informed, I'll let you all answer this).

Oh and I forgot didn't we just complete a $30 million renovation of Fisher Field. Instead of the Jumbotron why not create a fund to help with equipment and recruiting. Heck a $2 million dollar endowment fund would spin off $100k each year for the football team. Instead we get the best replays in Division 1-AA but we don't have enough money to buy equipment for our players.

I been hearing about the budget from Frank, Bruce and Jack for over a decade now. I gues the question I have is what else do they need???!!!! What is missing specifically? The football program has received a tremendous infusion of support over the past few years. yes it has been through fund raising but this is how things get done at Lafayette and other schools like ours. How do you think all those academic programs and facilities were supported? Alumni donations and foundation grants., not budget. Russo would still be here if he had this type of alumni support. So they may have the budget amount but Frank has access to millions of dollars more than Russo could ever dream of.

Regarding the Campaign Support document since I don't donate enough to get one sent to me, does it identify the areas of support within athletics? Again, specifics not just dollar amounts. This will tell you the direction the College is going. this is the important part not the $$$. Plus I would love to read about what they have planned.

Lafalum: Can you provide the amount of money budgeted for the football program including financial aid, game day setup, travel, recruiting, coaches salaries, etc.? Also can you provide how much revenue the football program generates in each year?

How did this topic get from Liberty Mutual solicitatons to football budgets????

Lafalum

To answer your question simply, it cost more money to field and outfit the football team than it earns in revenue. However, it is an activity that is unifying for the college, attracts alumni to come back and gives us an opportinity to solicit for the many needs of the college.
Excluding Lehigh, averaging 6000-7000 fans per game, the revenues are insufficient to cover the expenses. Even with Lehigh game revenues it would not cover 400-500 k in salaries, 200,000 in equipment, another 200-300 in travel, recruiting etc. I am leaving out aid because I would assume the aid would be spent elsewhere, but aid is the equivilant of about 55 full time students. That does not include PR expense and other allocated expenses etc. Offsetting the shortfall, your are quite right, is the Friends of Football, but I can assure you if Lafayette eliminated or downgraded football, donations for the college from some of our largest donors would be severly impacted...... big time.
Regarding the budget, the college has been raising expenses from the budget for items in the rest of college, 4-6 pct per year. Athletics has been held to 1 pct. Salaries for administrators and total staff has more than doubled in the past ten years. Professors teach less students for less hours ( try to get away with that in industry over the last ten years) while coaches and staff are putting in more hours for essentially the same pay. ( with the exception of Tavani and O Hanlon).
Donations have made a difference but it is hand to mouth. Donors have supplied resources when asked by the coaches ad hoc, and therefore makes planning difficult. I don't see professors for the most part making calls to alumni to get the necessary funding for their conferences etc.
Yes, it is right to have academics first, but did we really need to spend 10,mio on third street, do we really need a new dean for diversity, do we really need the six or seven asst deans we have now. Virtually every major athletic capital project at the college was initiated, funded, and driven by alumni, 100 pct, unlike most colleges. If you want a dorm named after yourself for example, you just have to put up 1/3 of the cost. Quite frankly if Jim Fisher wants to buy us a jumbotron, God bless him!! I just want the college to pay living wages to asst coaches which they don't, provide enough trainers for all the sports, which they don't, pay for facilities, before some alumnus, who has a son daughter playing on a team, feels oblidged to foot the bill, that should have been paid by the college capital budget.

.....and getting back to the original topic.... given my support,loyalty etc I would expect respect for my privacy and not have my name sold to an insurance company without getting my permission first. I have no problem with the College asking me if I want to participate in some program for alumni but it PISSES me off to get a direct solicitation from the insurance company. Who else have they sold my name to? Do they give away demographic information based on my giving history, address etc? The college has a deep source of personal information which is a gold mine for marketers but I expect the college to keep that confidential.

TheTruth

Lafalum: You have to understand that Frank and the football program has no bigger supporter than me. I agree 100% with your post but the reality is without the support of the Friends group, we would be Div. 3 right now. That is something everyone has to understand when they make comments about the budget. Football is a huge drain on the College's and athletic's budget. Yes it does wonderful things for the college as far as comraderie and school spirit. To me and others on this forum, that can't be measured by dollars and cents. But to those who have to balance the budget, it's a different story. Do I wish for better salaries for our coaches, of course. Do I think we should have the latest and greatest, yes. but not at the expense of raising tuition out of control. We are already having difficulty with that.

Please call the Alumni Office and ask about the mailings. My understanding is the information is not sold but is a cooperative effort between the Alumni Office and the companies. You should be able to opt out of these mailings with no problem. Also voicing your opinion, respectfully, should stir up a discussion at the next meeting. If you have the feelin that your information is being sold, imagine what a disengaged alumnus feels.

BTW, yes we are very top heavy in management at the college. I don't agree with the new hire of VP of Diversity but understand that Lafayette's difficulty with diversifying the student body warrant such a commitment. After participating in too many meeting discussing diveristy at the college, I'm convinced they need a wholesale cleanout of markle Hall to make a difference. That's not going to happen. And that is another discussion.

Pard4Life

If we lost $40-$100 million, which I find hard to believe, then it is not because of our hedge fund concentration. They somehow have been a bright spot as a group, just trailing the benchmark indexes. However if we were in one fund, which I sure as heck hope we are in some sort of fund of funds, then we could see loses. And yes I believe that HF percentage is correct. Even if the BOT had a terrible performance and made poor choices, who will hold them accountable? Inbred families and leadership don't eat their own. And we alumni can't do a thing about it.

Pard4Life

And ps we should only be 10 percent max in hedge funds. It is careless and dangerous if we are that heavily concentrated. Then again, they are no less dangerous than financials, so go figure. Shows you we are being very aggressive growing the endowment. Guess tuition hikes are not enough.

Lafalum

I agree with P4L. We are leveraging leverage. When we build a building we collect the money from the donor then we borrow in the tax free mkt and invest that money (presumably at a return higher than the interest cost) by investing in a hedge fund that is levered (and they all are) We are leveraging leverage. This is one of the reasons our returns have been so high. There is risk ( even if you are invested in multiple funds)
First, you may not be able to roll over your borrowings if there is a credit squeeze or freezing up of the mkt.
Second, that the hedge fund can't borrow to sustain its positions.
Three, You can't liquidate your hedge fund to pay off borrrowings.
All that being said they have done very well to date though I understand last fiscal year they lost 4 pct (32,000,000) The fiscal year ended June 30 and no one is talking about what has happened in the last three months.

Bottom line 10 pct exposure to hedge funds is prudent not 40 or 50 pct.

TheTruth · Got my mailing

I got my Liberty Mutual mailing. I guess this is a "perk" from the Alumni Association. They sure could have done the mailing differently.....

ranger

Was told by a trustee $32m loss at 6/30 had grown to $70m by end of August, then heard from non-trustee losses were now at $100million. Hedge funds not fund of funds comprised more than 40% of portfolio. Disgraceful!

Lafalum

All I can say is wow.....time for heads to roll. That hedge fund exposure is outrageous!!! I know they were counting on endowment to fund 1/2 of the new hires!! And how do you launch a campaign in this environment!!
I do know that last year they lost 10 mio to that hedge fund that was started by the portfolio mgrs from Harvard. Was that Soheto or something like that??? The value of that investment went from 10 mio to 0 in two years. That should have been a wake up call!! And why heads should roll!!! Totally irresponsible

Pard4Life

You can say that again that heads need to roll... if this were a real board at a real company they would have been tossed awhile ago. They do not have to be accountable to anyone. Where is the school newspaper? I'm tired of reading fluff stories and others without substance... ask questions guys.. "gee the market has tanked... gee I wonder how our endowment is doing.. let's ask"

There has to be something done to remedy this... can major donors with hold money until we get some accountability and transparency? Then again, the major donors ARE the BOT, for the most part... clever bunch.

TheTruth

Any suggestion as to whose head should roll? The members of the BOT are volunteers. The VP of finance has only been there a year, I believe. That's hardly any time to have an influence on our investment policy.

I'm not saying we shouldn't be upset but we also need to fix the problem first then we can play the blame game.

I guess if this was a board at a company, we could always ask for a government bailout.

Lafalum

Franks Tanks

TheTruth

Lafalum

I have heard Lafayette had 18 mio in the "common fund" which Wachovia is the trustee. It is a 9.2 billion dollar fund that many colleges invest in. Investors have been told they can only get 10 pct of their money right now but it may be a long time before all the their money is recovered.

Given everthing going on, how can we launch a campaign....if we were an ordinary business would we be hiring new faculty and reducing the size the of student body in this environment??? I don't think so. Time to rethink!!

********
CNBC's David Faber this morning reported that the quarterly reports for hedge funds is "horrendous" with losses of 20-40% for september alone. With 40% of our endowment in hedge funds we would have to be EXTREMELY lucky not to have a big hit!!!

TheTruth

Lots of colleges are going to be hurting because of Wachovia. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw some colleges go out of business in the coming years....

Regarding the campaign, they can always delay the launch or extend the "Quiet Phase". I don't think there is any hard start time.

I couldn't agree more about reducing the student body. Unfortunately, I think that ship has sailed.

This Pisses me off!!

Re: This Pisses me off!!

Got my mailing