Chapter 3337-37 | The Naming of University Assets and the Formation of Alumni Organizations

Rule 3337-37-10 | Naming university assets.

• Effective: June 15, 2019
• Promulgated Under: 111.15

The version of this ru;e that includes live links to associated resources is online at https://www.ohio.edu/policy/37-010

(A) Definitions

(1) As used in this policy, "University Assets" shall mean:

(a) Buildings owned, leased or controlled by the university;

(b) Exterior spaces and roads on property owned by the university;

(c) Organizational units of the university such as colleges, departments schools, centers and institutes;

(2) "Contributions" shall mean gifts of money or real or personal property or a promise of such gifts in the future as documented in a gift agreement.

(3) "Gifts-in-kind" shall mean non-cash donations of materials or long-lived assets as well as donations of real and personal property. Gifts-in-kind may be considered to be contributions for naming purposes but only upon the express written approval of the president upon recommendation of the vice president for university advancement and the vice president for finance and administration.

(B) Naming procedure

(1) Names assigned to university assets in recognition of the outstanding service or merit of an individual or entity must be approved by the university board of trustees upon recommendation of the president after appropriate consultation.

(2) Names assigned to university assets in recognition of contributions must be approved by the board of trustees upon recommendation from the president, subject to the following conditions.

(a) The contribution must conform to the minimum gift level for the type of recognition in question, as established by the division of advancement and the Ohio university foundation board of trustees.

(b) Naming in recognition of a contribution shall occur only after the contribution is received in full unless express written approval is obtained from the president after consultation with the vice president for university advancement and the vice president for finance and administration.

(c) The construction or renovation of a named university asset must be approved in accordance with established university procedures.

(d) The university board of trustees may, within its sole discretion and after consultation with the president and the vice president for university advancement, revoke its approval of the name of a university asset if it determines that the individual or entity whose contribution is recognized has engaged in an act or omission that reflects negatively on the perception or reputation of the university. The foundation board shall also be consulted if the contribution was made to the foundation.

(3) If a university asset named either in recognition of service, merit, or contribution, must be removed or substantially renovated because of obsolescence or to serve the financial or programmatic needs of the university, the name may not be transferred to a replacement or successor asset.

(4) Names in recognition of contributions may be assigned to programmatic endowments, scholarships, spaces within buildings and other types of institutional support consistent with division of advancement policy.

(a) The vice president for university advancement may approve the naming of programmatic endowments, scholarships, and other types of institutional support after consultation with the executive vice president and provost and the affected dean, chair or director.

(b) The president may approve the naming of spaces within buildings on the recommendation of the vice president for university advancement after consultation with the executive vice president and provost and the affected dean, chair or director.

(c) The president, after consultation with the executive vice president and provost, the vice president for university advancement and the affected vice president, dean, chair or director, may revoke approval of the name of a programmatic endowment, scholarship, space within a building or other type of institutional support if he or she determines that the individual or entity whose contribution is recognized has engaged in an act or omission that reflects negatively on the perception or reputation of the university. The foundation board shall also be consulted if the contribution was made to the university foundation.

The version of this rule that includes live links to associated resources is online at https://www.ohio.edu/policy/37-010

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3337.01
Amplifies: 3337.01

Rule 3337-37-20 | Formation of alumni organizations and sponsorship of alumni activities.

• Effective: December 15, 2019
• Promulgated Under: 111.15

The version of this rule that includes live links to associated resources is online at https://www.ohio.edu/policy/37-020

(A) Purpose

To provide colleges, schools, departments, sanctioned student organizations and interest groups, and alumni at-large with policies and implementation procedures for establishing alumni organizations and for sponsoring alumni activities with the primary purpose of promoting the mission and purpose of Ohio university.

(B) Policy

Ohio university officially recognizes only one alumni association. The Ohio university alumni association in accordance with its bylaws and directives must charter all alumni organizations, clubs, groups, societies or corporate partners. Failure to conform to the following procedures can result in the revocation of the group's charter.

(C) Procedures

(1) Establishment of alumni organizations

(a) The Ohio university alumni association, the official alumni association of the institution, grants charters to alumni groups. These groups may represent colleges, schools, departments, groups based on interests or affiliations, corporate entities or organizations, or be based on a geographic location where critical masses of alumni reside. The alumni association recommends the designation "Society of Alumni and Friends" for university entities (i.e., college, school, department or interest group organizations); "Chapter" for geographically based organizations; and "Partner" for groups based on corporate or other programmatic affiliation. The term "association" may not be used for an alumni constituent group's designation.

(b) The assistant vice president for alumni relations at Ohio university, or his or her designee, shall be contacted about procedures for establishing constituent alumni groups. The bylaws of the Ohio university alumni association define the procedures for establishment of such organizations. Adherence to these procedures is required of all groups desiring to form alumni organizations. The procedures outline the requirements pertaining to membership and administrative policy for these organizations.

(2) Sponsorship of alumni activities

(a) Role of the office of alumni relations

The office of alumni relations will assist university units planning or sponsoring alumni activities on campus.

(b) Communications

The office of alumni relations, which coordinates all alumni association programs, must be consulted in advance of all planned alumni activities sponsored by colleges, schools, and departments of the institution. Announcements of alumni activities and programs must first be reviewed and approved with the office of alumni relations to ensure that no scheduling conflicts occur, and advancement communication and marketing to ensure that style and brand guidelines are met.

All communications from the alumni organizations, including minutes of meetings, announcements of events, agendas, newsletters, flyers, and web pages must be reviewed on a regular basis with the office of alumni relations and advancement communication and marketing staff. Official publications must state that the organization is officially chartered by, recognized by, and affiliated with the Ohio university alumni association. (Please refer to policy 31.010, "Publication of Periodicals Distributed to Off-Campus Audiences," for procedures concerning periodicals and newsletters distributed off campus.)

(c) Mailing lists

Advancement services will assist units and departments by providing convenient, timely retrieval of information, including online access and the generation of mailing lists for delivery to the Ohio university mailroom (or other approved mail house or vendor), and the generation of email lists for use by advancement communication and marketing (ACM) on behalf of units and departments, as needed.

ACM provides broadcast email services to Ohio staff and alumni volunteers.

Advancement services does not provide postal or email mailing list files (e.g. .csv or .xlsx files) to units, departments or other partners.

Alumni groups, colleges, units and departments needing support in connecting with alumni and friends should contact their Ohio alumni association liaison by phone at 740-597-4300 or by e-mail at [e-mail].

(d) Fund raising

Alumni organizations must consult the office of development if they plan to conduct fund-raising projects. (Please refer to policy 37.001, "Fund Raising from Private Sources.") Likewise, any alumni organization that desires to charge dues must first consult the office of alumni relations.

(e) Logo design

The Ohio university alumni association utilizes the official university logo, an official associate brand logo, and/or an accompanying Ohio alumni association mark. One of these logos must be a component of all printed materials of alumni organizations, and must be a component of the home page of any alumni organization's web site.

(f) Services

The Ohio university alumni association sponsors a number of special membership service programs for all alumni. These include an alumni travel program, life and health insurance, a merchandising program, credit card program, and web services program. Alumni organizations are not permitted to sponsor special service programs without prior approval of the assistant vice president, alumni relations.

The version of this rule that includes live links to associated resources is online at https://www.ohio.edu/policy/37-020

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3337.01
Amplifies: 3337.01

Rule 3337-37-30 | Alumni records.

• Effective: December 15, 2019
• Promulgated Under: 111.15

The version of this rule that includes live links to associated resources is online at https://www.ohio.edu/policy/37-030

(A) Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that consistent, accurate information about alumni is readily available to all appropriate constituencies within the university in a timely fashion. Our alumni should not have to provide the university with information more than one time, and their requests for restrictions on use of the information must be respected. This policy supports Ohio's compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, a law that sets rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, and gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them.

(B) Policy

Advancement services, in the division of university advancement, will maintain a centralized database of official alumni records. Advancement services will ensure that disaster-recovery plans are in place, including routinely storing a backup copy of the centralized database files in a non-adjacent building.

Advancement services will assist units and departments by providing convenient, timely retrieval of information, including online access and the generation of mailing lists for delivery to the Ohio university mailroom (or other approved mail house or vendor), and the generation of email lists for use by advancement communication and marketing (ACM) on behalf of units and departments, as needed.

ACM provides broadcast email services to Ohio staff and alumni volunteers.

Advancement services does not provide postal or email mailing list files (e.g. .csv or .xlsx files) to units, departments or other partners.

Colleges, units, and departments are not to maintain separate, "shadow" databases of biographical (including mail and email addresses) and gift data on Ohio university alumni, in either electronic or hardcopy format. They may keep, and use internally, temporary working copies of information generated directly from the central database.

(C) Procedures

(1) General

All departments needing access to alumni and donor information should contact advancement services, by campus mail, or by e-mail to [e-mail]. Broadcast email services can be requested online at https://www.ohio.edu/alumni/email/.

Units and departments needing postal mail lists or other support in connecting with alumni and friends should contact their Ohio alumni association liaison by phone at 740-597-4300 or by e-mail at [e-mail].

(2) Data

Departments will work with advancement services to incorporate all alumni information that they receive into the central alumni records database. Departments will identify to advancement services the reports and data needed to support departmental activities.

(3) Updates

Individual colleges, units, and departments should refer all alumni who desire to make their own address changes or biographical updates via the web to the alumni relations web site, accessible through http://www.ohio.edu/alumni/. All other updates of information about alumni, including but not limited to, biographical updates, address changes, and employment information, that come to the attention of university employees should be promptly brought to advancement services' attention:

(a) Information from hardcopy notes is to be forwarded through campus mail.

(b) Information from e-mail and telephone messages is to be forwarded by e-mail to [e-mail].

(4) Transition process

This subsection describes the transition process for departments that had been maintaining shadow databases prior to this policy first becoming effective. This subsection will be removed in a future revision of this policy, after all the existing shadow databases have been permanently retired.

(a) Departments will identify and share with university advancement all shadow databases. University advancement will work closely with departments to understand the purpose and use of the data so that a prioritization for conversion of the various databases may be established.

(b) University advancement will incorporate those lists in the alumni database.

(c) University advancement will identify and develop appropriate formats for lists and reports to meet the needs of the various divisions and departments.

(d) The length of time necessary to complete this process will depend on the quality and size of the databases. University advancement will provide a time estimate to each department. University advancement expects that full implementation will take approximately eighteen months.

The version of this rule that includes live links to associated resources is online at https://www.ohio.edu/policy/37-030

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3337.01
Amplifies: 3337.01